Chapter 13 Back to reality…

Chapter 13

 

Back to reality…

 

 

BAM!

Lucius woke from the impact of himself hitting the hard floor of the healing ward.

“My lord!?” A healer cried seeing him pick himself up. Lucius waved off the help of the healer as he looked around. He saw a few people in the cots around him, mostly Zoras. He spied Selene in a cot down the way and made his way over to her to the protest of the frantic healer.

“Silence.” Lucius said quietly and the healer shut up immediately.

Lucius studied Selene’s face and saw the peace of sleep, and no indication of anything being amiss. Lucius sighed as he brushed his fingers against her forehead.

Selene opened her eyes wide, screamed, rolled, and landed on the floor. She stopped screaming when she hit the ground and just lay there for a minute.

“What just happened?” Selene asked as Lucius helped her back onto the cot.

“What do you remember?” Lucius asked her probing her head gently, stopping when she winced. Selene shrugged, and accepted the cloth filled with ice from the healer.

“Well, I dreamed that,” Selene explained in detail what she had thought she dreamed, Lucius asked an occasional question but for the most part listened in silence.

“And then I ran through the gate and woke up here.” Selene finished, “What happened?” Lucius said nothing as he sat in thought. Ten minutes went by and Lucius still said nothing. Selene started fidgeting waiting for an answer, any kind of answer. 

“Lucius.” Selene said startling him out of his thoughts. He looked at her quizzically, “Yes?” Selene laughed, “I asked what was going on and you have not answered me yet.”

“Oh. My apologies, I was just wondering why you and I had the same dream.” Lucius said blushing slightly.

Selene chuckled, “I know not. Where are the others?”

Lucius turned to the healer, “Where is the rest of the group that was with us when we entered the Domain?”

The healer seemed to shrink in upon himself, as if he wanted to disappear from Lucius’s cold gaze. “I know not my lord.” He answered in a small voice, “but I will find out shortly.” With that he took off at a fast walk towards the entrance of the healing ward.

Selene and Lucius watched him leave; Lucius shook his head while Selene giggled. Lucius looked at her, “What?” This made Selene laugh even more.

“I do not know it is just funny how everyone is afraid of you. I always thought you were the sweetest person.”

Lucius shrugged, “I guess it’s because I’m their ruler. I’m sure the common folk of Hyrule Town fear you and Gerad a little.”

Selene shrugged, “I would not know, we do not associate with the commoners.”

“Oh.” Lucius said, he thought he had seen Selene and Gerad with common folk on a number of occasions, but perhaps he was mistaken. The healer returned at top speed, and out of breath.

Lucius waited patiently for him to catch his breath and report, Selene giggled again. Her giggle was off, but Lucius didn’t give it any mind.

“They are in the southern corridor living quarters waiting for his highness and lady Selene.” The healer reported with a bow. Lucius nodded, thanked him, and then dismissed him to continue his duties. Lucius stood up and offered his hand to Selene.

“Shall we go?” He asked. She smiled in response and took his hand. Her hand was cold, alarmingly cold. Lucius glanced down at her hand in his and immediately it warmed to a normal temperature.

“What-?” Lucius began as he looked back up at Selene’s face; she had an innocent expression of curiosity. Lucius glanced back down at her hand then back at her face.

Lucius shook his head thinking he must still be a bit dazed from falling off of the cot. They left the healing ward and headed towards the southern corridor. It was about a half hour walk from their current position, the healer must have booked it to get there and back in the short time that he was gone. Something was nagging Lucius in the back of his mind; something was odd about the healer, and the healing ward for that matter.

Lucius glanced back but the healing ward was already out of view. Selene glanced back also to see what had Lucius’s attention.

“What is it, Lucius?” Selene asked touching him on the arm. Lucius glanced down at her hand on his arm in confusion; it had been freezing then warmed like it had before.

“You seem distracted. Are you positive you are alright?” Selene asked her voice full of concern. Lucius stared at her in confusion, something was definitely off here but he couldn’t figure out what.

“Yes, I’m fine. Let’s go see the others.” Lucius said slowly turning back towards the southern corridor. Yes something was definitely off and he thought he knew what.

They made their way to the main cavern and it didn’t take as long as Lucius remembered it taking. The main cavern was as busy as ever, Zoras going about their daily business, Zoras trading, Zoras selling their wares, Zoras everywhere you turned; but only Zoras.

Lucius nodded to himself and Selene noticed, “What?”

Lucius looked at her, “Nothing.” He continued on to the southern corridor and they arrived at the entrance with no mishaps. Selene had grabbed hold of his hand to keep from getting lost in the crowd and her hand didn’t take so long to change from freezing to warm as it had the first couple of times, she was getting better at controlling it.

They made it to the corridor their friends were in, they had followed Sheik’s laughter. Lucius let go of Selene’s hand when they rounded the corner to their room. The sight that greeted them was exactly what Lucius had predicted it would be.

“Hey guys, so you finally decided to wake up?” Sheik called out to them from a cushion in the far corner. The rest were sprawled over other cushions throughout the vast room of the emissary suite.

