Sacrifice
A Crysis x Legend of Zelda Fanfic

Introduction

Disclaimer: I do not own either Crysis or Legend of Zelda. Nor do I own any canon characters, settings, plot points, etc. I do however own my original characters, settings, and plot points, etc. I also make no money from this endeavor, so please don't sue me.

AN: This chapter has been revised and is now written in the third-person!

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end". — Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

Kakariko Village
Soon after Link's departure to Termina

Silently the figure stalked forward. Nefarious purpose clear in its stance, its expression a frightful mixture of dark glee and single-minded focus. Slowly, ever so slowly, it steals closer to its objective: the family cookie jar, lying serenely upon the countertop. Backlit as it is by the light streaming through the windows; it could almost be mistaken for a gift from the goddesses.

Quickly taking in the field of battle, the boy notes everything. Cooking utensils hang from the walls, well organized and lovingly cared for. With a little relief, he sees that the hearth lies cold, devoid of coals. Clearly, no one has used the kitchen in some time. Thus assured of his safety, but nevertheless vigilant, the boy creeps closer.

Taking one last glace around, and careful to avoid making any noise, he pulls himself atop the stone countertop, removes the lid of the cookie jar, and thrusts his grubby little hand into it. Suddenly, his expression of glee turns into one of horror. The jar is empty! Frantically, he double-checks, only to come to one, dreadful conclusion: someone has stolen the cookies.

With new purpose, the boy scans the room for clues, only for his eyes to widen as they come to rest on the kitchen table. From his new, higher, vantage point, he can see what he missed before: the large chestnut dining table shows signs of recent use. Plates with half-eaten food and half-full cups warn of his foe's imminent return.

Panicking, he jumps off the countertop; only to be reminded that his hand is still in the cookie jar. The sound of shattering porcelain reverberates throughout the house and out into the garden. It is soon replaced by the sound of running, before the concerned form of his mother fills the doorway. Quickly taking in the scene, and noting her son, the shattered jar, and a conspicuous absence of cookies, her expression shifts from one of concern, to one of anger.

Glancing around and realizing how this looks, he opens his mouth to give voice to what really happened. Only to be cut off before he could begin.

"Don't start, Thomas! I told you that you'd have to wait until after dinner for a cookie—especially after what happened last time—but you just couldn't wait could you? Now you've not only eaten all the cookies, you've broken the jar!" With that, she swiftly darted forward, grabbing him by the ear starting to drag him into the foyer.

"Since you obviously have loads of free time on your hands, let's give you something productive with it, like collect Angie's cucoos for her". As he suppressed a plaintive moan under her warning glance, he caught movement upstairs.

Glancing up, he froze, for sitting there, munching on a cookie with a wicked grin on her face, was his sister, Angela. Righteous indignation consumed his being as she mockingly waved at him. But before he could act he was dragged out of the house by his mother. Knowing he would be indisposed for quite some time, he busied his mind with plotting revenge. For this, he knew, meant war.

Meanwhile, Somewhere in the Gerudo Desert

As they patrolled the seemingly never ending desert, unaware of the Cookie Wars taking place in Kakariko Village, the two purple sashed Gerudo women, resigned themselves to yet another day of uneventful monotony. Little do they know that today will be anything but monotonous.

Cresting the dune, they came to an abrupt halt. For in front of them, recently uncovered by the ever-shifting sands of the desert, was a structure unlike any they had ever seen or heard tale of. As the two cautiously approached the structure, she took in its condition.

The most obvious thing was that it had been the site of at least one fierce battle. No, Neeshka thought as she eyed the size of the holes in the walls, a siege. The small fortress (for what else could survive that much punishment)—which was peppered with holes large and small, and even appeared melted in some places—seemed to be built entirely out of some sort of metal.

What really got her attention though, was the state of the door.

"Anvira"! She called, motioning towards the twisted and broken door. "You ever seen anything that leaves claw marks like that"?

Running over from where she had been keeping watch, Anvira carefully examined the door. While the door had clearly been made to spit in half vertically and then slide into the wall, the last user quite obviously hadn't cared. The door had been bent inwards by some creature possessing large claws with enough force to leave an imprint in the metal itself.

Shaking her head, she responded, "No, I've never seen anything like that". Pausing to note the door's thickness, she continued, "and if the damage to that door is anything to go by, I'm not sure I really want to".

With a shrug Neeshka, started into the building, responding, "Well whatever it was, it can't have survived being buried in the sands for as long as this building has been".

"Shouldn't we at least inform our sisters before doing any exploring"?

Continuing into the building, the girl scoffed, "And miss out on the chance to do something exciting for a change? Come on Anvira, it has weeks since anything this interesting happened, and I doubt Rue will let us accompany the party she sends out to investigate it".

Her only response was a resigned sigh and the sound of footsteps following her.

Kakariko Village

As she watched her mom drag Thomas off, Angela gleefully reflected on how well her day had gone thus far. Not only had she managed to get the cookies, but her annoying brother had taken the blame! It was a nice reversal for the eldest of the two siblings, who (in her mind at least) always seems to get blamed for everything. It was about time Thomas got what was coming to him.

