Lost In Termina Ch17

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Chapter 17
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A Broken Promise...
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It was quite a walk, and a lot of time to think about the journey. Jace snickered at the shivering guards. They obviously have never been this far in the forest before. Let alone, so close to the south-east borders of the woods. Iris found the guards being nervous nerve racking... It only made her nervous...
Iris nearly clung to Jace as they grew close to their destination. Jace took the first step out of the forest and into the open-skied area with a plateau's cliffside. It was very dead around the location, and appeared to be empty. There was absolutely no life around this cliff-like area. The land started to slowly form into the eastern canyons here. And walking out into the desolate, dead, small field around the abandoned work place gave even Jace a slight urge to walk back. It was indeed an old tunnel scrub colony, but it was obviously unused by Jace's kind now, and had been for generations. Something about the aura in the air made everyone uneasy. Skits remained silent, but his animal instincts were screaming to stay away... But he wouldn't allow Iris to go in alone- not counting Jace and the cowardly guards who're with her.

The blond boy forced himself to search the area despite his feelings on the moment. He had to wonder if there wasn't an underground tunnel that lead inside the plateau. Otherwise, they had some climbing to do. The dragalfos probably just flew in from somewhere up top, but the lizalfos had to have their own way.

The guards were no help, as even they were more shaky and scared than Iris and didn't know what to do.
"It's obvious they walk around the area, there's tracks everywhere. But still, they're slightly old and covered. I can't even tell which way they lead." Jace spoke up. It was then that Skits flew off. This called for an animal's instinct. He landed and walked along till he found a foot print in slightly better shape. Skits soon stared at it for a while, before slowly examining the area. His head popped up, before hopping in one direction quickly.
"I think he's onto something." Jace added, before motioning Iris and the guards to follow. They soon found Skits, digging and pecking at an area around a group of rocks. Jace cocked his head slightly before approaching, and he began moving the rocks.
"What...?" He looked down at Skits, who looked at him as if he did something wrong. Skits began pecking at the ground again. The blond boy realized it wasn't the rocks, but the ground below them. "Oh, the ground."
Iris had been walking over with the guards and she was close enough to hear him. "I could've told you that..." Iris responded with a groan.
Jace bent down to search the dirt. He ran his hand through the soft sand, before feeling a straight slick surface. "Huh?" He turned his hand around to knock on the slick surface lightly with his knuckles, and was a bit surprised to hear the metal clang! afterword. A leaf twitched, before wiping the sand away to reveal a metal hatch door painted like the ground. He looked to Iris, who'd given an uneasy nod in response.

Jace was careful and used all of his strength to lift up the large rusty passage door, as it made a long slow creaking sound- which made Iris wince. He'd guessed it hadn't been used in a while.
Jace stood, taking a deep breath, before looking to Iris. He then looked back at the guards with a smirk and pointed down the old dark stairway. "Heheh, ladies first!"
Iris giggled, then pushed Jace to walk on. "Just go."
The deku boy chuckled before walking down. Iris and Skits following close behind. The guards seemed offended- minus one that laughed, but was unseen behind the group... But a few couldn't push themselves to walk down that passage and stayed behind in fear, despite their queen's orders.

The dark tunnel way was covered in cobwebs. Iris gulped when she spotted a few lizalfos bodies laying near the wall, they appeared to have been there for a long time, and looked like they'd been in fights with others of their kind before they'd died.
Jace pushed through an old cobweb, of which Iris frantically tried dodging the remains that fell behind. The guards were so quiet, Iris and Jace kept forgetting they were there.

The deku boy perked up when he saw a light ahead. It flickered like a flame. He looked back at Iris, giving her a "Shush..." then peeked his head out, seeing the line of torches connecting with a much cleaner tunnel. He glanced in every direction only to find it clear. He motioned Iris and the guards out as he walked through and on the new tunnel path. It was much newer. Jace unsheathed his sword and held it defensively, but calmly. He felt maybe now they were on a common path of the enemy, and could possibly run into one at any given moment.
Iris reached back and gripped the hilt of her sword, but realized that- due to her jumpy nature, It probably wouldn't be a good idea unless she knew she had to have it out... In fear that she might hurt someone if something startled her. Though, Iris is a bit of a worry-wart.