“Yes, sorry it took so long I needed to catch on some beauty sleep.” Lucius said with a smile, he reached for Selene’s hand and she gave it to him. He led her to a cushion, sat down and gently pulled her into his lap. She didn’t resist and no one said anything about it.

“So, what did we miss?” Lucius asked slowly stroking Selene’s arm. It turned colder when he stroked up but immediately returned to warm when he stroked down.

“Oh, not too much, just a bunch of sitting and waiting.” Gerad said munching on a piece of fruit.

“Your mother came and visited a couple of times, along with your father.” Dahrin supplied his accent very thick to where Lucius almost couldn’t understand him. Lucius nodded slowly. He looked around.

“Where’s G-Link?” Lucius asked.

“Oh, he went home. Complained of a belly ache that only those Gorons could cure.” Aerica answered from next to Dahrin. She was sitting leaned against him, stroking his shoulders.

Lucius nodded, “Yes, I didn’t think that rock could handle being here.”

The others laughed with him not reacting at all to the sneer in his voice about his closest friend. Lucius gently pushed Selene up as he stood.

“Where you going?” Calhan asked from where he sat smoking a pipe.

“Just need to show Selene something.” Lucius answered leading Selene out the entrance and back down the corridor. The others shrugged and stayed where they were.

Lucius ducked into a side corridor that ended in a dead end around a curve out of view from the entrance. He pulled Selene around and pushed her back against the wall facing him.

“Lucius, what-?” Selene started till Lucius silenced her with a kiss. It had started off aggressive, and Selene responded in kind. The kiss lasted awhile and slowly changed to gentle; he pulled back from her and she stood there with her eyes closed and out of breath. He hadn’t closed his eyes and had watched her looks change from Selene to Zara.

Selene opened her eyes and asked sweetly, “What was that for?”

“Stop it. I know you’re not Selene.” Lucius said holding her tightly against the wall by her arms. Selene cocked her head to the right.

“I do not understand.” She said softly, leaning her head closer to him asking for another kiss. Lucius turned his head away from her, but looked back at her.

“For one thing. Selene doesn’t speak that correctly. And you got all the rest of them wrong.” Lucius said in a harsh tone. Selene looked at him in confusion.

“Who are you and where am I?” Lucius asked her.

Selene glared at him. She exhaled in frustration and closed her eyes; her looks slowly changed to Zara, her body remained the same but her face and hair changed. Her one red eye glared at Lucius.

“How could you tell?” Zara demanded of him. Lucius chuckled as he let go of her arms.

“It was the little things. The healing ward has been changed since your time, not much but it has, and the southern corridor is farther away from the healing ward. As for knowing that you weren’t Selene, well one learns the small things about the one they love.” Lucius answered stepping away from her.

“You, love? That finless twit!?” Zara asked, shocked.

Lucius nodded not saying anything. Zara’s jaw dropped and Lucius waited patiently for her to regain her composure.

“Why, in all of Hyrule, would you ever fall in love with someone of another species? Especially that species!” Zara asked her voice increasing in volume. Lucius said nothing.

“You, have got to be the strangest person in the universe.” Zara said.

Lucius chuckled, “Most likely.”

Zara shook her head in disgust, “Now what?”

Lucius shrugged, “You still haven’t told me where I am.”

Zara laughed, “You are in your own mind. Your body is somewhere in Hyrule Fields asleep.”

Lucius nodded, “Why are you in my mind?”

“Come on, you did not expect me to sit quietly in my prison for forever, did you Water Sage?” Zara asked him as she cuddled close to him. Lucius gently but firmly pushed her back.

“A previous Water Sage may have been your lover, but I am not he.” Lucius told her. Zara sulked as she leaned against the wall.

“That does not mean you could not be.” Zara said as she grinned evilly, her looks morphed back to Selene as she leaned forward once more. She was no longer dressed in her normal shirt and pants but in a very revealing low cut high rise dress.

“I could be anyone you wanted.” Zara whispered in Lucius’s ear. Lucius stood there rigidly refusing to look at her. Zara traced little circles on his chest.

“It’s not the same thing. I could never be Selene’s lover; she has already chosen someone else.” Lucius said pushing her away again. Zara morphed back to her own face.

“Then what is stopping you from loving me?” Zara asked him.

“Maybe it’s because you’re evil?” Lucius said.

Zara growled at him. Lucius stood there looking at her like a parent looks at a confused child. This made Zara even more frustrated and she snapped her fingers. Lucius was no longer standing in the corridor but in complete blackness.

He sighed, “Zara, let me out.” No answer came. Lucius called out to her again, raising his voice a little; still no answer from the darkness. Lucius started to get a little nervous till a red glow came from behind him. He slowly turned and came face to face with Zara’s eye, except it was twice as big as he was.

Lucius was slightly startled and stepped back. The eye followed him. Lucius got over his initial shock a stood his ground. The eye moved back slightly, reassessing its position.
“This is my head Zara, I control what happens in here.” Lucius said, the eye began to shrink back to normal size. It settled in the palm of his hand looking up at him. The eye dissolved into black smoke and rematerialized as Zara.

“Ok, so scaring you won’t work. But I have other methods.” Zara said grinning evilly.

Lucius was confused by this statement as Zara disappeared again. He turned around trying to see where she went off to; all there was, was blackness.