A.N. Guess who's back, it is me I'm back. It's been awhile hasn't it, but I told you guys I was going to finish this story and I am. So I'm back with a chapter, and hopefully more to come. I'm about to take my vacation from work, so I'll actually be free of everything work, class, and all that jazz.

Chapter 26

"Wait Samus isn't a robot? I didn't think robots could bleed." If looks could kill Bowser would be dead several times over from the glare Zelda shot him. The koopa king immediately shut his mouth, and Zelda went back to tending to the hunter. Samus lay on the hard cave ground while Zelda sat next to her prone form. The royal hands hovering over the wound marring Samus' throat focusing her magic into healing her.

It seemed Samus was intent on either giving Zelda a heart attack or stopping her heart completely, as that was the only way the royal could think to describe the feeling of watching Samus fall unconscious. With her magic thoroughly entangled in the hunter's being, she felt the shallow beat of her heart, sluggishly trying to keep functioning.

Thankfully Zelda managed to get the wounds to close yet again, but the hunter remained unconscious. Zelda wanted to scold the hunter for being so foolish and stubborn, but Samus lay unmoving. The lights and visor on her armor were a harsh red color, no doubt signaling the hunter's critical state.

Letting out a breath Zelda removed her hands from the hunter feeling drained. Magic took energy and Zelda has been using a lot of it. Besides having to pull the hunter from the brink of death wasn't the most calming situation to be in. She covered her eyes for a moment with her hand taking a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Zelda uncovered her eyes to see Link standing next to her worry covering his features. Behind him Popo and Nana stood both looking equally concerned. Zelda shook her head trying to gather herself.

"I'm fine, just a little tired…" Zelda had to pause feeling the throb of a headache coming on. She was extending herself too much, conjuring fire was one thing but Zelda was using a lot of healing magic to keep herself and the others moving. Especially with wounds as grievous as Samus'. It looked like Link was about to say something when Bowser spoke nervously tapping his claws together.

"Uhh I hate to be the one to point this out, but you should probably get your metal friend up and moving soon. I don't doubt that shellhead Ridley sent people out to look for me. If they find us all, I doubt it will be a good time with half of us already beaten down." Zelda frowned, there was always something. Shakily Zelda stood, getting concerned looks from the younger fighters.

"Maybe you should sit down for a bit, you look kind of pale Zelda." Nana said, the ice climbers holding hands both looking equally concerned. Zelda shook her head, they had to catch up to the others first.

"Bowser can you carry Samus?" The royal was under no delusion that she could lift the hunter in her heavy armor. She would have preferred it if she could though, not trusting the koopa king to not drop her. Bowser shrugged approaching the prone hunter.

"Be careful," Zelda ordered, watching the koopa king heft the metal clad warrior into his arms.

"Heck, heavier than they look…" mumbling to himself, Bowser lifted the hunter up though one could tell he was struggling with his own injured arm. Both Ganondorf and Ridley were none too pleased that he had decided to defect, and their minions did quite a number on him. Normally Zelda would heal him gladly, but she felt too drained at this point. She wouldn't be very useful if she passed out too, and she needed at least some energy on reserve in case Samus' life took another downturn.

"Make sure to support her neck, if that wound opens again I don't know if I'll be able to close it." Bowser nodded in understanding steadying the dead weight in his arms. Zelda let out a small sigh of relief when the hunter stayed stable, the wounds not reopening. While Zelda wanted to get a clearer story of what happened to the two Mushroom Kingdom residents hiding out here. Some things were more important, and getting themselves to at least the somewhat safety of numbers with their allies certainly was. Plus Zelda would imagine the Link of her time and the others would have secured the Halberd by now. Making the vessel at least a somewhat safe place to regroup.

"Okay, let's keep moving we have to find a flying ship called the Halberd." The younger fighters and Luigi still gave Zelda concerned looks, though none of them believed they could sway the queen. Lucario simply nodded in acceptance while Bowser didn't speak too busy trying not to jostle Samus too much and face the royal's anger.