The guards murmured and mumbled. Skits sat on Iris' head as usual, trying to keep a watchful eye out.
"I see something up that slope ahead, it looks like light. C'mon." He was careful as he walked up with Iris nearly clinging to him again. His eyes widened at the sight ahead...
"Holy Hyrule..." Iris began quietly.
"It's so... Deserted..." Jace added. The huge fortress was completely empty. Iris looked up to see that the stairways and ladders traveled all through the plateau- both up and down. She could see some steps countless measures up through caverns. There were levels and levels of tunnes and fenced cliffsides. Like a colony of ants had once lived here!

Jace looked around. He adorned a sharp-eyed look and a gleam in his eye. Moonlight peered in through a hole in the structure's ceiling miles up, casting light through this whole area down. The boy was feeling a bit sad that the ancient livingspace of his people had been vandalized by the dragalfos. "What have they done to this place...?" He asked sadly... Guards simply stared at the place in awe. Skits and Jace could feel the presence of something… A few things, actually. But it wasn’t a living thing, no. This felt supernatural. The presence of lives who most likely once dug these tunnels. They weren’t alone, and Jace could feel it in his head. His mark wasn’t hurting, but it pulsed lightly from the energies. Be it because it was so close to Ikana’s region or that there were just that many spirits in here, could not be for certain.

Jace lead on through this floor, till he reached the first flight of stairs. He looked up, and groaned. "There is no way we can walk all the way to the top... This place is so old, those outreachings up there are probably unsafe."
Iris walked along the wall as the guards followed her closely. "Shouldn't we have seen some dragalfos by now...?"
"One would think." Jace replied lowly.

"Hey, did you see that...?" A guard asked.
Jace took his attention to the guard. "...What?"
The guard gulped, "I saw something move over there..." He pointed in the direction of a large cavern door way.
The deku boy looked to Iris and shrugged. He held his sword out and he approached the cavern slowly. He felt rather irritated the guards weren't doing anything to help... However, it made sense given lizalfos and dragalfos are rather new to these guards... Such monsters aren't supposed to be in the southern territories. A shiver creeped up his spine when he saw something move in the darkness as well. Whatever it was, glared out at him wildly. Jace stopped, and the monster held its piercing gaze on him. It soon lunged out to bite Jace. It was a lizalfos, but it seemed wild and crazy. It slashed its claws at the boy violently. A claw grazed his arm, cutting him slightly. The boy exclaimed, but kept his mind on the battle.

Jace rolled onto the ground to dodge another heavier slash, before he came back up to swing his sword at its chest. It was a tough battle, and proved to be a challenge. One, two, three paced slashes- it let out a piercing roar and came crashing to the ground. Jace sent a heavy stab to it to finish it off using all of his digging-arm strength.
"... It was feral, I don't think it was one of them. The ones I'm used to seeing with the dragalfos are a little smarter than that."

"You mean it was just some wild lizalfos?" Iris walked up to it.
Jace looked on through the cavern doorway. "Let's try in here, that's where he came from."
"Are you crazy? There could be more in there!" A guard snapped.
"If you sissies aren't going to fight, then go back. I'm not stopping you. But the queen gave you orders... I'd think you'd follow those orders." Jace growled, before continuing on. Iris trailed behind Jace bravely. She was surprised some guards still followed. One guard in particular seemed very willing! A brave one, eh'?

She couldn't shake that uneasy feeling that something was about to happen, though. But she felt safer next to Jace, and remained behind him. Their bright eyes illuminated the dark path. It looked like some mining had taken place here for a while. There were holes in the walls, and some lizalfos were worked to death it seemed... The whole way actually looked recently used, which only left both her and Jace confused as to why it was so deserted right now.
"Something's wrong." Iris and Jace questioned at once. The two jolted and looked to one another. In embarrassment, Iris looked forward and chuckled. Jace only laughed, saying- "Great minds think alike." before adding "Are they expecting us?"
"Probably..." Iris replied. Skits shivered.
"If that's the case, then I guess we won’t be too surprised if they are... I mean, they did that to you last time at Ikana."
Iris nodded... "True."
"Keep your eyes open then for any movement. We're supposedly in the enemy's stronghold, we still need to be careful." Jace spoke up, as he gazed at his surroundings. Iris nodded.

