Out of the one hundred and seventeen people that had been within Lanayru Mining Facility, five had come out unharmed, fifty had been killed, fifty one were injured, and one, Ni, was missing. Mal walked among the injured, healing those he could while a group of Sheikah went out to search for the toddler by request. By the time most were nursed back into health, Link was out of red potion (as Mal had borrowed it) and Mal was exhausted.
Based on survivors' accounts, around midnight five days before (Link guessed that it was the same time those masked dead monster-people attacked them), the people by the entrance, the mages maintaining the facility's disguise and the first line of defense, started screaming and yelling that they were being attacked by monsters. The monsters were strange and unfamiliar, but some claimed that they had seen deceased relatives and friends among them. These monsters were relentless, strangling and sometimes ripping their victims apart. Bokoblins were among them, screaming and probably leading them, but that was the only thing they could recognize. A few saw fire-breathing, giant lizards that scurried around on four legs, scorching everything they could see, swift, fox-like creatures that shoved their blades inside a person before they could scream, and flying, yellow creatures that electrocuted their victims.
By nightfall, everyone had scattered, finding their own shelters. No one felt safe in the facility anymore, especially not the survivors of that massacre.
Zelda walked among them, looking for Ni, although based on the amount of bokoblin camps she had come across, the girl was either dead or had been captured. The moon cast a gentle blue light on the sand, making the night appear peaceful. However, everyone knew better.
She eventually came across Link and Ghirahim on the top of the facility.
Link lay at an odd angle, with his head laying on Ghirahim's shoulder. Ghirahim had an arm half-heartedly thrown over the hero's shoulder, his hand on Link's arm. Both appeared to be asleep, silent as their chests rose and fell.
She almost smiled for the first time that night, knowing that there wasn't even a chance of admitting they had slept like this. Maybe she'd been right in sending Ghirahim to Link's house.
As she turned and began to walk back towards Groose, who had found a spot by the storage facility, Ghirahim shifted, and his nonexistent brows creased.
--
Come to me.
Ghirahim frowned as the voice whispered in his head, soft and gentle. He was well aware that he was asleep; he was supposed to be seeing nothing but blackness and hearing nothing. Yet, here he was, gazing into glowing crimson eyes and listening to the artificial softness of this voice. He tried to wake up and break free of this ingenuine voice, but the demon invading his mind had a tight hold on it and didn't plan on letting go.
Don't try to resist. I can kill you easily.
Leave, Ghirahim thought, an attempt to speak back. He wasn't familiar with telepathy; he never needed it. The bokoblins usually could tell what he wanted by a simple drawing or gesture and a glare, and the lesser creatures just had to be put into their places and they'd attack everything in sight.
The intruder heard. Ghirahim, we're both demons. I can save you, not that boy.
Ghirahim faltered, only for a moment. Could they have been telling the truth? But by listening to this demon, he would be betraying Link. He couldn't do that, not after earning the man's respect. Leave, he repeated.
Demise entrusted you to me, Ghirahim. Not to the human boy that killed him.
This made the anger rise in Ghirahim's chest. I'll never serve another like Demise, was his furious reply.
You have no choice. You're just a tool. In time, you'll learn... Until then, Ghirahim.
And then Ghirahim's eyes snapped open. Link was shaking him, his face hidden by the darkness, but the worry was clear in his wavering voice. "Ghirahim! Wake up!" he exclaimed.
For a moment, he was too dazed to move. He had a splitting headache, the last remnant of the temporary connection between him and that demon. It wasn't he who had broken free; he was too weak for that. The demon had released him, and he didn't doubt that it was so it could come meet him face to face.
Then he groaned and put a hand to his forehead. Link let out a sigh of relief, and wrapped his arms around the demon for a moment. Ghirahim couldn't help wondering what Link thought had happened.
"Thank Hylia," Link breathed as he looked up at him. "What happened?"
Ghirahim shrugged and gently pushed the smaller man off. Link shifted so that he was beside the demon. "Nothing," Ghirahim said.
Fury drowned any worry left like a tsunami. Ghirahim's dowsing ability, which assisted his vision at night, made him look more like a fire than a person. "BULLSHIT!" he spat, his voice raising as loud as it would go. If it hadn't been night, they would more than likely spot a Sheikah sending them a furious glare.
