I Don't Believe in Magic (Invite Only)

[mugenginga]

Link was quite possibly just as confused as Zelos was, but from a different angle. Why was he asking what? And that still didn't explain that whole elf thing. It didn't seem to be a made up word, but Link had never even heard that word. His face scrunched up as he thought back to some of his classes. He was pretty sure he'd never even heard it from that Akhar dweeb, and that guy always had his nose stuck in some mythology book or another.

All that went out the window as Zelos continued to speak. Put up with that? Hey, he was the one having to put up with crap! Man, for an adult this guy was getting on his nerves more than usual. He didn't look like a teenager, but man he was sure acting like his peer. Well, in age. Link made a slight scoffing noise at that. There was no way this guy was his peer. If he wanted to submit, Link would let him. He felt a headache coming on. About the only thing more annoying than this redhead was that he really didn't know where he was. But he sure didn't need help from this jerk to figure that out. Hell, for all he knew he was dreaming again.

He smirked at what he considered a victory and walked forward. He intended on taking a wide path to get around Zelos and head out first. The plans of both of them went up in smoke as a second round of screaming occured. The two would be "treated" to three women in little more than towels rushing past him. There was the sound of a teenage male shouting something, and Link's eyes widened. He jerked towards the direction the women had come from. Oh come on. No way in hell.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Link muttered, not turning away from where the women had come from.

-----

Seconds earlier, seventeen year old Akhar Chikara had materialized in a flash of black lightning among a crowd of mostly nude women. His awareness of the situation had been something like he'd woken up from a dreamless sleep. He hadn't even had time to figure things out before the screeching started. About half the women had just run off, but the rest were threatening the poor frightened teenager. Seriously, the short teenager looked like little more than a puppy. A puppy who was now getting rather heavy objects thrown at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he shouted over and over, trying to duck the various makeshift projectiles. He wasn't doing very well.

The tanned teenager was beyond confused. The last thing he clearly remembered, someone his age in some kind of ninja outfit that reminded him suspiciously of one of the Legends of Zelda had been trying to kill him. He'd even had a faerie with him. It was seriously right out of the pages of the Ocarina of Time. The next thing he'd known, he was in a highly embarassing situation. A crowd of half dressed women he'd never seen and they were throwing things at him! What was going on!

"I'm really really sorry! Please stop throwing things at me!" he shouted. His hands were up to shield his face.

Where the heck was he!?

[nintendonut1]

Zelos was ready to leave after another fruitless day and leave himself to his fantasies, but the screams briefly got his hops up. He turned back as the commotion continued, but was disappointed when only ANOTHER little elf kid tumbled out of the door. Juuuust his luck.

But he noted the rapid change in Link's expression... a shift of certainty that he couldn't miss.

"...I guess you two know each other?"

[mugenginga]

Akhar managed to sidstep yet another item, but with that it seemed they were out of ammo. He'd made a prey-like beeline for the door and almost walked right through the hotspring. He looked up at the muttered sound of a familiar voice, and the teenager suddenly looked terrified. He stumbled away and his back hit the wall next to the door he had just come through.

"Yu-Yuuki!?"

"Bad day gone worse..." Link muttered out of the side of his mouth. He looked up at Akhar and gave a rather nasty glare. Depending on Zelos' angle, he might have noticed a bit of a nasty amused glint in Link's face, "Hey, Akhar! Still can't stand up for yourself? They're half-naked girls for crying out loud!"

"St-stay away!" Akhar was grasping for the door with his hand. He wasn't even on the right side for the handle, and the door had slammed shut after he stumbled in, "I-I don't want to h-hurt you!"

"Oh come on! I could kick your ass with both hands tied behind my back! What the hell, is that supposed to scare me?"

"Stay away, p-please!"

The teenager Link had addressed as Akhar did seem honestly petrified of something. While there was a level of bullying apparent between the two teenagers with matching outfits, Akhar's reaction seemed far and above any standard bullying. And there had been something rather poignant said there. He didn't want to hurt him? "Yuuki" clearly didn't believe any of that, but it was quite obvious Akhar did. The teenager looked like a cornered animal.

[nintendonut1]

Zelos cringed, the first elf passing by him. Okay, definitely knew each other then. He watched the two interact and... well, okay, it must've just been THIS kid. The other one looked ready to pee his pants.

"Alllllright, alright, okay..." Naturally, the Chosen had to step in between; he may or may not be lucky that the middle point was a fair distance away from both of them. "Okay, Yuuki and Akhar, right? First of all, those names are seriously weird, and second, if you guys have a tiff, can't you at least take it outside? So that you don't end up blowing up the hot springs and leaving them out of commission for ANOTHER three months? I'd really appreciate it."

