YES IM STILL ALIVE! (Apologies are written at the end of the chapter).

XXXX

Richard's corpse fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Blood spurted out of his heart, pouring onto the floor and staining his tunic a dark red. He stole a glance over at the cage above the throne that contained his beloved daughter.

And then the light left his eyes.

Ganondorf chuckled. Richard had barely given him a challenge. It was quite disappointing actually. He had spent hours coming up with this elaborate plan to trick Richard into coming. It felt like such an anticlimactic battle…

His thoughts were interrupted as a mere soldier lunged at him. The Egyptian warlord frowned. He didn't have time for this...

XXXX

Marth watched as Link blindly charged at Ganondorf and was batted to the side like an annoying insect.

"If you would please leave me be for a couple of minutes I would be grateful." He bluntly stated as he turned to Zelda's cage.

"Young Princess…" He began reciting his evil monologue. He didn't get any further though as Marth slashed his back and sent him sprawling to the ground. Ganondorf was seething.

"You coward! How dishonourable you are to attack a man in the back!" He screeched. Marth frowned.

"You raise the undead, you kidnap my sister and you kill my father, and you still consider yourself to be human?" Marth rhetorically asked as Roy, Corrin and Ike walked up to his side. Robin was over by Link casting healing spells, unbeknownst to Ganondorf.

"All with good reason. You see, I was born for a greater purpose than this world. I was sent here for a reason your childish minds couldn't even begin to fathom!" Ganondorf bellowed.

"I shall fulfil this purpose!"

Marth and the crew quickly leapt to the side as Ganondorf threw a large sphere of darkness at them. While they were distracted, Ganondorf leapt off the ground and levitated in the air, far above the ground and far out of reach of anyone's blades. Ganondorf turned back to Zelda's cage and thrust his palm forward, preparing to use a spell.

"Young princess… Allow me to tap into your golden power!" He said as a beam of light shot out of Zelda's unconscious body into Ganondorf's hand, merging with his own dark power and turning into a sort of bronze colour. Ganondorf clenched his first, light seeping through his fingers, and smirked.

"Behold! This is not even my full power!" He screamed as he flew higher into and the air and plummeted straight back into the ground, slamming his fist as he did so.

A huge wave of bronze light made its way across the room and made a loud, drooping sound. Everything around every occupant of the room turned white and they suddenly found themselves in a very unfamiliar location.

XXXX

?

Marth looked around, understandably confused. The place they found themselves in was undoubtedly the same Cháuteau, but it had changed greatly. Some of the walls had crumbled away and the other remaining ones looked somewhat restored. Marth looked up and was astounded by what he saw. There was an a huge hole in the roof, which was to be expected from an explosion as large as the one Ganondorf had made, but now it was daytime. The sun was directly overhead, signifying that it was around mid-day.

"Marth!" Roy screamed in alert.

Marth spun around just in time to block Ganondorf from fatally stabbing him in the back. Marth jumped back so that Ganondorf couldn't follow up the surprise attack. The bronze power that the warlord of darkness wielded before had seemingly disappeared.

"What is it that you want now Ganondorf?" Marth questioned, hoping that he could stall long enough for everyone to get back on their feet and for Robin to finish healing Link.

"Nothing. You just looked so vulnerable like that, standing in the middle of a ruined hall, taking in the sights. I couldn't help myself really. But now that I am right when I want to be, I no longer need to quarrel with you fools. Farewell!" Ganondorf replied, and he suddenly disappeared, as if he had suddenly become one with the wind.

Marth sheathed his sword and began frantically looking around the room until he found what he was looking for, and sprinted over the fallen cage that sat in the corner, slightly obscured by some shadows.

"Zelda!" He cried when he reached. Sure enough, Zelda, still unconscious, laid inside the cage, her face looking a whole lot paler than before. Marth cursed, a tiny triplet of doubt creeping into his head.

"Robin!" He called. He looked back and saw the magician sprinting towards him, a fully healed Link hot on his heels, and Roy, Ike and Corrin not far behind.

"What the hell is going on?" Ike asked.

"Questions later gentleman! Robin, can you heal Zelda?" Marth asked desperately. Robin nodded and pulled out a tome.

"Ok, who here can break this cage without hurting Zelda?" Marth asked the group. Corrin stepped forward.