Iris observed the area, making sure guards were okay every now and then. She looked up, noticing Jace was a little further ahead now. She caught up with him, not even realizing how long they'd been walking through these empty tunnels, walking along twists and turns. They had to be deep within the mines by now. To be honest, Iris was starting to believe they were lost. She looked back, the guards were still with them whispering amongst themselves.
Jace stopped to look at something on the ground. It was a piece of broken armor. He picked it up, and held it by a broken strap, before chuckling.
"What?" Iris asked, examining it.
"Makes for a good shield." Jace situated it to hold it like a shield. Iris rolled her eyes.
She continued. "Good for you, now let's go." She pushed him forward. "I want to get out of here."
"Okay." He laughed. He gave it to Iris "You need it more than I do."
She scoffed lightly at it and she tossed it down. "No thank you… I can hardly hold it."

Iris couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched- and not by the guards that followed her, but rather by a kind of energy. She soon noticed a small light growing larger ahead of them. Jace had noticed too, but never said anything about it.
"Jace..." Iris spoke, letting her fear take her tone.
Jace gave her an assuring smile. "It'll be okay." He approached the bright room. It was bright because it was an area inside the plateau with a smashed open hole in the ceiling. You could see the clear sky through it. Iris and Skits gazed up in awe, and Jace looked around. A slight noise made the boy turn. He saw large creatures coming from the shadows, which left him with no surprise.
"I guess you found our wild friend then?" A dragalfos spoke, speaking of the wild lizalfos from before.
"We were lead here..." Jace growled quietly. Iris caught a glimpse of others growing near from tunnels around the open area's walls. It all connected to one area like the underground stronghold did.

"The same trap huh? Not too original." Jace seemed almost disappointed. He pointed his sword and stood in a battle stance. Iris nervously reached back for her sword, and unsheathed it.
Minus a few brave ones, the guards shivered at the giants. They'd never seen so many large creatures in one place before, and had never even seen a dragalfos. They remembered their queen's orders, and forced themselves to try and walk out. A dragalfos jumped down in front of them and closed them into the tunnel. "Sorry, this is between us and the brats."
Jace groaned "Ah crap."

He looked to Iris and Skits. He then looked out at the dragalfos. "Alright, but I hope you all know that we won’t go down without a fight."
"We're not looking for a fight." A dragalfos replied in a gritty voice. "We seek the girl."
Iris jumped. Jace held his sword forward, glaring sharply. "Why?"
"Is that any of your business?" A dragalfos growled. "Our master needs her."
"For energy, right? Was I not good enough?" Jace barked in response.
A lizalfos grunted in reply. "That's just it, that stupid act you pulled... Our master is dying because of you."

"Good, someone had to do it." Jace hissed smugly.
"Give us the girl, now!" An angry dragalfos roared out.
Iris followed Jace's actions, and held her sword out. Jace simply glared. Silence filled the air, until he finally replied. "Over my dead body."
"Well then, that won't be a problem! Take her, men!!!"
"All this for me?" Iris' leaves drooped.
Jace replied with a scoff. "You should be flattered, I would be." Jace smirked, trying to make things seem better- even though he himself knew he was outnumbered here...

Jace ran forward and began trying to hold them off. Iris stood still for a moment, but snapped herself out of it. "No, I have to help!" Skits flew up high, he would've only gotten in the way.
Jace sent a heavy stab to a dragalfos' gut. Jace wasn't really even getting attacked, it looked almost as if the dragalfos tried to avoid him. Iris was doing more dodging than attacking, but she managed to get some slashes and swings in. When a dragalfos picked her up, she found herself panicking. Jace grabbed his knife out of a pocket on his rucksack, and threw it. It made a pretty harsh stab to the dragalfos' arm, causing him to roar loudly and drop Iris. Instead of chewing Jace out for throwing the knife like last time, she gave a quick nervous "Thank you!" before getting back into the fight.

Jace leapt up on one's head, and kicked its weak spot real hard. It fell into several other dragalfos as if it were a domino. Now on top of the crowd, Jace leapt from one to the other and stopped to land on one's head. He leapt into the air above a dragalfos from another's head to dodge its swiping claws, and twisted into the air, before putting heavy force into a throw with his arm. He'd sent his sword downward like he does his knives. It was a little off, but still managed to at least injure the monster. When he fell back to the ground, he grabbed his sword, and took the beast down.

