towerofanimus | Rude Awakening

Entry tags:

Rude Awakening

Characters: Darunia and you!
Setting: Floor 33
Format: Prose, but I can go action if you really want it.
Summary: Darunia is awake and confused and not very pleased.
Warnings: Injuries.

Those papers - they had to be wrong.

So Darunia had set out to prove them wrong - and see just where he was. The first few floors were just like the one he woke up on - full of more bedrooms. Then there was a floor full of chairs and windows. After that, though, was a room of darkness. Darunia made the mistake of trying to step out and see something - anything - and got cut and clawed a number of times for his curiosity. He stumbled back onto the stairs, rather shaken by the encounter, and proceeded onward. The next floor's tricky stairs gave him some trouble, but he managed to make it past with little incident, and went on until he reached the 33rd floor - how there were what seemed like whole islands for floors was incredibly perplexing on multiple levels. This one, though - this at least resembled Hyrule to a degree. There were things growing. There was life here - and it seemed to be a good spot to pause and recover from that dark floor.

Some of the wounds are deeper than others, and there's likely a number of fresh breaks on the stones that cover his back. Darunia seems more annoyed by them than anything, though. The sound of footsteps gets his attention, though, and he turns to see who - or what - is approaching.

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The sound from those footsteps was small, like a child. And soon, the pirate comes into view with her hair loose rather that pulled up into the tight bun it's usually in. And that makes her look startlingly alike Zelda, which she kind of likes because her ancestor is pretty awesome. And said pirate has a pair of skates slung over her shoulder, the pair that Rhyth gave her.

"'Hoy!" As soon as Tetra spotted the Goron, she waved and called out.

It seems disorienting things are the order of the day. Darunia gathers his wits about him and straightens up, peering at the girl. She did resemble the princess quite a bit, but...well, she was a child. "Greetings, miss," he answers, though he seems confused that he can be seen.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the tower, it's another world than the one you know apparently. The people here say they saved us." Tetra doesn't appear entirely convinced. She's starting to think it might be true but she had no way of knowing. Not for sure. So long as she had family here, in Zelda, and had her Link, she was content enough.

"It kinda sucks sometimes though. People can die here a lot."

"Saved us..." Darunia repeats it, as if to make sure that's what he heard. "That can't be right, Link saved Hyrule!" It's said as if it were an obvious thing - after all, the girl looked Hylian, so she should know. And Link wouldn't be in charge of a tower where people died...

Wait.

"...die a lot?"

"Oh, you're from Hyrule? I got to see the castle not long a'Fore I came here. Only the basement though, the King said I'd be safest there." THE KING LIED. Oh wait, yeah, they were talking. Focus Tetra, don't let your childish mind stray.

"Yeah, but they come back. I guess the people in charge here don't like us dying permanently or something. I saw some people die the first day I got here, it was really bad." Damn, now Tetra would just love to go and curl up with Zelda because that made her sad.

"I am!" Darunia straightens up, and slaps a hand against his belly. "I am the wild Darunia, big boss of the Gorons!"

His head tilts a bit - and the words the girl says are rather unnerving. "...what terrible sort of people would do such things?"

"I never met a Goron before, 'specially not the boss of 'em all. They probably live on an island we ain't never charted. The Great Sea is pretty big."

The whole tower was unnerving but Tetra was A BRAVE PIRATE so she tried to look nonchalant about it. Tried.

"The administrator people here. I ain't met any of 'em though and I don't wanna."

Cue one confused Goron. "The Great Sea? I don't know of any body of water with that name."

There's a low and perturbed grumble at her response about the admins. Clearly, swift justice should be dealt upon them. "Where are they?"

"It's the sea that was created when the Goddesses flooded Hyrule." Duh! Everybody knows that but... Okay, apparently not. That was just weird.

"Dunno, I never seen 'em before. Apparently they sometimes talk on the network but I ain't seen 'em. A'course, I don't really pay much attention to it."

So, funny story, he was just minding his own business, doing his morning run, and at first, he thought he saw a rock. Maybe a really big boulder or something.

And then it...moved???