[mugenginga]

Link basically side hopped away from Zelos as he slipped past him. It was quite possible Zelos would realize that the blonde had some kind of battle training as Link's left hand had gone up to the hilt of his kendo blade and he had it out about the time he hit the ground. If kendo didn't exist in Zelos' world, the "blade" looked more like someone had strapped a bunch of thin planks of wood together with metal rings. The way Link held it was something like one might see a katana held. Akhar had looked like he was trying to figure out how to pass through the wall as Zelos approached, really. He didn't seem fond of the idea of either of them getting closer.

The blonde made a "tch" noise as the man called him by his surname. He gave a rather unkind stare as Zelos said his name was weird, but he seemed to relax after a few more seconds of critical glaring. The long haired red head didn't seem like he was going to attack. When Zelos mentioned "blowing up", he looked confused again. It quickly faded to annoyance. However, he noted Akhar... wait, his classmate looked like he was... he believed that could happen? What the hell?

As Zelos had stated that they needed to get out before something blew up, his eyes widened. Did this... did this person know something he didn't? A horrid memory flashed across his mind, and his eyes widened. Why couldn't he trust trust such a possibility was impossible? Why was some part of his brain insisting it was!? Link smirked after recovering from his surprise at Akhar's panic and slipped his weapon back through the makeshift sheath on his back. He walked up beside Zelos and looked at him, his head angled in a way to get him a good look at Akhar.

"This guy couldn't step on an ant without freaking out about it. Do you honestly think he has explosives on him? Yo, AKhar, I'm gonna kick your ass again if you don't settle down. What the hell is wrong with you lately, anyhow?"

Akhar felt a sharp pain in his head. Oh Goddesses, he could feel himself slipping again. His movements as he stepped to the side were jerky. It was almost like his body was trying to decide if that's what it really wanted to do. Akhar's eyes were squeezed shut as his hand closed around the doorknob. His eyes were tearing from the force he had them shut at.

You want Power...

_{"G-go away..."}

The next thing that happened would give Zelos the clearest idea of Link's potential as a fighter yet. There was an advantage to having his "elf ears". Their construct allowed better hearing. That coupled with Link's potential... It would be about half a second before Zelos heard the sound of a small blade slicing through air that Link was hitting him with his right hand and yanking his sword out with his left. He shot it up in front of his face, his movement having managed to position himself directly between Akhar and the direction the projectile had come from. To be more precise, the thin space that had given a clear shot to Akhar from where they had been standing.

Despite Link's reflexive reaction, it wasn't fast enough. The shuriken clipped the edge of Link's bamboo sword, effecting its flight and richocheting it right into his left upper thigh. Link gasped and instantly fell to one knee in surprise. By this point, Zelos was probably focusing on the direction it came from.

The shadows seemed to move in an unnatural method in a point at the top of the open bathouse. Almost as if they were alive, as if some force was pushing them. If Zelos could sense magical energies, he'd realize there was something rather... more than a bit similar to the Darkness magic of his own world about it. It wasn't identical, but the unnatural method in which the shadows moved would be comparison enough. They seemed to part in a mist at the ground, and a teenager who looked to be about Link's age (and with enough similarities to be called related), seemed to practically manifest. Flying next to him was a pale orb of blue light, four dragonfly wings sticking out from it. That contrasted sharply to the energies swirling around the new arrival, as she seemed to be of Light magic with traces of Tree.

The teenager looked damn intimidating, and his blue eyes were anything but that of a teenager. They looked almost devoid of emotion, and his eyebrows carried the flat expression further. There were likely zombies with more emotion than the new arrival seemed to carry. His blackoutfit seemed to exist in organized tatters and bandages were wrapped all over. His mouth was concealed by a skin tight red suit, the bottom of which could not be seen for being covered by pants. He had red gloves, shoulder blades, knee blades, and soft soled boots that made not a sound one. His steps were very light. All of those were kept on with the way he was wrapped in bandages.

Over his forehead was a tarnished gold crown-like piece. It pointed down near the top and strips of metal were molded to form an inverted triangle with four triangles arranged within. From each ear hung a small tarnished gold loop. The pale blue light floating beside him seemed to jingle like a bell for a moment before flying next to the teenager's ear. He didn't react further to it. The new arrival pulled out two more shurikens from within his top vest and spoke in a voice seemingly devoid of emotion.

"If you value your lives, you will step away from the red-haired teenager," he stated. The lack of emotion carried the message far better than any different words could have.

