The Twilight Princess

Sixteen

The late afternoon sun was still hiding behind the clouds. All the tombstones in the graveyard were covered in darkness from it. The graveyard was completely empty and quiet, like it always was. The souls of the departed did not like to be disturbed. Crows started to circle the dark sky above.

Kai carefully and gently cradled the recently passed Aria in his arms, trying to hold back tears, about to carry out the hardest procedure in his life. But with his father on the verge of death, he knew that this was not going to be the last time he would ever do it.

Kai walked toward an empty spot with a shovel and a blank tombstone next to it. He crouched down slowly and set Aria's body on the ground next to him. He then grabbed a nearby stick, and carved the words In Beloved Memory of Aria Kate Van Hashtings, 4780-4793 on the tombstone. Kai set the stick down, and stared at the newly carved tombstone for a few seconds, taking it all in. In his mind, he saw the words shift into that of his own father's. He sighed, popping back into reality. Then he grabbed the shovel and started to dig. "Kai?"

Kai stopped digging and looked behind him. Zoey scurried down the hill to him. "What is going on? And where's....." Both of their gazes fell to the ground. Kai looked up at Zoey, whose eyes started to water. "I'm sorry," he said simply. She grabbed onto to Kai's arms, and started to sob onto his shoulders. Kai closed his eyes and hugged her solemnly.

Back in town, the parade came to a close. Old Man Wahsit stepped out of his front door to watch the princess's closing statement. With the help of an escorting Zeru, her majesty climbed out of the royal carriage. Old Man Wahsit stepped closer to the crowd. "Well, well, well," the Twilight Princess said. The frightened villagers moved out of the way, revealing the old man. "What do we have here?" Her royal highness took heavy, slow steps towards him. He narrowed his eyes, and started to raise his cane in defense.

"Why, there is no need for that." Her fingertips barely touched the top of the cane, and lowered it. "Still thinking you can have everything, now do ya, your majesty?" The princess raised an eyebrow. "How so?" The old man let out a chuckle. "Exactly." The Twilight Princess quickly raised an arm lit with magical flames above his head in a flash, enraged. She thrusted the fireball at him, but he ducked just in time. The fireball missed and hit a building behind them.

The crowd gasped. The Twilight Princess turned to them. "You want this too?" She screeched. The crowd started to flee. "Oh you better run," she sneered. Fireballs flew everywhere. Pedestrians hid behind lampposts and clumps of snow. One fireball hit a lamppost someone was hiding behind. Witnesses watched in horror as the lamppost broke at the bottom, and collapsed onto the hiding villager.

The Twilight Princess smirked. "Who else dares to defy me?" Everything turned chaotic. Buildings and houses were lit on fire. Some even collapsed. Trees cracked and fell. Babies cried. Children were startled. Their parents were not strong enough to protect them. Several people had burn marks on their skin. Others were killed.

The Twilight Princess very much enjoyed times like these. When she had all the power, and there was absolutely no one there to stop her. Not even Old Man Wahsit. He had become weakened by her magic. "Now, now, now, who's next?" A defenseless child trembled in a nearby corner. The princess eyed him, and raised an ignited arm. "No! Not my baby!" The child's mother threw herself at the incoming flame. "No! Mama! No!" The child screamed, bursting into tears.

The Twilight Princess was about to do the same to the child, but then, something suddenly came over her. Seeing the child mourning the loss of his mother somehow reminded her of a situation she had been in when she was his age. She decided to spare him. "Hmph," she said, simply stepping over the mom's dead body. The princess tried to quickly find a new target, ignoring how weakness just got the best of her.