And it's apparently not a rock but a rock...type person entity...??? He'd probably go along the lines of saying "Demon", but he has a bugman demon guy for a roommate and he's a pretty alright guy. This guy also might be hurt, but it's kind of hard to tell...

Whatever, Tatsuya's jogging over to him anyway. "Hey!"

This is certainly a strange day - first, all that happened prior, and now there's someone talking to him that isn't one of the other Sages, or Link - not that Link's around.

How wrong he is about that bit is yet to be seen, though.

This boy is clearly not a Hylian, either - quite an odd sight to the Goron. Once Tatsuya gets close, big round blue eyes regard him with confusion. "...hello." Who are you, strange boy, and what do you want?

And he's...talking.

Thaaaaaat's nice.

If there was a hint of shock on Tatsuya's face (there was), he gets rid of it pretty quickly and approaches a bit slower.

"You alright?"

Darunia grunts, then straightens up with a scowl. He can't appear to be less than alright in front of a stranger! "I am fine!" He folds his arms defiantly, then looks around for a moment before looking back at Tatsuya.

"Though I am unfortunately not sure where I am."

Zelda is not very good at gardening, to be frank. Neither half of her life has really lent itself to spending a great deal of time in one place, digging around in the dirt. But even so, watering the plants isn't that difficult, and it's the least she can do while those who usually tend certain gardens recover from the Tower's latest trial.

And so she descends the staircase to the farmland floor, a bucket of water in hand. ... Which she very nearly drops when she notices someone quite familiar resting nearby.

"Darunia?"

Now there's a familiar voice - though given what's happened to him already, he's not certain that hearing it is a good thing. He pushes to his feet, and regards Zelda with a nod. The water bucket gets an odd look - why would she be carrying that? And...well, there's a lot of other questions and frustrations swimming around in his head, but one rises above them all.

"What's going on here?"

"Something no one here quite understands, unfortunately." Goddesses know she'd love a more complete answer herself, but, well...

Setting the bucket aside for now, she steps forward into conversational distance, and... in a sense, to make certain what she's seeing is real, and not just a trick of her tired mind.

"We have been brought to this place by five people who claim our worlds have been destroyed and they are our saviors. Their words are not to be trusted, however; they are cruel and without compassion, using us as though we are little more than toys or guinea pigs."

That's the best she can do, right now.

Darunia's usual frown grows deeper - and is tinted with disbelief and confusion. The Princess has no reason to tell him any lies, but what she says...

"Destruction would be untrue - we just saved Hyrule..."

He's not sure what else he can say - trying to get his head around this is tricky enough.

"And the Goddesses would not allow their creation to be obliterated so completely."

At least, that's the hope she's grasping onto. After everything she's been through, both here and in Hyrule, she just... cannot accept that all her efforts have ultimately been for naught.

"Destruction is merely what our captors claim, and they have hardly been forthcoming with the truth in the past. I would take their words with a healthy amount of doubt."

There's a grunt, and he folds his arms, nodding at Zelda's assumption about the goddesses. "That makes sense."

His scowl remains in full force. "Untrustworthy individuals who would attempt to make us despair over our home..." He makes a disgusted noise. "I do not take well to being deceived."

"A goron?"

Well wasn't this a sight for sore eyes! This floor and the forest below it were wear Fado had been spending most of his time, so it didn't take him that long to spot the large fellow. His Violin was half-rested on his shoulder and collar bone, while his bow hung loosely in the air.

"It's been quite some time since I've seen one of your kind. Although you're looking a bit more chipped than I believe you should be." A bit of a smile at his own joke, though not to undermine how severe it might be! "Do you need any aid?"

"Eh?" Darunia grunts at the voice, and peers around for the source of it - ah, a short fellow. Dressed very similar to Saria and Link, at that. "A Kokiri?" Darunia rubs his head, trying to make sense of things. "Did I stumble into the Lost Woods? I've heard the rumors of the strangeness of the place, but I never expected anything like this..."

The question gets a shake of the head. "I do not!"

"Oh no-- the Lost Woods are far away from this place." He spoke oddly...fond of that place. They weren't really supposed to go there, but it'd be a lie to say he hadn't gone in on more than one occasion. Hadn't gotten lost though!