The small group continued their way down the mountain leaving the cave. This time Zelda telling the ice climbers to direct from the rear and cover Bowser in case of an attack. Link trotted in front of Bowser shooting worried looks Samus' way every now and again. The two koopa troopers and gooba walked behind Bowser with Luigi. Meanwhile Zelda walked in front with Lucario who walked by her side without a word.

Eventually as they moved Link started talking to Bowser asking him questions about his world. The ice climbers talking to Luigi getting his side of the story of how he ended up with Bowser. The younger of the plumber brothers stating he got separated from Mario before the fighting even started, and had gotten lost.

Zelda only paid a small amount of attention to what was being said. Instead keeping an ear out for anything out of place. She could feel Lucario's eyes on her, but mostly ignored it.

"Your aura is tense." The pokemon spoke suddenly, gazing at the royal. The others mostly ignored or didn't hear him speaking. Zelda hummed showing the pokemon she heard him.

"I'd say this is a fairly tense situation we're in right now." Lucario grunted in acknowledgement still staring at the royal.

"Is there something else?" Zelda questioned, Lucario stayed silent for a moment before answering.

"I am trying to understand your motives. You nearly depleted all your strength to heal the metal warrior. You are clearly from different worlds, why risk so much for them?" The royal wasn't phased by the question. She had seen the looks Lucario had been giving all of them. The pokemon was wary of them, and now he was trying to get a read on his new allies to see if he could trust them.

"Samus and I are very close we met last tournament, and have spent quite a lot of time together since then. I would do everything I could to save any of you from death though, including you." The look Lucario gave Zelda told her he doubted the royal. The pokemon was clearly an actions over words kind of person, so Zelda didn't let his suspicious look get to her.

"I am cautious of humans, I apologize if I have insulted you." Zelda waved him off not feeling insulted at all.

"No harm done, though if humans bother you technically the only humans here are Popo, Nana, and Luigi. I would hope you are not threatened by them." The queen spoke in a light tone gesturing to the two teens that were talking animatedly with Link. Lucario's ear twitched tilting his head in confusion.

"You appear rather human to me," Zelda shrugged, not committing an answer letting Lucario form his own conclusions. They were silent for a moment before Lucario spoke again.

"You are a ruler of some kind correct?" An eyebrow rose at that, Zelda wondering where the pokemon was going with this. Perhaps it was just curiosity.

"Correct, Queen Zelda the XIV of Hyrule at your service, but you don't need to call me queen. I'll hardly be one if our worlds get destroyed." Lucario made a small hum agreeing with the royal's statement.

"You seem rather adept at combat for a queen." Again Zelda shrugged, not looking at the pokemon simply watching the path ahead for any dangers.

"I'd prefer not to fight, but sometimes it is a necessary evil. If I could talk the villains out of doing this I would, but sadly some are beyond words." Lucario held a curious expression listening to the royal. Probably wondering if the royal was being truthful. The pokemon was silent for several moments. Almost long enough for Zelda to believe he was done talking with her.

"Your right hand," the pokemon spoke up again leading Zelda to raise an eyebrow.

"Yes? What about it?" Of course Zelda knew where the pokemon was going with this. He no doubt notice the triforce glowing brightly while she was healing Samus, and if not that the golden mark was hard not to notice emblazoned on her hand. It was one of the reasons Zelda always wore gloves, but the royal had abandoned them at some point during this crisis. They probably had fallen apart during one of the many fights they had gotten into.

"...Nothing, who is on this ship we're looking for?" One could tell Lucario was still wondering about the triforce on Zelda's hand, but Zelda didn't have the energy to worried about what he thought right now.

"A couple friend's of ours that are trying to solve this crisis as well. We stand a better chance stopping this if we regroup together." Lucario's eyes narrowed his ears lowering at Zelda's words.