Iris had grabbed Jace's dagger. "Jace, your knife-!"
"Keep it!" He replied while reaching into his rucksack with the moment he had, and pulled out and threw Iris its sheath. She hurried to put it in its case, not even replying.
She sent a heavy swing at a dragalfos' leg as it approached, causing it to come toppling to the ground. She jumped on its back and stabbed it in the head while looking away! Iris then glanced up, and watched other surrounding monsters come running to her. She then bounded out of the way, causing them to smack into each other. She smacked one of the dragalfos' attacks away shakily, before swinging her sword at its lowered arm. It cried out, before trying to grab Iris. She spat a bubble in its eyes, before running away. It clawed and scratched at its face trying to get the sticky bubble off...

Jace was so caught up in the fight, he'd lost sight of Iris eventually. This threw him into a small panic and he tried looking through the monsters.
"...Jace!!!"
The piercing cry caused Jace to stop. "Iris!?" He tried looking through the crowd frantically! "Iris!! Where are you!? I-I'm coming!!!" He attempted pushing through the monsters, only to be pushed back. Jace stabbed the blade into a dragalfos' foot, before dodging the monster as it stumbled forward painfully. Jace tried fighting through, but only became engulfed by the beasts.
"_{Jace!? Help!!! Where are you!?!}" Iris' terrified voice grew faint, before her cries could no longer be heard above the crowd. The worry in Jace only made him fight harder "IRIS!!" He swatted another dragalfos away as they continued to surround him, but they now began to attack him.

Iris was tightly held onto by a dragalfos, as it carried her away from the battle ground and through a stairway leading up and through a twisting tunnel. Iris continued to call Jace's name. But after her final call, she realized he couldn't hear her. The dragalfos busted into a room, before literally throwing Iris down to the ground in front of himself. She gave a squeak in pain before sitting up. She was about to turn to attack the dragalfos, but a large figure ahead made her freeze... His piercing acid-green eyes looking her over in hate. He growled as he approached her. She whimpered, but held a fiery glare. The giant reached down and clutched her body tightly before bringing her up off the ground in his hand.
"You've done me a great deal of pain... When I first met you, I didn't think much of you at first... But now I know who you are..."

Iris wheezed- due to his hand tightly clutching her. She managed to wheeze a reply. "I've never met you in my life!!" She tried spitting a deku nut, but she couldn't find the breath.
"Really now? At Snowhead, child, before you met Jace. Of course, those events were short lived." He glared her in the face. She scanned her memory, running over the awful time she had at the Snowhead fortress... But then, the one moment where she and the others were about to escape, she remembered coming face-to-face with a powerful dragalfos...

"Wait..." The powerful dragalfos of her past picked her up just like he was holding her now. The last thing she remembered of him, was him throwing her at the fortress wall painfully. She then growled, "You no good-!!!"
"Drack. You may call me Chief Drack. We’ll have no need for that. I don't have plans on killing you- at least not now. You have something I need."
"Whatever it is, you're not getting it! You could go and die for all I care, you're the whole reason I'm stuck in this Termina mess!!!" Iris shouted, trying to kick him.
"No, the fairies are. I merely ask for you to help me."
Iris growled. "I'd never help you!"
"You will if you care for your life. Or the boy's." Drack loosened his grip slightly. "There's so much your naive little mind doesn't know. You weren't just sent here for the fairies..."
Iris wriggled. "What good could I do for you?"
"Why're you asking me? You yourself may not know, but your spirit and heart does. Ask it, what has it been telling you all this time?"
"If you really want to know, it's been telling me to kick your-"
The dragalfos tightened his grip. "You know very well what I'm asking you!"
"No, I don't!" Iris spat.
Drack realized she really had no idea. "Tell me then... Do you fancy the boy?"
"What the heck does that have to do with anything!?" Iris shouted. "H-How would I know if you're asking me that!?"
"Do you!?" The dragalfos roared.