(OOC: Here, the back of his vest has this design. That link doesn't work in his app anymore. But the first image is still applicable, although his red underpiece doesn't go over the top of his pants: s747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/DC%20Character%20Images/?action=view¤t=shirtsketch.png

Also, in reference to the Symphonia elements. Sheik is Sheikah, and its the only element he's actively drawing upon. If Zelos can sense latent ones, he'll realize his "natural" is actually Light. The light is your standard LoZ guardian faerie sort. XD

I'll tell you now, Zelos is the only one that can not get his ass CREAMED by this character, and it'll still be a tough fight. He has status effects. )

[nintendonut1]

Zelos almost protested further, but he went rigid as shuriken were thrown along with a firm, stoic threat. Aw, man. He hated when people took things too seriously.

He almost smirked at Link's injury--served the obnoxious brat right--but he was too bummed out feel any kind of jeery right now.

"Ohhhh, great," he let out a long, lamenting sigh, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "...looks to me like I'm caught in a situation that doesn't involve me, right? Great, just great." He could almost detect annoyence in the new boy's eyes, though it was really freakin' hard to tell. He predicted another threat, so he took a few steps away from Akhar. "Look, I'm 'stepping away,' see?"

Though he wanted to get on this--assassin's--good side, sensing the magic he was capable of stored away, like Zelos kept channeled in his sword, the red-tressed swordsman's gaze came back to Akhar... and paused for a moment. Wait. Something was wrong with this kid. He looked like he was ready to throw up.

Zelos began to look at this situation in a new light... of course, his travels taught him that usually nothing is what it seems on the surface, but he still grew wary. Just stay on the defensive, wait and see what these three elves do.

[mugenginga]

Sheik didn't move a single muscle as Zelos spoke, allowing the man to continue. The glowing orb of light with dragonfly wings hovered by his ears again. One could see the faintest sign of a frown on the new arrival's face. Link looked rather detached from the situation a Zelos spoke. He had a blade half an inch in his upper leg and it hurt like hell. He jerked his head up only as Zelos moved, too concerned with the pain and indignance to really notice the light by Sheik's head. Sheik turned his attention to Akhar.

The tanned teenager had slipped part of the way down the wall. The position of half standing seemed a bit awkward, but his hands were looped through the front of his hair and his eyes were squeezed shut. The sound of the word "no" could just barely be heard, repeating over and over. Sheik seemed to... almost flicker. To be more precise there seemed to be a clouding in Zelos' mind that prevented him from properly understanding the situation. It was sort of a clouding of the mind, as if shadows were flitting across his brain, a lack of ability to understand just what was happening.

Link felt the shadows licking across the surface of his brain again, and it pulled him straight out of worrying about the pain. This was... this was exactly that that Zelda chick's bodyguard slash stalker lady had done! He tried to push the shadows away, to understand the situation better, but as before it did no good. Neither would be aware of what happened next.

"Sheik, Sheik, he's waking up!"

"You should have let me kill him before," the power of shadow pulsed out from Sheik and enveloped the two swordsman, he lifted up his Shurkien, "I apologize for this. It was not your choice to bear his soul."

"Sheik, you can't kill him! There has to be-"

"Shut up, Bry!" Sheik glared at the tinkling orb to his side.

Sheik jerked his head back towards Akhar. His eyes narrowed when he realized the teenager's sobs had quieted. Now or never, and if let the King revive again... Akhar had stopped shaking. Sheik's eyes widened and the power of shadow lifted up from around the blonde. Zelos would regain full understanding of the situation just as he was being kicked to the side and a flash of dark energy would show out of his peripheal vision.

Link had been pushed to the side as Sheik had run forward. In the time the blond had taken to move forward, Akhar's stance had become night and day. He'd lifted his head and stood far straighter than Akhar ever did, an evil glint in his eyes. He'd lifted his hand and a powerful blast of dark power had shot out at Sheik. When Zelos looked up, Sheik would be about teen feet back from Akhar, clutching his chest as smoke rose off his body. He was still standing, but there was a glare of hatred directed towards Akhar... Zelos didn't have any chance of knowing the mind of the man once known as Ganondorf was calling the shots in Akhar's body.

And then he spoke. It didn't even sound like the same person from before. It was dark and brimming with an arrogant confidence to outdo Link's. There was a smirk on his face and his eyes carried an evil shine. There was a laughing tone as he lowered his arm, his gaze fixed on the shadow ninja.

"Too late, little prince."

[nintendonut1]

"Hey, now, what....wha...whaaaaaat..."