"What are our chances of finding this ship though? It seems highly unlikely that we'll find a ship in this vast world that is already falling…." Before Lucario could finish his sentence a loud rumbling sounded out in the air. Everyone stopped moving looking up from behind the mountain with a roar of rushing air a mass of metal flew over head.

"Found it." Zelda deadpanned giving Lucario a small smile before looking back up at the massive ship that flew over head. However the smile was quickly lost as the reason the ship was speeding across them was made clear. A second ship sped above, this one was vaguely familiar almost like Fox McCloud's ship, but it had red highlights painted on its hull.

The smaller ship zipped around The Halberd peppering the larger vessel with laser fire. Strangely the Halberd didn't fire back its large cannon mounted on the deck staying still unmoving as explosions rocked it.

"Bowser!" Zelda snapped, they had to do something none of them had the range to hit the fast moving ship. Even Zelda's din fire would be too slow to catch the ship, and if it did hit it didn't have the power needed to bring it down. Link had his bow and arrows, but Zelda doubted arrows would even put a dent on that ship. If Samus were awake she could easily shoot the vessel down, but that clearly wasn't an option.

"Ya?" The Koopa King stuttered, no doubt worrying if he had done something to upset the queen.

"How is your other arm can you throw something?" Bowser gave her a confused look as did the others, but now was not the time as the Halberd continued to take fire. Explosions rocked the ship's engines, the large ship drifting a little farther before stopping.

"When that ship passes by again throw me up to it." Zelda ordered, and Bowser's eyes widened. He glanced at how the smaller ship did circles around the Halberd always passing above the heroes within moments.

"You sure that's…"

"Just do it Bowser we don't have time!" Bowser jumped at Zelda's harsh order, he nodded gently laying Samus on the ground before he positioned himself to throw. The ship did another pass and Zelda jumped, her feet landing on Bowser's palm, and then as the ship circled for another pass Bowser threw the royal with all his strength.

Air went rushing pass Zelda, and the queen quickly used Farore's wind to push herself even farther. Then just as she heard the ship wizing towards her she summoned her magic Zelda being replaced by Sheik.

She hit the cockpit of the ship hard feeling several bones in her legs crack, but it didn't deter the sheikah. Red eyes narrowed at the being flying the ship in the cockpit below her. A wolf human creature gazed shocked at the person standing on his ship. Shock was quickly replaced with anger, and Sheik saw the wolfman tap several keys before the ship sharply turned on its side.

Sheik knelt down grabbing the edge of the ship as it flew on its side trying to shake the sheikah. Dangling from the ship Sheik held firmly on with one hand while the other pulled a deku nut from her pocket. Closing her eyes Sheik smash the nut against the cockpit causing a blinding flash to resonate.

Immediately the ship shuddered as the pilot was blinded, and the ship went out of control. Sheik held on trying to find a safe spot to jump off to, but the ship went barreling down towards the mountain. The ship was spinning and she couldn't see straight the world spiraling too fast.

She vaguely heard a chorus of no's and several screams to jump. Sheik didn't have to make the choice to do so, as her fingers slipped from the ship's hulled and Sheik went flying the last thing she heard was an explosion of the ship crashing into the mountain.

The sharp beeping of her suit's warning system was the first thing Samus came to notice. A harsh noise that Samus has heard more times than she could count sadly. Her body ached pain shooting through her chest and neck reminding the hunter why the suit was warning her so.

Sluggishly Samus opened her eyes, noting that there was nothing but a metal ceiling above her. Blinking several times, Samus disregarded the warning flashing up on her HUD. Slowly the hunter sat up seeing now she had been lying on a bed. Looking around she appeared to be in some infirmary she'd never been to before.

At first nothing caught her attention, and the hunter pondered what happened. The last thing she remembered was finding Bowser and Luigi in the cave, and then... Zelda! The hunter sprung up from the bed spotting the hylian laying on a bed not to far from the hunter.

All pain forgotten in the moment Samus rushed over to the royal noting several bandages wrapped around her head and even more covering several injuries.