"I think my sword could cut through that." He pointed out as he unsheathed Yato and activated it's Omega form. Corrin started cutting the bars on the cage as Robin returned colour to Zelda's face.

Eventually, Zelda was out of the cage and fully healed, but she was still unconscious and Robin was laying on the ground, completely spent after the battle and healing both Link and Zelda.

"Ok, I vote we stay here for a while and just regain our energy. First of all, I ask again: what the hell happened?" Ike asked. Marth looked upwards again. It was still bright, but hours had passed since they arrived here. Wherever here was.

"Well for starters, I'm fairly sure that Ganondorf's Magic caused daytime to arrive extra-early. Ganondorf's Magic probably also caused the destruction to this hall" Marth pointed out. "That's all I've got though."

"Maybe there are clues outside the chateau? I could go scout ahead if you want?" Roy asked. Marth nodded, and Roy took off.

XXXX

Roy was worried the second he realised it was daytime.

He didn't want to just disappear when everyone was still dealing with the fact that something happened, but now that everything had calmed down and Zelda was well, Roy could finally go scout the area and convince himself that everything was OK.

The first thing Roy noticed was that everything was not OK.

Both the French and the English armies were nowhere to be seen. Everyone had disappeared, and strangely, so had their camps. This was the least of Roy's concerns however.

There were strange people EVERYWHERE. The people looked human enough, except their clothes were oddly revealing. As opposed to cloaks or armour, these people wore simple garments that failed to cover their arms. Many of them carried strange devices that they held up, facing them towards the chateau, but Roy's main concern was that a few of them were looking at him strangely, as if they knew something he didn't. Hoping that he could trust them, Roy walked up to them, but then realised that he was still in France and they probably didn't understand English. Roy shook his head and continued walking towards the people. He just had to hope that they could understand English. Roy finally reached the crowd, but before he could say anything, one of them spoke.

"Is there some sort of event here today or something? A re-enactment of William the Conqueror's army or something?" He said with genuine interest. Roy smiled, thankful that someone here could speak English. Although he wasn't sure about this whole William the Conqueror thing. Was that why there were so many people here?

"May I ask the questions first sir?" Roy asked. The man looked at him, but he wasn't smiling. He pulled up a glass bottle that was labeled 'Adelscott' on it and took a large gulp of it, then turned and faced Roy.

"Are you trying to boss me 'round?" He threatened, taking a step towards the fighter of fire. "Nobody bosses me around. Not without paying the price." The man drunkenly swung his fist at Roy, but he easily caught the fist, however, he didn't anticipate the man using his other fist to sock him square in the chest. Roy took a few steps backwards and attempted to regain his breath. While he did this, the drunk man picked up a metal rod of the ground and swung it around, attempting to intimidate Roy.

"You think you can take me?" The drunk asked Roy. "You've got a sword there! I challenge you!" He said and turned to the crowd, who at this point were pointing their mysterious devices at the fight. The man raised his arms as if the crowd were his adoring fans.

"Sir, you are drunk and do not know what you are doing. Stop this now and I won't be forced to harm you." Roy threatened. The drunk simply turned and stared at Roy.

"Come get some."

The man lunged at Roy with the pole but he dodged to the side and swiftly unsheathed the Binding Blade and held it calmly at his side. Roy really didn't want to harm this man, so he needed to find a way to defeat him without killing him or he could try to disarm him. Roy decided to attempt the latter first.

When the drunk man lunged at Roy again, Roy held up his blade and blocked the attack easily. He then rushed to grab the man's sword hand and proceeded to bash his hand with the hilt of the Sword of Seals (A/N Sword of Seals and the Binding Blade are the same thing, at least to my knowledge. Feel free to correct me.). The man dropped the pole in anguish, but then fiercely head-butted Roy in the nose, much to Roy's surprise. Roy fell to the ground, blood gushing from his nose while the man picked up the pole again and prepared to impale Roy. Acting entirely on pure instinct, Roy set his sword alight and countered the attempt on his life. Then everything went quiet.

Roy looked at the man. He stood there, mouth agape, blood oozing from his stump shoulder. His other arm madly groped at it, trying to convince himself his arm was still there, but all he was doing was making his remaining hand bloody.