Ghirahim flinched, having not expected him to yell. He'd only heard him raise that normally quiet voice out of anger once, and that was when he thought Ghirahim had hurt Zelda.
"Sorry," Ghirahim muttered. He could hear Link's ragged breathing, leaving Ghirahim to wonder why that pissed him off so much. Reluctantly, he decided to tell the truth: "A demon decided to talk to me telepathically."
Link's breathing became quiet once more, his curiosity officially piqued. "A demon?"
Ghirahim glanced away, almost as if looking for a distraction. "I don't know who they were. But they were more powerful than I."
Just as Ghirahim feared, Link asked, "What did they say?"
"I don't remember." That was more believable than nothing, especially since Link wasn't aware that Ghirahim didn't dream. Didn't Hylians usually forget their dreams?
Link apparently fell for the lie and went silent, and the only sound was the cold night wind stirring up dust that hadn't been touched for centuries. Overhead, the moon shone brightly, partially concealed by clouds of dust and sand. They simply stared at each other, the silence tense. Ghirahim had a slight fear that he would see through the lie and get upset again, and Link wondered with worry who this demon was and what they intended to do.
Finally, Link's quiet voice invaded the silence. "Since we're awake, you wanna go see if Nayru's Flame can do anything for that rust? Zelda said I could when we got here."
Remembering the other demon's words, Ghirahim winced. Were they right? Could they really save him when Link couldn't? But he couldn't just leave him...
"Alright. We can try that," Ghirahim said after realizing he hadn't answered Link's question.
Link smiled as he stood up. Ghirahim watched him pick up his gear, the sword coming last.
Slowly, they began their journey across the desert, towards the sea that held the sacred flame. Both of them were silent, cautiously moving among the monsters and keeping an eye out for Ni. If she was in that desert, neither of the two spotted her.
The sea stretched out for miles and miles before them, seeming to never end. At some point, it seemingly disappeared in a cloud of sand, and everything beyond was concealed despite the afternoon sun beating down on their backs.
Ghirahim stared in awe, having never been to the shipyard before. He hadn't even known the place existed, although he'd had over twenty years to find out.
Carefully, they walked across the metal dock, then onto the pier. Under their feet were fading designs and sand, sand, and more sand. What had once been water now appeared to be solid sandyground, although Link was certain that it wasn't what it looked like.
The small boat sat at the end of the dock, crooked in the sand. Its captain was gone and the timeshift stone had been deactivated, but it sat within view, the shiny blue stone waited patiently to be reactivated.
Link wandered the area, finding and picking up a rock around the size of his head. He walked back to the motor boat and threw it at the timeshift stone.
There was a loud ching! as it made contact. The sapphire blue stone began glowing, the white markings along its sides shining brightly. The stone retreated to its compartment within the ship as its blue light spread over the area. Sand became sea, dull and brown became vivid shades of every color you could possibly name. The boat's engine roared to life as it too went from dull and brown to colorful and bright, looking as new as it did the day it was made.
Before Link could even move, Ghirahim was sitting in the front, a hand on the wheel as he looked at the various buttons, trying to figure out which ones to press. This made Link nervous as he stepped in, half expecting the boat to jerk and for him to be knocked into the water.
"Do you know how to control this?" he asked as he looked over Ghirahim's shoulder. The control board was littered with several different buttons, although very few of them were actually labeled. It stretched across the entire front side of the ship, curving in at the edges.
"In all honesty, no," Ghirahim said.
Link tried lightly pushing Ghirahim out of the seat. "Let me control, then," he said.
Ghirahim pushed him away and sent him an admonishing glare. "You haven't spent your life on the Surface and around these types of things, so let me drive."
"But you don't even know where we're going!" Link protested, giving another push, this time harder. It was only then that Link learned that Ghirahim weighed more than he could carry, especially with his solid metal arms. He would have to talk the demon out of the seat.
Ghirahim grinned. "Which is why you're going to tell me." With that, Link knew that there was no way he'd be able to get him out of that seat.
Sighing, he sat beside Ghirahim with his arms resting on the guardrails and watched as the demon pressed various buttons. Several times the boat jerked, made noises that Link didn't recognize, and moved a few inches before coming to a stop. By the time Ghirahim had the boat going at a fair speed, Link felt sick to the stomach.