Quickly Samus activated her scan visor checking the royal over.

Life signs detected, no data on Hylian species to cross reference for a healthy standard. Several broken bones detected, injuries cataloged, burns extending on hands to upper arms, three fractured ribs…

Samus gripped the bed Zelda was laying on tightly as her suit continued to list the many injuries the royal had obtained. Had Zelda obtained all of these while she had been unconscious? The burns and several other injuries were from earlier, Samus had already taken note of them. These breaks were new though, had they been attacked while she been passed out.

Silently Samus cursed herself for her own foolishness she had allowed herself to flaunter, and Zelda had been hurt while she had done nothing. Idly the hunter gently took Zelda's unmoving hand holding it perhaps for her own comfort.

If only she had the ability to heal like Zelda did. Samus wouldn't admit it outloud, but she especially envied that power Zelda had. The power to heal others, to give life back to those even on the brink of death. How many people could she have saved if she had been able to heal them instead of only being able to fight, kill, and destroy. The power suit she wielded was a weapon of war the Chozo had created long ago, but even they stopped using it preferring to solve their problems with peace rather than violence.

Samus watched the shallow breaths the royal took, the motion calming some of the hunter's nerves seeing Zelda still drawing breath. The hunter jumped hearing a door slide open training her arm cannon at the sound Samus relaxed slightly upon seeing the familiar face of the hero of time standing there. Like all of them no doubt Link was looking a little rough from fighting, but not as worse of as Zelda or Samus who still had blood staining her armor.

"You're awake! Thank Farore! You had us all worried there metalhead." Link grinned, and finally Samus lowered her weapon. She didn't sense this was another one of those creatures copying their forms, so she relaxed slightly.

Link approached her glancing at Zelda who still lay behind her. He frowned, then looked back at Samus his grimacing at the sight of blood.

"Alright, you with me, you're getting a drink and maybe cracker or two. You look like half your blood is on the outside." Samus was ready to protest not ready to leave Zelda's side yet. Link seemed to already know this though and spoke up first.

"Lucario is sitting outside, if anything tries to get in here he'll warn us. We're on the Halberd anyway we've got the ship pretty locked down now, so snack break let's go." Link's tone was surprisingly stern, a stark contrast to his usual more sarcastic personality. Glancing at Zelda, Samus internally sighed. She already passed out once, and got the royal hurt today, and Link was offering the chance to recoup a little. Samus would take what she could get.

Link grinned when Samus nodding accepting the hero's offer. Samus' body seemed happy to remind the hunter of the correctness of her choice. The hunter's vision swaying for a moment as they started moving. Samus shook it off willing herself to stay on her feet long enough to get the situation of what was going on now.

Link lead them to a large room with dozens of tables lined up, it must have been a cafeteria at one time for whoever manned the ship. The hero told Samus to sit down while he grabbed something. Samus reluctantly obeyed not enjoying taking orders from the green clad hero. She sat down at one of the many lunch tables leaning against the metal table grateful it had the strength not to bend under the weight of her heavy armor.

The hero of time came back moments later, a bottle of water and a steaming bowl.

"Glad we picked up those Lumas, they sure can cook." Link sat the food in front of Samus before rounding the table to sit across from her. Sitting down he was silent eyeing the food indicating he wouldn't talk until Samus at least drank something.

Reluctantly, Samus removed her helmet sitting it on the table grabbing the bottled water taking a long drink before sitting it back down. The cool liquid felt great, but Samus wouldn't admit it. Least of all to Link who was already looking far too pleased with himself.

"Great, so you've been out cold for about three hours. At least with us when we found you and the others. Ike, Meta Knight, Peach, and I have been flying the Halberd around trying to find everyone after you, and Zelda fell down the portal. Some star ship though started attacking us out of nowhere. No idea who it was, they looked like they were from Fox's world. Anyway we went to fly over the mountains you guys were on to escape when the thing blew the engines out. From what the others told me Zelda had Bowser throw her onto the ship as it flew above them, and she took it out. Took us a while but we found her where she fell off the ship, luckily she fell off before the ship hit the mountain." Link grimaced at the thought. Meanwhile Samus was internally noting to tell Zelda if she had to promise the royal to always come back to the royal. Then the same should go for Zelda, as Samus didn't want to think about the royal pulling off such a feat while Samus herself had been unconscious unable to back her up.

