LoZ: Dark Times

"Right," Konbei nodded. "But do you think you can survive being dragged into the middle of another attack? Anyway, I hope you can use you energy to warp; walking back to the castle would take way too long and I doubt I could transport all three of us safely."

Shadow gave a small smirk. "Probably," he answered shortly to his first question. He shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

To his first question, he nodded, crossing his arms. "Sure," he said. "But not much else after that, I'm still weak from the attack on Ordon." He uncrossed his arms, holding his hands at the ready to summon his shadow magic. "Ready when you are."

Konbei returned from going to get Niamh from the other room. He said a quick goodbye to Nuala and Celeste before his body seemed to turn into a formless cloud of snow. It drifted out of the open window and he and Niamh were gone.

Shadow watched Konbei teleport- and scowled.

"Damned ice," he muttered to himself, before summoning his own magic- this one of a darker sort- and warping away in an instant.

Thorne aproached he door, listening to the conversation within for a moment before making his enterance. He handed the letter to Zelda, who took it swiftly and read it.

"Miles..." Her eyes widened as she continued to read. "Kakariko... was abandoned prior to Arthur's attack?" She gripped the paper a bit tightly, her gloves hiding the whiteness of her knuckles.

Konbei and Niamh reformed outside the infirmary door. He brushed some snowflakes from Niamh's face and waited for Shadow.

Lyn heard the words instantly, and her eyes widened.

"What?" she shouted, unable to help herself. "The castle troops LEFT Kakariko defenseless?!"

Just then, a voice interrupted her-

"Hey, watch your mouth. You're talking to the Queen, y'know."

Instantly, Lyn looked around in surprise- and there was Shadow, walking into the infirmary with Konbei and Niamh next to him. He was dressed slightly differently, but he seemed fine enough. He looked over towards Zelda- and gave her a small nod of acknowledgement. "... Your Highness."

"This may suggest some sort of corruption within the military, Your Highness." Prometh proposed. "There would be no reason for the troops to leave Kakariko defenseless otherwise."

Zelda bitterly refolded the paper. "I should have forseen this... been more careful of my descisions and appointment..."

Her head snapped up as she looked to the door. "Oh!" She blinked once, and straightened up. "I see you're alright... what of Nimah?"

Prometh looked at Shadow with suspision. Even if the lad were an ally, the incident earlier implies that he cannot control his power fully, or that he is under the influence of another; most likely Arthur. Either way, it was dangerous allowing him near the Queen.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at Prometh, dryly amused.

"Down, boy," he said bluntly, his voice sarcastic and cryptic. He stepped aside and walked off to the side, clearly showing Niamh and Konbei behind him.

"Having 'technical difficulties', lad?" Prometh inquired, referring to Shadow's sudden disappearance earlier.

Shadow smirked, amused- but well enough respected Prometh's clever jab. He'd moved off to a part of the room, and crossed his arms, content to stand away from everyone else.

"What did I tell you either?" he answered easily with a shrug. "I'm a shadow creature- whether I like it or not. When we're called, we gotta go, willing or not."

When Shadow stepped aside, Gwene, who had been silently sobbing in a corner of the room, slowly turned around, her eyes red from her weeping- and there, standing in the door's opening, was Niamh. At first, she rubbed her eyes, her heart frozen- was she dreaming? Silent disbelief had locked her legs, and she couldn't move.

But then she smiled. "Mama!" Niamh cried cheerfully, jumping up with glee upon seeing her mother.

"N... Niamh!!" Finally finding her legs and her voice, tears once more bursting from her eyes, Gwene found herself running across the room, ignoring everything and anything else as she ran towards her daughter. The little girl ran to her mother, and the two embraced powerfully in the center of the room, tears flowing down Gwene's face and the biggest smile on Niamh's.

"You're... you're safe! Oh, thank the goddesses!" Gwene sobbed in joy as she held her daughter tight, never wanting to let go.

Shadow watched the happy reunion with a little bitterness- reminding himself to take it with a grain of salt. No use wanting it, envying it, or being jealous, he told himself firmly- it's something he'd never had before, and would never have in the future. Stiffening his lower jaw, he looked over towards Zelda, remembering his business. Still, he couldn't make himself interrupt the happy reunion with negative news, so he paused for a moment before looking away, deciding it could wait a few more minutes.

"In other words, your dependability is more than questionable." Prometh stated, folding his arms.

"When did I ever say it was otherwise?" Shadow replied with a dark chuckle. Though they may have gotten off on the wrong foot, he rather liked this Prometh- at least he could keep up with him and his humor, unlike most.

The attorney smiled and shook his head. This creature--this child--certainly had personality. He was arrogant, menacing, and extraordinarily clever; just like Prometh fourty years ago.

"Before you fly away again, would you care to explain what happened?" he asked Shadow.

Shadow nodded. That was a fair enough request. He leaned against the wall side and began.

"Arthur's interfered way too much in dark magic," he began with a scowl. "He pulled me from- uh... somewhere else," he muttered, continuing on quickly, "And that's how I first ended up in Kakariko, with the other shadow monsters. I'm sure you remember what happened earlier, too," he noted, waving a hand towards the reunion scene of Niamh and Gwene, "and that's because Arthur summoned another portal, this time to destroy Ordon Village." Shadow looked away for a moment, pausing before he continued.

"Either way, he only did it for show. He had nothing to gain from it- destruction for destruction's sake. I got Niamh out of there as fast as I could- and ran into Konbei here on the way," he added, jerking a thumb towards Konbei, who still stood by the door. "And here I was thinking whenever I got back here you all would try and kill me for thinking I kidnapped Niamh," he added with a blunt, short laugh.

"The thought crossed my mind." Prometh lightly teased. "However we were preoccupied with preparing for an assault on the castle; Her Highness took your sudden disappearance as a sign of another attack. Judging by your account she was correct; just not in the location."

Shadow grinned in response. "You weren't the only one," he responded quickly, glancing idly back at Konbei. Looking back at Prometh, he listened to him as he described Zelda having assumed that his disappearance meant an attack.

"Hey, wait a minute," a voice suddenly piped up, and Shadow looked to the side with dull curiosity as Lyn spoke up, taking a step forward and looking at Shadow with narrowed eyes.

"Weren't we talking earlier about something just like this?" she said with a frown, looking over at Zelda next, and then the assassin. "Infiltrating Arthur's ranks and destroying him from the inside. We could use this kid-"

"My name is Shadow," Shadow growled dangerously.

"-to do that, couldn't we?" Lyn continued, ignoring him.

Another entered the infirmary, it was Rausten "I have managed to buy us precious time, in which to plan out attack." he said, to all that would listen.

At the words spoken by someone new, both Lyn and Shadow turned to look at the source.

Shadow scowled. "How so?" he asked, frowning.

( Bedtime for me. Gnight all! )

Konbei walked over to Gwene and Niamh, the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. "You okay?" He said quietly to Gwene as he turned to face Rausten and listen to what he had to say.

Gwene pulled from Niamh and held her hand on Niamh's shoulders, she was still overcome with joy "What on earth happened to you?" she looked to Konbei for an explanation.