The crowd went crazy, taking their mysterious devices and putting them to their ears, madly talking to them.

Roy got up and ran, not wanting to cause more trouble.

"What have I done…"

XXXX

Corrin had not even the foggiest idea what was going on.

First Ganondorf had killed King Richard, at which point Corrin realised his father had not followed them into the hall. Then, Ganondorf did some weird magic, and now the hall was ruined, and it was daytime. Roy had left the group to scout about half an hour ago, so in the meantime Corrin would have to wait before the answers hopefully came to him.

There was still the mystery of why his father kept him from the English however.

Corrin sat against the wall deep in thought. Was it because the English had something he didn't want Corrin to see? Corrin glanced up at the remaining English warriors. Marth was still sitting next to Zelda, eagerly awaiting the moment she woke up, and Robin was still trying to regain energy and sleeping on the ground peacefully. Link just sat in the corner, sharpening his sword and trying to not let his mind dwell on what just happened. Corrin kept thinking. There had to be an answer somewhere…

Corrin's thought were interrupted as Roy burst into the hall, gasping for breath and blood crusting around his nose.

"We need to get out of here! Now!" He shouted. Ike nodded and went to pick up Zelda, being the only one in the room strong enough to carry her on his shoulder and still able to wield his sword. Marth went to wake up Robin and Corrin made his way to Roy.

"What happened?" He asked. This incident just threw more unneeded unknowns into the equation.

"Short version is we're being chased. We need to move." Roy stated bluntly. Corrin heard French shouting from beyond the walls of the hall.

"They're telling us to surrender. Otherwise, we'll be taken down by force." Corrin translated. Ike smirked.

"I'd like to see them try!" He retorted.

"I'm not in the mood for more fighting." Marth pointed out. "We need to go!"

"I… I don't think… I'm not ready for this…" Robin sleepily said. Marth grabbed his shoulder.

"Can you run?" He asked.

"I think so…"

"Then you're ready for this."

XXXX

Sgt. Banks was grateful that his force could establish a perimeter so quickly. The chateau covered a fairly large area, and already they had at least two policemen every five square metres. Normally he wouldn't be granted this many troops, but since there was a murder, civilians, and supposedly a guy with pyro powers. Sgt. Banks chuckled to himself. Powers? As in superheroes? That was the stuff of fairy tales and cinematic magic. In the real world, HE was the superhero. Defending the people from harm and putting the crooks in jail.

He had to admit though, the attacker sounded pretty freaky. Not only was the victim missing an arm, but he had third-degree burns on his stump shoulder, burns that were hot enough to almost close the wound entirely. A shiver went up Banks' spine. He valued his limbs very much, and he was not going to lose them to some pyro swordsman.

All of a sudden, at least twenty panicked voices were speaking through the radio at once. He could catch snippets of what they were saying, but the rest was gibberish. Apparently six or seven people had appeared on the West side of the chateau, and were attempting to escape. Banks grabbed his radio.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP AND FOCUS!" He yelled into it. Everyone on the receiving end silenced.

"JUST DO YOUR JOB AND STOP THEM!" Banks angrily said.

"Sir, it's the murderer! He's got about five people with him, and one of them is carrying an unconscious woman on his shoulder! Over!" Someone said on the radio.

The killer had a hostage? This changed everything…

"All units, stand down. Killer has hostage and about five accomplices. Stop them from escaping but do not engage. Over!" Banks put the radio back onto his belt.

"Peterson! McKay! You're with me!" The sergeant yelled to his two most trusted officers.

"What are doing sir?" Peterson asked.

"Saving the hostage…" Banks replied, putting on a pair of shades and imagining that if this were a movie, the scene would transition to him kicking ass.

"Could you not be so vague sir?" McKay asked innocently, completely ruining Banks' moment. Banks sadly tore off the glasses.

"One day I'll get my moment…" He said to himself.

XXXX

I AM ACTUALLY SO SORRY ABOUT THE 7 MONTH WAIT.

I had a lot of other things going on in life, plus I had school assignments and I got really lazy. Everyday I got new ideas for this story but I couldn't be bothered to write them down. Again, I'm sorry. This chapter was originally meant to be a lot longer, but in the end I just wanted to get something out. Hopefully, I will get off my ass soon and actually get to work ay? ;)

See you soon (hopefully)!