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Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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His stare does not go without notice, even though she isn't facing him at the moment- spend awhile being unwillingly invisible, and you become oddly grateful of eyes gazing upon you instead of gazing through you. She turns to give the supposed stranger her usual warm greeting, smile faltering once she sees who it might be, and falling completely once her memory confirms it.

"Byrne?!"

Her incredulity echoes down the hallway, loud and obtrusive to her ears, and in her self-consciousness she covers her mouth with her hands, stepping back just once. The next phrase uttered is barely above a whisper.

"I don't understand..."

How? How is he here?! What forces could recall him from his... ascension with the other spirits? ("Death." She had almost thought "death." But that wasn't right, not according to Anjean, and the small comfort those words had brought was something Zelda held onto with all her might since then.) If this is some kind of joke, then it is a very cruel one.

Byrne didn't miss the surprise on Zelda's face, but why? She knew he was here.

So the two of them were equally shocked to see one another; it would almost be comical if not sad. And in another world, in another sense, Byrne would have wondered why Zelda was so shocked, but that barely mattered at the moment because he was surprised. She got her body back, and she remembered him, so clearly this all happened after he left Hyrule.

"Tell me: how did you get your body back?" It was the first thing he wanted to know. Because if she got her body back, then Hyrule was all right, right? He hoped. He would ask the other questions about the land afterwards.

"...What? Of all the things to ask, why that?" She glares up at him, confusion evident. "You were there!"

Surely he's not just messing with her? She can't imagine Byrne is the type to torment someone in this way, though a small part of her worries that maybe he does blame her for his lost life... It doesn't occur to her that he could be asking because he doesn't know.

"You... protected me, covered for me while I concentrated on reclaiming my body, and then..." She bows her head. The part that comes next is far from easy to think about, let alone say aloud.

He wasn't there. He had fled from Hyrule like a coward, fled from the train that she had kept him in. While he had hoped that his note about the Compass of Light would help them, he never truly knew, until now.

But all he could do was shake his head. He wasn't there. He didn't protect her at all. Part of him wished he had done so, because that would be the less cowardly thing to do, a way to atone for what he had done. Because... it was a sense of relief to see that Zelda had reclaimed the body that he had cruelly stolen from her, that Hyrule wasn't completely in ruin because of what he had done.

Maybe it was good that Byrne was in too much surprise to notice Zelda bowing her head or figure out the implications behind such.

"I left Hyrule well over a year ago," he said quietly. Could this be something with those skewed timelines? Nabooru was from several hundred years in Byrne's past, and there had been more than one Link here, all from different eras. Even so, it was so difficult to wrap his mind around, and he felt like he had back when he first arrived here, when he had found out about Nabooru's origins from the Old Hyrule.

"What madness are you spewing now? It's not been half a year since I last saw you!"

To say that she is bewildered would be a vast understatement, and boy if watching him shake his head like that doesn't make her want to strangle him. A million thoughts are flying through her head, none of which are helpful in making sense of the situation. Why would he deny being there? Why does he seem so infuriatingly sure about it? Admittedly, it isn't difficult to imagine him denying any good deeds he committed, but to outright feign amnesia? That's just too bizarre. This whole situation is too bizarre.

When Zelda mentioned the "half a year" thing, Byrne actually did return his gaze to her face. Because she was right about that. But in a way, he knew that she wasn't talking about the same period of time he was thinking of, even if it was half a year.

"I saw you half a year ago, but it was in this school. I haven't left since then." Perhaps he was more calm about this whole thing because he realized that the timelines could go all over the place here. When he thought he had died in that ridiculous test chamber that robotic sphere had concocted, it had all turned out to be a product of faulty time streams.

"It's possible that.... the time stream has been altered." He wouldn't have believed such a thing himself, but it was something he had learned so very shortly after arriving here that he had to accept it. "There is a woman here. From Hyrule. The old Hyrule, the one under the sea. Likely from several hundred years in the past."

"...I should think I would remember a place like this."

She doesn't feel half as dismissive as that sounded, much as she'd like to brush all this off as more nonsense. The problem is that his words don't exactly ring untrue to her. That he made mention of the old Hyrule at all was almost as big a shock as seeing him alive again. She wouldn't expect him to know of it- all she knew was the story her grandmother used to tell her, the legend of the Hero of Time, and that's hardly grounds for her to claim she'd recognize someone from that era straight off the bat.