"Anyway you and Zelda are out of commision for a little bit. There's no way either of you can fight the way you guys are." Samus' eyes narrowed at that glaring at the hero who met her gaze evenly.

"Listen, I don't like it either but someone has to stick around the Halberd while we go out searching for other fighters. Since the Halberd's engine's are bust we have to go on foot. I know you want to go out and smash some bad guys heads, but we need someone to watch the ship. While you were out everyone already agreed that if you woke up. You would protect the ship, everyone else got into teams to search for more fighters or for wherever the villains are working from. We sent Marth and Yoshi out to look a while back and they've disappeared." The plan had some logic to it, but Samus needed to be out there defeating whatever threat was plotting against them. She hasn't played the defensive role since her days when she served the Federation.

"I'm going to check out the forest again. The one you and I first meet up in. If it really is Kokiri Forest from Hyrule then there should be a fairy fountain somewhere in there. A couple fairies should get us all back to full, and then we can kick Master Hand on his ass and save the world." Samus didn't know what healing priorities a fairy had, but since Zelda could spawn fire from her fingertips and heal people. She has learned not to question what things from Hyrule can do. It was clear she was still reluctant to agree to the plan, but Link gave her a grin to hopefully lighten the mood.

"Hey, one of us has to stay here for when Zelda wakes up. One of us has to tell her its our job to do crazy stunts, and it's her job to be the reasonable one and not send herself flying at a moving ship." Samus's lips upturned slightly, hearing Link joke did lighten the mood slightly. The hero grinned glad he did, and Samus took another drink before looking to the soup Link brought.

He saw the questioning look Samus was giving the food, wondering who made it as it appeared homemade.

"Right so you'll have these little guys to look after too while we go off hunting." Link called over to a room where the door was left open. Out of it three little creatures floated uncertainly out of. Samus tilted her head observing the creatures. They were vaguely raindrop shaped with stubby little arms and legs. Samus wasn't wearing her helmet though, so she couldn't scan the creatures to observe them more.

"Peach calls them Lumas, apparently they found their way into Subspace along with a giant dragon that tried to make a meal of us." Samus' eyebrow rose at the mention of a dragon, but Link just shrugged with a look that said "are you really surprised". Samus shook her head before looking back to the Lumas. The small creatures floating over to them, one was a bright gold color it was the largest and perhaps oldest of the three. It floated over landing on the table hopping over to Link and Samus.

"They can't fight, so best if they just stay on the ship." Samus nodded in understanding watching the three creatures idly. Link gave the creature a small smiled patting it before he stood up.

"Alright I'll be on the bridge getting ready to go. We're all be heading out in a little bit, so rest up a bit metalhead." The nickname Link had once called her in malice had lost all its edge to it, and now the name was said with the affection of a friend. Samus nodding not looking as Link left. She watched the Luma's for a moment before she sighed eating the food before heading off to meet the others on the bridge.

Not long after Samus finished the food, the hunter fully suited went up to meet the others on the bridge. The group was gaining numbers now that they had combined having Link, Peach, Ike, the Ice climbers, Meta Knight, Luigi, Lucario, Bowser and his few goombas and koopa troopers, as well as a newly dubbed Toon Link. After the shock of finding out that they had found a possible ancestor of himself, Link had taken upon himself to nickname the younger hero to end any confusion between them Toon Link had seemed equally excited to find a hero like himself, and just standing next to each other it was clear the two had already formed a kinship of sorts. Even still they were the underdogs at this moment. Master Hand had thoroughly ripped dozens of worlds apart by now while they had scrambled to regroup.