Iris huffed, "Why's it so important? It's not even any of your business and has nothing to do with our battle, that's mine and mine alone."
"Cut the crap, thief!!" He roared with a gritty growl, speaking the name with acid in his tone. Iris' face scrunched up, before growling, "Wha-? Don't call me that...!"
"Oh! Don't like it when I call you that, Iris...? Tell me the truth!" He used his free hand, and put his claws closely to her neck.
Iris gulped. "Fine. Yes, you happy? You're the first dang person to know, I like the guy, I do! It wouldn't have killed you to not know!"
The dragalfos stared at Iris for moment, as if waiting for something. A scared look soon took to his face. "No." He threw Iris down, of which she sent a heavy glare afterword. "_{This isn't right...}"
Iris was more confused now than scared...
The dragalfos chief mumbled to himself looking disappointed... He sighed, and he soon turned to Iris, and unsheathed the hidden blade at his side and pointed it at her. "... You're not the one I search for after all... I have no need for you."
Iris was now even more confused. "Would it kill anyone to tell me what the heck's going on?" She stared at the blade in her face. He rose it high up, before sending the edge of the blade down at her.
She moved, barely missing the blade. She reached for her sword, but it was gone. "Great, I dropped it back at the battle."

She squeaked when she had to dodge another quick swing from the chief's sword. She soon remembered that she had Jace's dagger, and decided it was her only way of battling at the moment. She wasn't very reliant on it, but it was better than nothing. She moved and weaved around the slashes he'd send. He wasn't very good with his speed, but his strength was incredible. The first time she faced him, there was no match and she was down quick. However, this journey had awakened a side of herself that had been sleeping for a while... Her speed and cunning was the only thing she could count on for now, but she wasn't going to turn tail and run for once.

Iris loaded and fired a deku nut, but Drack dodged it with ease, and smacked her with his tail. She rolled along the ground, before standing back up. He'd grazed her with an on-coming swing from his blade. She winced, nearly falling back. She held her arm where it cut her. It broke the skin. She dodged and moved, before finally swinging the knife at the leader's leg. He growled in pain, before falling forward.

Iris couldn't help but notice that the dragalfos was glowing a dark aura. Now that she paid attention, he's been glowing like that since she was thrown in here with him. It was an X shaped aura. The dark glow was mainly radiating from his chest, which was covered in thick armor. While the leader was down, she took advantage of the moment and jumped on his back to take a swing at the straps holding his armor on. He flew up and tried to grab her, but she held onto his wings when he stood up. The armor fell off, much to her delight. Iris had flung off his wings when he beat them forward, and she landed and rolled across the ground. She held her arm where the small fresh wound was to protect it from getting dirty, at least to her best power.

"Ugh..." She looked up at the leader, before something caught her attention. Lodged into the center of his chest, was a glass orb...
"Is that...?" From where she was standing, she could see things moving in the fairy's orb. It looked more like someone's view somewhere in the fortress.
The leader ran toward her, and this snapped her out of her stare! She got back to her feet completely to evade. He came to a skid, before turning around to face Iris once more. He continued to slash and swipe, but her speed was starting to enrage him. Iris cried out when the blade scraped her face right next to her snout. She fell to the ground, and soon reached for the knife that had slid out of her hand upon falling. Iris stared at him from the ground, when he lunged down, ready to send the final blow to Iris.
"Gack!?"

Iris winced, and his attack missed. His sword was stabbed into the ground next to her, and Iris had held the knife up when he lunged down, grudgingly twisting it into the hole in his chest! She stabbed as close to his heart as she could! And thanks to his force, it penetrated his chest nearly down to the serrated dagger's hilt. It knocked the glass orb out as it rolled along the floor…

He landed on his hands and knees before falling over on his side panting. Iris scrambled to her feet and away from him with dagger in hand, and she stared with a vicious growl in her voice. He looked like he'd die any moment.
Iris then reached down and picked up the Fairy’s orb, very much aware that the leader was still alive. She gazed into it cautiously.
Concern struck her. In the image of the orb, was actually the area her and Jace were in earlier. But the view she was seeing through was looking up at the dragalfos in battle. She could see everything Jace was seeing, every dragalfos he'd kill to all the dragalfos he'd already killed. She could tell by how he was moving, that something was wrong. She'd nearly dropped the orb in shock. "What the...?"