He stayed where he sat, watching water become sand and sand become water as they moved along. Link had thought he was going to have to use the cannon, but in the past he realized there were no monsters, not anymore. In another hour Link decided they were going to have to turn; it didn't look like Ghirahim was going the right way.
When left in silence, Link's mind often wandered to the night he'd found Zelda on the ground, unconscious. He couldn't deny that she had neglected to mention something now; he always thought back to that sealing spike hovering over the pit, the symbol of the goddesses on its stone surface glowing. It had never been there before, he was sure of that now.
But why wouldn't she mention it? Surely if it involved a sealing spike it was something important enough to mention to him.
Moving for the first time in four hours, he looked over at Ghirahim to find the demon had taken the pouch off his waist and was toying with the strings. Zelda had talked with him privately right after.
"Hey, Ghirahim," Link said, his voice quiet.
Ghirahim looked up from his pouch and turned his head to Link. He looked drowsy, with his eyes only half open. "Hm?"
"When Zelda talked to you the other day, when we were going to Eldin Volcano...what did she say?"
Ghirahim fell silent for a moment or two, trying to remember.
"It was a private conversation for a reason, Link," he said. "Why do you ask?"
Link sighed, shifting his arms and turning his gaze back to the quiet sea. "I...I saw a sealing spike where I found her that night. There has to be something she's not telling me. Is it concerning that?"
"I can't say. But believe me, Link, if she was keeping something from you, it would be for a good reason."
"Why did she lie to me about that, though?" Link asked.
"I don't know. Just trust her." Ghirahim's voice had suddenly become quiet. The clink as he set the pouch down reverberated through the thick air, signaling the end of the conversation.
It took them around eight hours to reach the sandship since Ghirahim did not know how to drive and often either lost control of the ship or pressed the wrong button on accident, and Link sucked at backseat driving, so they argued plenty. The only thing in their favor is that they had learned to somewhat cooperate since Ghirahim decided to join him, although that mostly only worked out when they were in battle. But at least the arguing wasn't constant.
By the time the large shadow of the ship was cast over them, the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon and the sky was a brilliant shade of orange and Link was dozing off again.
Then the ship jerked violently as Ghirahim brought it to a stop, causing Link to curse loudly as he fell back onto the floor. When Link looked up, he saw the sandship, as colorful as ever.
Already the captian was rushing down to meet them, buzzing excitedly as he ran up to the hero.
"Link! Mighty glad to see you here! I thought you'd never come back, bzzrt!" When he caught sight of Ghirahim, he said, "Who's this guy? Where'd the blue girl go?"
At the mention of Fi, Link forced a smile and said, "Long story, yeah?" He motioned towards the demon standing behind him, looking mildly shocked at the sight of a working robot. "That guy's Ghirahim, and we were wanting to see Nayru's Flame."
The robot's voice fell to quiet buzzing as his metallic hand scratched his hat. "Again?" Apparently catching sight of Demise's blade, he added, "With that thing?"
Link hesitated-Did he know who created it?-but he nodded.
The captian tilted his head slightly, most likely questioning the sword with whatever he had within his painted metal skin, but he nodded. "You know where it is, then."
--
Link stepped into the engine room, where Nayru's Flame, with its magical, blinding light, was kept. Link squinted as he stepped into the room. Its only light source was the flame, but that was enough to light up a room ten times the size of that one.
"So this is Nayru's Flame," Ghirahim said as he stepped ahead of Link. He, too was squinting. "So what do we do now?" When Link shrugged in response, he scowled and said, "Think back to when you came here with the Goddess Sword."
That was going to be something of a problem. Ever since completing his quest, he had been trying to forget the Silent Realms and everything that had to do with them, including the flames. He was certain he'd done a pretty good job. He'd never thought that he would have to recall any of this again, and he was beginning to have his regrets.
"That was six years ago," Link muttered.
"So? You should be able to remember something."
"Not if I've been trying to forget."
Ghirahim was furious. His dark eyes burned and his face turned something like beet red, contrasting with the rest of his ash-colored skin. Link took a step back, biting his already bleeding lip.
Then, all at once, he inhaled deeply. Link knew better than to think he was calm. He'd just recovered his artificial serenity.