It was agreed on everyone's goal at the moment. While Samus had been unconscious after the fight with the ship that left the Halberd immobile. Meta Knight had managed to drift the ship in between mountains where the air was thick with mist and snow. Making the ship hard to spot, giving the fighters a small amount of breathing room for safety.

The others caught Samus up on the full plan while they were all together. Link, Lucario, and Toon Link were going to the forest to see if they could find the fairy fountain Link described. Peach and Ike were going to investigate a smaller mountain range not too far that the ship had passed on its way here. While the Ice Climbers and Meta Knight were going to look around the mountains around the ship itself, and make sure they were clear of any on lookers that might spot the Halberd. Finally Bowser and Luigi were going to search for the remaining scattered forces of Bowsers army. They were spread thin some even still following Master Hand's orders. Getting back the Koopa King's army would be one less asset that Master Hand would have. If any of them found sign of anyone they knew they were to investigate, but if they ran into trouble they were to return to the Halberd.

Last though Samus' job was to watch over the ship. Even in her damage state Samus could still do a lot of damage, and the goombas and koopa troopers were staying behind as well to provide further back up. Though Samus doubted the small mushroom and turtle people could do much against a foe like a space pirate.

With their plans made everyone headed off to their mission Samus watching as they left the ship quickly disappearing into the mist. The hunter internally sighed already not likely her more defensive role in this plan. The dull throb in her chest and throat reminded the hunter why she was doing it though.

Once everyone was gone Samus did a quick run down of the ship, checking every hallway, every closet, each room to make sure the ship was clear. Only once she confirmed the ship was free of enemies did the hunter allow herself to deactivate her suit. The power suit would repair itself automatically when powered down, and Samus knew she would need its full strength for later when they went on the offensive.

Only in her zero suit now though her wounds were made only more noticeable. Frowning Samus headed to the infirmary, glancing around Samus found some basic medical supplies, some bandages and disinfectants. It wasn't the first time Samus has had to patch herself up before. It was a simple matter to clean and wrap her wounds. Zelda's magic had already done most of the work for her.

Satisfied that her wounds were taken care of since she was in the infirmary anyway Samus went over to check on Zelda. The royal still lay in bed, breathing softly chestnut hair draped around her having fallen out of its normal braid at some point. Bandages were wrapped around her head, as were her hands. Her one arm was wrapped in a splint Samus assuming someone had set a broken bone there.

Samus spotted an unused chair not far away. She grabbed the furniture dragging it over to Zelda's bedside before sitting down. Leaning against the bed Samus took Zelda's hand in hers frowning at the bandages covering the normally slender fingers.

It was strange, now that there was a moment of peace the hunter could actually think on things not associated with their survival. More importantly on something that had been a constant in the back of Samus' mind, and would be in the forefront were they not in such a deadly situation.

Zelda loved her, the royal had said those words and kissed the hunter. It was something that Samus had never even considered happening to her. Samus had lived and fought monstrous creatures, murders, thieves, pirates, and parasites. Finding love was something she never had even considered being apart of her life. The Chozo who raised her never taught her such things. They raised her to fight, so that is what Samus did.

Samus wasn't sure what to do now, she loved Zelda. The hunter wasn't going to deny that. After losing so many people in her life without telling them just how important they were to her. She wasn't going to make the same mistake with Zelda, the hunter made the silent promise to herself to make sure the royal knew that she loved her just as much as the royal cared for her.

If they survived this encounter that was, Samus was always ready to accept her own death. There were even times in her life where she was completely ready for the end to come by her own hand if possible. Zelda however, Samus wouldn't accept the royal's death. Zelda deserve everything, she deserve to live out the rest of her life happily in Hyrule never having to lift a hand in violence again, because the hunter knew Zelda hated fighting.

Rubbing the back of Zelda's hand with her thumb Samus frowned. The royal would be angry at Samus for having these thoughts, but if it came down to it Samus would protect Zelda. She would survive this encounter, she had to.