"Though I am glad you are not to hurt, Sage of Fire. I suppose I shouldn't suspect anything less from your kind." Oh man he's meeting another one of the old sages oh boy oh boy oh boy-- "Though this is not the Lost Woods, it is equally as unforgiving on those ignorant to its ways."

Darunia stiffens, and suddenly regards the Kokiri with suspicion. "...how do you know who I am, little one?" The only ones who know at this point are...well, the other Sages, Ganondorf, and Link.

Though, wait - something feels odd in the air, now that he considers it.

"...and just what are you?"

The suspicion didn't seem to affect Fado, as he simply tilted his head ever so slightly.

"Why, it would be a sin not to know you-- you and your fellow Sages are legends for your aid in the Hero of Time's defeat of the King of Evil." The smile growing on his face if that were even possible.

"I am a Kokiri, of course, as you previously ascertained."

With the way Fado had worded that, that only gave one real possibility.

"You hail from our future?" The question is asked as if it were a normal thing - considering what Link had done to restore Hyrule, the idea of time travel isn't exactly far-fetched.

He nodded-- he expected Darunia to come to the logical conclusion in the end, and sure enough he didn't disappoint!

"Correct!" He emphasized with a flick of his bow. "My time comes many years after the Hero of Time's deeds saved the Kingdom. My friend and I were requisitioned to protect the power of the Master Sword after their time had long since passed."

"To protect the Master Sword," Darunia starts, stroking at his beard a bit before fixing Fado with a curious look. "...then clearly, you are much more than a mere Kokiri, to have such a duty."

See how similar to Hyrule that floor is, Darunia. Hyrule isn't really Hyrule without an evil presence polluting it, and soon enough that evil presence could be felt as another being originating from Hyrule enters the floor. Another King ruling over his people. Except that this one King tried to feed Darunia's people to some kind of lava dragon.

Now that's ironic. That's the third sage Ganondorf met in the tower. Zelda, Saria and now him. Four if you counted Fado, even though he is a very different kind of sage. Ganondorf laughed when he spotted Darunia and walked past him.

"My, they're really taking everything and anything in this tower now..."

What.

That voice was unmistakable - as was that presence. The darkness that came to Goron City not once, but twice. The darkness that poisoned Hyrule as a whole for seven years. Ganondorf looked rather different than the last time Darunia had seen him, but this was unmistakably the Great King of Evil...

"You. What are you doing here?! You were sealed away!"

Oh, that's beautiful, he'll never get tired of his enemies' faces upon seeing he got away from the Evil Realm. Especially this one... Gorons are so easy to anger. The most resistant specie in all of Hyrule, but at the same time probably the most amusing one...

"Did you think your pathetic magic would hold me forever?"

He stops in his track, not turning to face Darunia but his smile could be felt even so.

"I escaped of course."

Easy to anger is correct, and Darunia's quickly proving that statement to be quite true.

"So you did - we sealed you once, however. We can certainly do so again!"

"I am afraid you cannot. You see, I am from what you call the future."

A chuckle.

"And the last words I uttered before you sealed me? I made them a reality."

Hear: murder your descendants. Exterminate the bloodline of the Sages. Prevent anyone else from ever sealing him back into the Dark World. Obviously this is not entirely true, as proved by Tetra and Fado. But this is not entirely a lie either. To escape the Dark World, one needs to crystallize the Seven Maidens, descendants of the Seven Sages...

If looks could kill, Darunia would be a hero to Hyrule as a whole right now. His expression is primarily one of anger, but there's a fair amount of shock and horror in there as well. He'd deny it, but...well, Ganondorf is in front of him.

A song could be heard through this place. A familiar one, once played by a boy for a troubled leader.

Darunia wasn't the only one looking for a place like home. Saria couldn't hear these trees. In fact it was eerie how silent this place was. But, once she played out that melody, it all seemed a little better.

But now, does the Goron follow?

He does, because that song is a welcome distraction to the confusion plaguing him, and serves to chase it away, if only momentarily. He follows the sound to its source, and finds Saria playing it, rather than Link. Either way, she's a familiar face. He speaks up, his boisterous voice easily heard over the ocarina.

"Saria!"

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Rude Awakening

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oops when did I miss this

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