Finishing the last of her illicitly procured sustenance, she moved over to the window to get one last satisfying look at Thomas before heading off to see her friends. Standing on her tip-toes, she gazed out the window overlooking the village. Spotting him, Angela couldn't help but laugh as he made a running jump at one of the cucoos, scaring it enough for it to take flight to the top of a nearby house. The expression on his now muddied face was priceless!

Still chuckling, Angela was just starting to turn away when she caught movement at the edge of her vision. Turning back to see the source, the girl froze. For standing there, surrounded by monsters and emanating malevolence far beyond what his stature would imply him capable of, was a man. In any other circumstance, he could have been described as handsome. His full head of dark brown hair was neatly trimmed and combed. While not prominent, his jaw was firmly set, indicating a strength of will that would have been commended had it not been directed as it was. But his most prominent feature was his eyes.

A vivid red, flecked with gold, they almost seemed to glow with an inner fire. A fire that was kept in check only by pupils that appeared to consume the very light about them, creating a stunning visual effect that would have fascinated her had she not been so scared. Surveying the village, seeming to see everything, pierce every wall, and look into the very souls of the villagers, his eyes came to rest on Thomas. And then he did the most terrifying thing Angela had ever seen: he smiled.

Unknown Structure, Gerudo Desert

"Come on Neeshka, there is nothing here!" Anvira shouted. "We've been searching this place for hours, but haven't found anything of value!"

Grinding her teeth and trying to keep her voice level despite my growing irritation, Neeshka responded, "And as I've reminded you several times so far, the most valuable things are kept in the treasury, which is usually located deep inside a fortress".

Privately though, Neeshka was of much the same point of view as her friend. So far they had searched over sixty rooms, but all they had find were strange tables covered in buttons which didn't work, signs in an unintelligible language, and crates whose contents had long ago rotted away to dust. Still, it was her idea to explore this ruin, and she'd be damned if they came away empty-handed.

Ignoring her scoff, the woman continued, "Furthermore, unlike clothing, jewels do not rust, rot, or crumble to dust over time. So please, shut up!" Regaining control of herself, she added, "besides, if that map we saw a few rooms back was correct, the treasury should be…" she glanced around the corner we had just come to "…right there" she finished with smug satisfaction.

Looking at the door, Anvira rolled her eyes, "so how do we open it, miss 'I know everything'?"

Those few words were enough to bring Neeshka's smugness crashing down. Frowning, she started inspecting the door. Just like all the others, this one had a strange symbol on it that looked like two stick figure hands grasping each other's fingers. And, she noted with a sigh, just like all the others there was no discernible way to open it. Mentally berating herself for not having had the foresight to pack bombs, she started widening her search to the area immediately around the door. Maybe it was switch operated.

Just as Neeshka was about to finally, reluctantly, admit that this was in fact, a waste of time, she caught sight of something different. "Huh, the ones next to the other doors weren't glowing," Muttering, she reached forward to touch what looked to be a button. As her hand brushed against it, the earsplitting sound of moving parts that had gone unoiled for far too long filled the air. Clamping her hands tightly to her ears, she watched with wary anticipation as the door slowly, and with great reluctance, opened just enough for us to get through, before grinding to a halt.

Warily taking her hands off her ears and grinning at a glaring Anvira, Neeshka stepped into the treasury. Only for her grin to turn into one of awe at the sight before her. Before her, boxed in on all but one side and partially hidden by v-shaped bars, was one of the most unique sets of armor she had ever seen.

Unlike other armor she'd seen, which was composed of leather or metal, this suit was made up of some sort of rope with hexagons running along the length of each strand. All of which were held together by small pieces of metal at key locations like the knees and elbows. But the helmet topped even that, as it somehow had a blood red reflective visor. How can anyone see through that? The complete effect made me want to shiver even while I was rejoicing at my new found booty.

That was when Neeshka tripped, yanking a cable out of the box. In her awe she hadn't even noticed the cables snaking to the box containing the armor. She did however, notice the disembodied voice that rang out immediately,

"Caution: Insufficient power to maintain stable stasis field. Failsafe activated. Reviving subject: 'Prophet'".

Frantically looking around for the source of the voice, she was drawn back to the box by the sound of the bars unlatching and then retracting in quick succession. Suddenly the suit stared jerking around within the restraints holding it in place as electricity arced around it. Then all was still. After waiting a few seconds, and just as she was ready to declare the weirdness over, she was stunned yet again. For that's when the armor decided to take a step forward.

AN: So after years of reading FanFictions I've finally worked up enough nerve to try writing one. Just so we're clear here, in this story Psycho never rescued Prophet from the CELL Stasis Pod. Oh, he was planning to, but there wasn't time. Not after Dr. Hurst's plan to increase System X's energy harvesting efficiency backfired spectacularly, releasing the Alpha Ceph. After that, people were a bit preoccupied prior to dying.

How did that result in his appearance in the Zelda Universe you ask? Why didn't the Ceph kill or enslave Prophet? Well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out!