The supposed existence of this "woman" lends credence to Byrne's suggestion, certainly, but... It's still a difficult concept for her to wrap her mind around.

"Hmm. So what you mean to tell me is that the source of our current confusion is a warped timeline?" She hadn't noticed it, but she'd begun to pace while she was thinking all this through. She stops at this point, turning to face him again. "That's what you would have me believe?"

Byrne narrowed his eyes slightly when Zelda spoke, claiming not to remember the school. So she didn't remember her brief stint here, much as Byrne didn't remember helping her get her body back in Hyrule. Either they had amnesia or the time stream was playing with them again.

"So you don't remember being here," he muttered. "More evidence to the timestreams messing up."

When she faced him, Byrne evaluated her briefly, noting that what he saw was indeed a solid body and not a transparent spirit. So Zelda really had her body back, and this was the Zelda he knew. Not some clone from some other generation. Unless there was another Byrne somewhere along the way, but he had no idea.

"It sounds convoluted and ridiculous, I know." He looked away again, feeling a semblance of guilt rise through his form, one that he felt every time he saw her. "I never believed it at first either."

She pauses a moment longer, perhaps trying to read him or maybe just for dramatic effect, then simply smiles at him.

"...Fine. I believe you."

He didn't know if she was toying with him or not, but he had expected to have to explain even further in an attempt to convince her. So when Zelda declared that she believed him, Byrne merely blinked.

Still... At least she had her body back. That meant that Byrne hadn't completely screwed everything up in Hyrule. But he had to know... what happened? Did they vanquish Malladus, or had she fled in as cowardly a fashion as he had?

He almost didn't want to know.

So then quietly, he finally asked: "What happened... to Malladus...?"

Well, why shouldn't she believe him? From what she can gather, Byrne stands very little to gain by lying to her about this. And anyway, in her timeline at least, he's already more than proven himself trustworthy. The difference between this Byrne here and the Byrne she knows... is only a matter of time.

To his question, her grin turns rather wry.

"Oh, well, I'm not sure I should say! I wouldn't want to spoil the ending for you." She lets that hang in the air long enough to juuuust border on cruel, then continues. "I suppose I can at least say he was successfully defeated."

Cruel how Zelda seemed to tease him like this. (But... he deserved it. In fact she was being far too nice to him for what he had done.) He waited in anticipation for her to tell him, but... he knew that the news would likely be good. He hoped. Because she wouldn't be nice to him if it wasn't. If he had ended up dooming the whole land, there would be no reason why she wouldn't be trying to kill him.

So it was like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders when it was revealed that Malladus was successfully defeated. So the mistake that Byrne had made was fixed, for the most part. But it was possible that Malladus had killed or hurt many before being imprisoned once more. He almost didn't want to know.

So his expression softened a bit at that news, his eyes losing some of that coldness. But there were a few more things he had to find out about.

"And what of Cole?" And his voice grew quieter. "Or Anjean?"

Zelda hesitates at his next queries. Anjean's departure is another sore spot that time hasn't quite healed yet, and she wasn't sure exactly how much detail she should impart. It's not out of any concern for Byrne's well-being so much as a desire not to rend the timeline any further. That there are people here from the distant past is already starting to worry her. How careful would she have to be, and exactly how careful has Byrne been so far?

"Cole was similarly defeated. Regarding Anjean's fate... I think she would prefer I withhold such information."

She smiles again, though her expression lacks any amusement or indication to tease.

"It isn't anything sad, but you are old friends, correct? I imagine she'd rather tell you herself. Considering this world's supposed propensity for warping timelines and pulling in both the willing and the not, it's not all that farfetched to think you'd get the chance. She also wished to have words with you, and I would hate to deprive her of any potential topics."

It was actually a relief to hear that Cole had been disposed of. Byrne had been working for him, but he had no attachment other than money and the possible power that Malladus could have given him. So he only nodded when Zelda told him the decent news. Hyrule was saved, then, from two horrible beings who intended to dispose of it.

But Anjean...

That could mean anything, if she didn't want to tell Byrne of her fate. Is it possible... did Byrne injure her enough? No, he hadn't injured her that badly, but if someone else got a hold of her...

"Very well." Perhaps it was better not to know. But he felt a pang in his chest now - she could be gone and it could be all his fault. He turned his head now, unable to look at the princess once more. As if he knew.

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Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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