Zelos found himself blinking rapidly as a purple haze floated over his vision. And hearing. And taste. And smell. Whoa. This was weird. This was real weird. But it felt... nice. Nice. Numb. Nirvana. And other N words that escaped him.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't last forever. And wouldn't you know it, the second that foggy bliss was done and over with, reality had to come and kick him in the face. Quite literally.

"OW!" Zelos rubbed his face, rather perturbed. He blinked up at what he thought was Akhar, and he began to second things. Oh. So this kid WAS dangerous. How about that.

[mugenginga]

"Sheik!"

The glowing blue orb had shot to the side in a combination of surprise and unwilling repulsion at the dark energy. The ninja figure had been shoved back quite a bit, and it was probably surprising to everyone there he was still standing. The orb shot towards Sheik and began flying around him in what look like a panic. Her tiny words had been loud enough they would have been heard. The man her voice had identified as Sheik was breathing heavy.

He stood up straight, not bothering to look at his chest. He could feel the bit of blood that had managed to seep through, but he knew the wounds were already nearly closed up. The surface physical wounds hadn't been severe, it had been the dark energy that coursed through his system and sent the smoke rising up from him. His eyes remained more or less distant despite the scowl, and the glare in "Akhar's" direction was very noticable.

Link's mental faculties had cleared up, and the change in what the hell was going on was just as jarring as before. Rather than a silver haired woman with him pinned against a tree, Akhar was... Wise Nayru, what the hell was wrong with him!? That didn't look anything like Akhar, it was like someone else was in his skin or something! The kind of fear he felt rising in his chest reminded him of the darkness in his recent dreams, and he put his hands on the ground and tried to scoot backwards. "Akhar" looked down at him as he did so and a cruel grin spread on his face.

"Has the Hero fallen so far that he is a frightened little boy in this incarnation?" the man chuckled, "You've had more guts as a child in other lives, have you not?"

Sheik looked mildly panicked as the tanned teenager had turned his attention to Link. What kind of sick divine joke was it that the Princess would have been more able to defend herself in this incarnation than the Hero? He pulled out a shuriken and let it fly in a swift motion. Whatever was inhabiting Akhar's body at the moment turned and moved his head to the side. A single hair fell from how close the attack had been, and Sheik was already turned to Zelos.

"You have to get that idiot out of here!" Sheik ordered, "He's the only chance the world has!"

[nintendonut1]

"Only chance--what, THIS idiot?" Zelos gawked between the two, then shook his head feverishly. Well, that's usually how it worked, didn't it? After all, Lloyd hadn't been the smartest tool in the shed either. He just had a freaking powerful sword, huge-ass wings and an aimable stubborness to match. Good kid. Maybe when this kid got in a better mood, he'd be a bit less rude too.

It was with that hope that Zelos grabbed ahold of Link's arm, saluting to Sheik. "Right on! First Aid!"

The Chosen practically dragged Link out of the hot springs, his spoken spell cast and healing the wound in the kid's leg. "Only chance for the world, huh? Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Scored me a lotta chicks myself."

[mugenginga]

Link had heard the words, and had he not felt like he had darkness incarnate staring at him, he would have been very confused. There was no way in hell this was Akhar. He'd been harassing the other teenager for just over a year, and this wasn't him. He couldn't believe that Akhar had snapped like this either. There had been signs something was wrong, but this!? He was reaching up his hand hesitantly. "Akhar" smirked to himself and lifted a hand, but he had to suddenly turn his focus and jerk the limb back as another shuriken flew past.

Link let out a gasp of surprise as Zelos grabbed his arm, yanking him to his feet and pretty much dragging him off. He looked back in time to see the blond who had shown up rushing at Akhar. He managed to trip as warm energy spread to his leg, forcing the bladed weapon out. As a result his gaze was broken. He fell to his knees as soon as Zelos stopped about ten feet from the location. He didn't really care that they barked as he hit. He turned around his eyes wide.

"What the hell are you talking about!? I'm no one's hope! What the fuck is going on with Akhar!?"

He sure didn't seem more polite, but he did seem quite panicked. Link looked towards the building. He didn't like Akhar. The red-head was an annoying wimp of a coward, but that didn't mean he needed to get killed! He took another step towards the building, his left hand closed around the hilt of his weapon. He was really running blind here. He looked back towards Zelos when he didn't hear him following.

"Aren't you going to help!?"

[nintendonut1]

“Help you with what, a suicide mission?” Yup. Dumb and stubborn. Proven hero material. Just his luck. “Look, in case you didn’t catch the stupid maleficent grin on his face, he looked just about ready to destroy you. And all things considered, I’ll bet he COULD too.”

