"Thank you, Gene...."
Gene, the Hero of Legend, gave a warm smile to Aphmau as he helped her walk. Her soul, the soul of the Divine Warrior Lady Irene, had just been devoured by Shad the Destroyer and then set free. It was only natural that she would be in some kind of pain.
"It relieves me to know that you're alright, Your Grace." Hylia, the Witch of the Sealed Grounds, said to her as they entered the temple that she lived in. "You too, Gene. Taking on Shad the Destroyer is no easy task, even for Lady Irene it proved to be a challenge."
"I'm just so relieved it's over, after so long of keeping him contained here..." Aphmau let out a sigh, pressing a hand to her chest. "However, I fear that this is not the end of the darkness."
"What makes you think that?" Ein, a fellow citizen of Skyloft, asked with a flick of his ears.
"Before Shad was destroyed, permanently this time, he uttered out some words." She explained, trying to remember what he had exactly said. "How his descendants would always bring a reign of terror over the land, how we'd never know everlasting peace."
"A curse....." Hylia grumbled, the malice in her voice evident. "I never would have guessed that Shad would place a curse. That stuff is more of the Demon Warlock's thing."
"Yes.... we must protect the Relics of the Divines." She decided, her fwce showing bold determination. "They were what Shad was after from the start, surely his descendants and other dark forces such as the Demon Warlock will be after them too."
A sound came from the Master Sword, a blade that had once been wielded by Lady Irene herself, causing the four gathered beings to look to it. The hilt of the sword was glowing, and soon a figure emerged from it. At first it was just a blob of light that had come from the hilt, but that blob soon took shape.
"Your Grave, or Aphmau as you are now called, I am relieved to see that you are unharmed now." The figure from the sword spoke, their voice nothing but a monotone. "Your mission is now completed. Shad the Destroyer is no more."
"Zane....." Aphmau addressed the figure, her eyes becoming slightly wet at the sight of her creation. "I.... I..... I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me...."
"What happened that day was not your fault, Your Grace." Zane shook his head, that being the first time Gene ever saw him do that. "All the blame rests on my shoulders, I was careless that day."
"But if I had just gotten to you in time, you wouldn't have...." She started, pausing as she forced back tears. "You wouldn't have lost your arms... you wouldn't have to look, sound, and act like a robotic assistant for the rest of your life...."
Gene's eyes widened in surprise at Aphmau's words, and he looked to Zane's form. He had always been curious as to why he couldn't see any arms on him, but he never suspected that he had lost them. He had just kinda assumed that the cloak thing he had acted as his arms, and for the most part it did.
"For the rest of my life....?" Zane asked softly, almost a bit hesitantly. "Your Grace, you and I both know what will happen to me now."
Aphmau visibly flinched, looking down at the ground. Gene swapped his gaze back and forth between the two, not quite understanding what they were talking about. After a minute or so, Aphmau finally looked back up and approached Zane slowly.
"Do.... Do you remember when I first created you?" She asked him, forcing a smile onto her face. "Your brothers? Do you... do you remember any of it?"
"......... Briefly, yes." Zane nodded after a moment, lowering himself to the ground. "You named them Garroth and Vylad."
"Yeah... but they're gone now...." She trailed off, placing a hand on Zane's face. "Oh Zane..... I.... I can turn you back, I know I can...." (instead of spelling "back" I had originally spelled "snack". Slow your roll there, Aph, Zane isn't ready to be a snack.)