A deadened cackle escaped Drack as he laid on his side. "You better hurry... He won’t last much longer." He laughed.
Fear took hold of her face.
"I sense death coming in the future... I hope you know, that the boy and I are linked by the curse thanks to his last actions to save you in Ikana... Every blow you'd send me, he'd suffer it as well."
Iris breathed a breathless gasp and it was as though someone stole it from her. She took a hesitant step back. She didn't believe him... He continued to radiate a dark aura however, but it fizzled.
The chief coughed. "Game over."
The terrified deku girl soon ran out frantically without a second though, caring less of the chief now.

Iris found herself stumbling and tripping as she ran down the battle-twisted tunnel she'd been taken through before. As a thousand fears ran through her terrified mind, she could only focus on, "Please be okay. Please, please goddesses please be okay…
" She feared what she might find. The girl turned down a different hall, she hoped it'd lead her through a shortcut. Iris began approaching a large door after several turns and twists through the rocky maze. She only heard faint fighting behind it.

She bursted through the large door, pushing her body into it hard to jump through to the other side. Iris stood, frozen in place at the room that lay waste to several fallen dragalfos guards. It looked as if some might've fled. The blond deku boy still fought, with his sword in hand against a final dragalfos. Iris felt awful at what she'd seen. Jace had been fighting this whole time, and was still going. But he hardly even made any of his attacks successful. He was knocked around, thrown to the floor, and almost every hit from the dragalfos was one Jace took. She shook her head in disbelief. He was battle-worn, and wounded severely, and some of his leaves were fairly torn. She wanted to step in and shout, but the sight had left her frozen and unable to speak. She dropped the orb in her hand. Thanks to her height, it wasn't much of a drop, not even putting a crack in the glass orb. In such little time, all this happened... 'That’s not possible… Jace… He couldn’t have taken all these guys down on his own…'

Jace managed to jump back and dodge a heavy swing of the beast's tail. After taking a hit, Jace flung around and stabbed his blade into the monster's leg. This instigated a painful roar. The dragon- now injured, grabbed Jace in retaliation and threw him across the room. He was tossed heavily back-first to the wall, followed by a painful cry.

He used his sword to prop himself to his feet after he hit the floor, and began toward the monster once more.
"Jace!" Iris began to raise her voice. He still paid no attention. "What's wrong with you!? Get out of there!!"
Upon running up a rock, he twisted in the air when he jumped to dodge another attack just barely. He held his sword as if he was about to throw it like before. Iris realized what he was doing, because she saw him do this earlier. And now knowing the damage she did to the chief, had also weakened Jace. And now she knew why the leader wasn't fighting so well. Jace had taken quite the beating here too... Iris' eyes widened. "_{No. No. D-don't-!}No! No, JACE, STOP!!" Iris shouted. She just about ran out to him, but it was too late... He was airborne.

Jace used all his strength into throwing the sword straight-on at the dragalfos as he fell in mid-air!
The dragalfos, at that same time, lunged and swiped his large claws heavily and violently towards Jace!
SLASH!!
The dragalfos roared loudly, as the flying sword pierced its heart down through the soft part of its neck between the collarbone. It hit the ground, breathing and whimpering heavily as it died.
Jace was slung across the room with a brief, but painful and breathless cry, and landed a heavy hit to the ground, landing on his stomach.
Iris stood breathless. Everything had suddenly grown painfully quiet. A cold chill ran down her back at the sight of Jace taking that awful slash. Iris awaited him to stand... But he was motionless. Not one bit of movement.

"Jace...?" She breathed deeply. She felt like stone and was unable to move. She eventually forced herself to take those feared steps towards him, leaving the orb behind. Jace remained as she got closer. When she finally stood before him, she gave a breathless gasp. Her heart stopped when she'd noticed his eyes were open. She bent down and moved the leaves from his eyes, and soon backed away so suddenly, as if she'd been burned. She felt a knot in her throat. His eyes had no glow at all. She stared at his lifeless eyes, hoping to see a flicker. She swallowed the urge to cry, believing he was still alive. But at that same time, her mind knew what she saw.