But why was he still talking? He knew there was no sense in getting Link to actually cooperate and get him to safety. Of course not. As Link charged back into the hot springs, Zelos sighed melodramatically, pulled out his sword, and as he followed, bewailed a silent “why me?” to the heavens above.

[mugenginga]

Sheik didn't look relieved as Zelos had dragged Link off. He turned back towards the King with a hateful glare. The years had blurred together, but it had been at least centuries since he'd last seen this man. The body didn't matter, the King of Evil was the King of Evil. Giving his age, it was an unforgivable weakness he'd shown in not killing Akhar before. It didn't matter what the Princess' nursemaid said, or the faerie whose opinion he held higher than anyone's. He should have killed the King when he had the chance.

"I should wipe that arrogance off your face, boy. You think I'll let you live?"

Sheik shook his head, "I wasn't planning on living. If you think you can do it, come at me. My time has long since past. What's important is the Hero survives to destroy you yet again."

The King let out a long and amused laugh, "Have you seperated yourself so far from your father you can think of him as nothing but?"

Sheik didn't honor the insult with words. There was no need to give the King more time to prepare. He launchd forward, throwing two shurikens as he did so. He didn't have an endless supply of these, but he hadn't been lying when he said he expected to live. If the King could kill him, it would be almost welcome. Bry flew to the side in surprise at his sudden action. No, she had promised to protect him!

"Sheik, you have to run! You can't fight him without the Sword!"
-----

Link had given Zelos a glare at his words. He'd caught the glare, and that's why he was so stubborn about getting in there. That wasn't Akhar. That wasn't a prank by Akhar. Something was fucking wrong with his classmate, and he was going to beat on him until he figured it out. There was an altruism to his actions the teenager would have never admitted to. Fact was, he was worried about the shorter teenager. He turned away from the man as he made it clear he wasn't going to offer help and closed the distance to the spring. He wasn't even aware that Zelos was following.
-----

"I thought you wanted me to kill you?"

Sheik was by the open door to the back of the hot springs. Even though only minutes had passed on the outside, he was bleeding from several places. It was most noticable by the stains in his cloth wrappings. He grimaced at the King's insults. He had no problem with dying here, but he wanted to give the Hero more time to run. He charged at the King while Bry flew around in panic. She couldn't do anything here and Sheik wasn't listening to her! The King wasn't even at full power, and Sheik was getting slaughtered!

A bright flash of light that would force anyone present to look away enveloped the King and Sheik. Bry was thrown backwards by the King's attempt to protect himself. She was only a guardian faerie, she couldn't withstand that kind of dark energy. Link would be busting throught the door just as the flash happened, and as a result he got a face full of faerie. He jerked and took a step backwards at what felt like an oversized bug hitting his face. Zelos would catch up behind him just as Bry grabbed Link's lower lip and yanked down.

"This is all your fault!" she shouted indignantly at him, "Sheik is going to die just because he had to protect you!"

She had dropped enough of her power shield that both Link and Zelos would see the faintest outlines of what looked like a tiny human girl. It wouldn't appear she was wearing clothes, and the aura drop wasn't enough to reveal she was wrapped in bandages. It made it sort of like she was wearing a body suit due to her chest wrapping. The wings extended from her back and her ears were quite like Link's own, just in miniature.

"Get away from me you bug!" Link shouted, swatting at Bry. She managed to fly away without much in the way of effort.

[nintendonut1]

"GEEZ louise!" Zelos gawked after catching up. "How long were we gone!? The place is totally trashed!!"

Well, so much for no colleratal damage. What a HUGE letdown.

"Soooo, mister big shot," he regarded Link. "What exactly is the game plan here? Or did you not think that far ahead?"

[mugenginga]

"Bug!? You jackass, you're supposed to be the Hero! Don't tell me you don't even believe in faeries!"

Bry flew at Link's face again. The blond was therefore not really given a chance to respond to Zelos. He'd planned on it, but he now had a face full of angry faerie. However, the angry bell tinkling she was doing wasn't exactly... threatening. He swatted at her again, and she flew back. He tried to swing his weapon at her, but she grabbed onto one of the bamboo slats and held tight.

"Get the hell off!"

"It's your fault Sheik got into this mess! Act like the Hero you are and help him out of it!"

"What the hell is going on!? I don't believe in faeries, I don't believe in magic!"

Link jerked his sword to the side with a fair amount of force. Bry was almost thrown off. She instead used the momentum to fly up and get around behind Link's ear. She grabbed onto it and yanked down. The teenager let out a surprised shout and ended up boxing himself in his own ear as Bry flew up as he swatted at her.

"In the name of the Golden Goddesses, can't you accept what's right in front of your face!?"