"Alright, alright. Can't blame you anyway," he said, sounding more like he was trying to reassure himself than Link. When he spoke again, he was addressing Link: "Are you sure you can't remember anything? Nothing?"
Link was silent for a few minutes, straining his mind to backtrack, to think back to when he was nearly eighteen and just went through the second agonizing Silent Realm and a giant tentacle monster. The memory came to him at last, broken and blurry, but there nonetheless.
"I think Fi flew into the flame," he finally said.
Ghirahim stared at him, considering his response. "It's something, I suppose."
Cautiously, Ghirahim stepped towards the flame. He stuck an arm out, allowing the flames to lick his hand. Gasping, he yanked his hand back as searing pain flared up within it, spreading up his arm. He held it up to survey the damage.
He could make out the reflective diamond pattern reminiscent to his true form. As the seconds passed, it faded, but its image lingered in his mind.
"I'm not doing this," Ghirahim said. "It looks like it's too much of a risk."
Link pursed his lips, wanting to press him to do it anyway, but decided against it. Perhaps Ghirahim was right to see it as a risk; he wasn't the Master Sword, after all. He was its opposite, and if the flame had a mind of its own it probably didn't like that too much.
"Alright. Let's get going," Link mumbled as he turned and started towards the ladder going back to the boat, head hanging as he crossed his arms.
When Link realized that he had no idea of what else to do, he felt lightheaded and shaky. Suddenly this simple agreement to become Ghirahim's master to keep him alive had turned into a mission that, if Link failed, would leave him unable to live with himself.
--
Groose and Zelda stood together, leaning against a rock in the mine's tunnel as they talked. Link was only able to see them because he stood by the canyon leading to the sea, which was higher than much of the desert, so of course Link heard nothing of their conversation. He could hardly see them in the darkness of the night, but they were there, resembling phantoms in the little moonlight that reached them.
Ghirahim stood behind him, arms crossed. "You know you forgot to tell someone you left, right?"
"I know," Link muttered. He dreaded approaching them, knowing that they were going to be upset.
Despite this, he jumped down and headed towards Zelda and Groose, Ghirahim a few feet behind him, grinning in amusement.
It wasn't until Link stopped walking a foot or two away from them did they notice his presence. Both of them turned their heads as their whispering stopped, gaping at him as if he was a flying pig. There was a moment of silence.
Then Groose's expression of surprise turned to a furious glare. He stepped towards Link, glowering at him.
"Why did you leave?"
"Had to do something with the sacred flame," Link said, his voice quiet.
He stood in front of Link, his golden yellow eyes burning into Link's ocean blue ones. "Without telling anyone?"
"I forgot."
Behind them, Ghirahim leaned against the side of a raised trail, narrowing his eyes as the redhead standing over Link.
"Oh, of course you forgot. You always forget, don't you? Maybe you ain't changed since we were teenagers. Maybe you'll always need somebody to think for you. Only now it's not Zelda, is it?" He shot the sword spirit a glance.
"Groose," Zelda warned. She furrowed her brows and pursed her lips.
Link stiffened, his nonchalant expression slowly falling to the fury burning in his chest. This was just like it was at the Knight Academy, except now they're on the Surface and they're six years older. This shouldn't have been happening.
"I'm sorry," Link muttered, wanting nothing more than for him to shut up.
Apparently, that apology wasn't enough for Groose.
"Maybe you don't even fucking know that our daughter's missing. Maybe you can't even fucking realize that you left us to panic all day simply because you forgot," Groose said, his voice wavering as he talked. "Because your damn head is always in the clouds."
Something in his words drove Link to swing his fist, landing a blow on the side of the redhead's face. Groose stumbled back, holding his cheek where Link had struck it. He spat out blood and stared at Link with something like shock. Zelda's eyes were wide, fearful.
"You...you bastard!" Groose spat, but now the tears in his eyes harshly reflected the bright sunlight. He lunged at Link, swinging his fists with no restraint. Link held up his arms to shield himself from them until one of Groose's fists slammed into the side of his head, knocking him off his feet. Zelda screamed. Groose only stopped then because Ghirahim shoved him back hard enough to fall, then grabbed Link harshly by the forearm and hauled him to his feet.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a talk with Link," Ghirahim said, his voice sounding as if it was made of pure sodium chloride. "Away from you."