"You can't be gone." Iris tried convincing herself. She hesitated, but gently rolled him over. The girl held her hand to her snout when she saw the gashes across his chest. It was the scrape she'd witnessed. Just one dragalfos was all it took to kill him. How he had avoided it till now baffled her. This whole time, she was having a harder time fighting back the urge to scream his name, just to see if he'd awake somehow. What made it even worse: she was mostly to blame for his death.
"Please, c'mon Jace." She leaned down and grabbed his shoulder, shaking him lightly. "No, you can't die yet!" She could no longer hold it. Her eyes became glassy as a single tear fell. It wasn't long till she began to cry harder. She looked down at the battle-scarred ground, and a tear hit her hand.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." She continued to mourn over him, before placing her hands under him. One at his back, one behind his head. "... Jace, you can't leave. You can't leave now... You just can't! Not after all this!" She held him to herself as she cried for him, unable to hold back her tears.

"I know in the start of all this, I was a jerk. I'm sorry! Goddess Hylia, why didn’t you stop me from attacking the chief? It’s my fault…" She embraced his limp body and leaned over him. Her head was lowered, only praying he'd come back.
She paused to huff heavily, before continuing- "You can't leave! If you leave, I… I... I'll never be able to forgive myself!!" It was here at her breaking point she lowered her head to his, pressing her forehead to his softly. Iris nuzzled his forehead, tears still flowing from her eyes. She looked to him with cracked and glassy-worn eyes. Her spirit lit up his face, and she could see how beat up he was.

"I don’t care where I am right now, I just want you to be alright! All I’ve done is bring you problems and peril… But you’re the only one who’s ever wanted me… I’m sorry I never answered you before when you asked. I should’ve told you… I DO want to stay in Termina… I don’t want to go back…"

She couldn't find the words. She no longer held herself back. With all the prayers in the world, she felt they couldn't save what she was losing. The only thing she truly realized she needed, and he was laying limp and dead in her arms. She kept her forehead to his, their snouts nudging at the sides.
"After all you’ve done, it can’t end this way… Don’t leave this world, don’t leave me here…" She paused... But soon, so quietly and sincerely, her heart finally shattered open. "_{I fell for you, okay? I care for you so much more than you know… I love you, Jace… I will say it a thousand times if I have to. You promised me you wouldn’t give up on life… Please, don’t do this now...} You promised me we'd be okay… You promised…" She slowly brought him down, losing herself in her sorrow and shutting her eyes. She breathed a raspy breath. She'd not known how she would be able to leave his side. It all happened too quickly for her. She may have only known him for a short while, but she felt like she was losing something far more... Perhaps this is what she'd truly been looking for? The thought of Jace dying so young hurt her greatly.

"... _{I.. l-love you... too...}" Such a broken and low voice echoed lowly in response. She felt a sense of ease when a hand softly caressed her cheek and wiped a running tear off. Her eyes flew open in shear shock, knowing well the hand that touched her face. She looked into the still colorless eyes of Jace, as he stared her right back. You could see through the pain on his face that he was overjoyed still. And... Alive. His eye's light hadn't been out at all. It was so dim, it looked as though. He was just so weak, he could hardly do anything. He was probably breathing through his leaves at this point- making him look still. He raised his heavy hand to move her bangs from her face, and wipe her tears.

"... _{I'm not going anywhere… I promise.}" He wheezed. You could see the relief on her face. Such a strong wave of emotion had hit her when he said that. Iris was so filled with joy and relief, and she hugged him. He groaned painfully, but despite that, enjoyed her hug. In response, he weakly brought his hand up to hug her the best he could.
"I thought I lost you Jace!!"
Jace just smiled, still having trouble finding the strength to say much.
"We need t-to get you help, now!" Iris spoke.
"_{Well... Then, s-should we be going?}" Jace weakly asked, reaching for her hand.
Iris nodded, and she tried ceasing her crying. "How?"
"_{Get me to my feet...}"
Iris shook her head. "You can't walk! You'll fall... Look at yourself..."
Jace coughed. "I'll be fine."
Iris shook her head. She couldn't stand looking at his wound. "Why didn't you stop fighting and run...?"
"I-I don't know. Everything beyond the time I lost you is a blur..." He looked around him, before continuing weakly. "I don't even remember taking down all these guards. The last thing I remember was that one second before I threw my sword..."
Iris held him in a close hug again "_{Don't ever do that again, please, don't ever scare me like that... I don't want to lose you again...}





To Be Continued...