[June 21] [Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?/Legend of Zelda] Centennial Lady, chapter 7

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Title: Centennial Lady; Chapter 7
Day/Theme: June 21; We are all of us haunted and haunting
Series: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?/The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Character: The Dying Informant (and company), Veran
Rating: PG13

Will be cross-posted to my journal


The Informant took a look at their surroundings and wanted nothing more than to stay back inside the plane.

“I can’t do this…” he said, staring at the old stones. It would be impossible to read them; they were so worn away. But that was the least of his worries. “They’re glaring at me…”

“Are you sure you’re alright…?” the Inspector asked, concerned for his friend. He glanced out at the stones, unable to see anything out of the ordinary with them.

“I can hear them…” the Informant said, retreating back into the plane. His eyes were wide, and his face was pale. “They’re angry with me…” He tried to close the door, but the stone encasing was working its way across it, cementing it in place.

“Infy…!” the Messenger exclaimed, seeing what was going on. “You have to get out of there!”

“She’s not going to seal you away from us!” the Techie yelled, his eyes once again afire. He charged inside, dragging the younger agent out just seconds before the doorway was covered by stone, which then proceeded to encase the whole plane.

The Messenger stared dumbly at the Techie. What had he been thinking? Yelling at him to run would never have worked; why couldn’t he have thought of charging in and getting him out of there…?

But the Informant didn’t seem happy to be saved from the encasing, either. He was staring at the graves, apparently seeing and hearing things that the others could not.

“They know I set Veran free…!” he cried, clawing at the encasing, as though he could find a way in. “They want to pull my spirit out and drag it to their world!”

“Why would they want to do that?” the Messenger demanded, glaring at the unseen spirits. “Hey, creeps! Leave Infy alone; he’s done nothing to you!”

“Those mages wanted to kill him so that Veran would be permanently halted…” the Inspector recalled. “These spirits must be thinking along the same lines. They’re taking this into their own hands…!”

The Messenger glanced at him, wide-eyed, and then stared at the unseen spirits.

“You’ve got the wrong guy!” he said. “It was… It was a tin man named RoboCrook who set Veran free; he’s the one she’s bonded to!” It was a long shot; he doubted they would buy it, but there would be nothing more pointless for them to try to steal the nonexistent spirit of a robot; it would definitely buy them some time…

“No…” said the Inspector, giving him a shake of his head. “They won’t buy it.”

“It was worth a try…” the Messenger replied, backing up to where the Informant was. He still couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the chill in the air.

Ignoring the Messenger, the spirit swept by him, swooping at the young agent. The boy cried out as the spirit passed through him. There was the sound of an angered shriek; the spirit was upset that it had not stopped him (and, subsequently, Veran).

The Informant sunk to one knee, clutching his chest where the spirit had entered.

“No!” the Techie cried, wrapping his arms around the tormented blond. He glared at their invisible foes. “I won’t let you hurt him!” he vowed. “He’s my brother!”

“He’s trying to make things better!” the Messenger added, wishing he could’ve been the one to shield him—he was his brother, too…! “He’s trying to stop Veran by tossing her stone into the Skull Dungeon pit! You could give him a chance to try it!”

“Or perhaps show us how to get there…?” the Inspector added, giving his most formidable glare around the area.

But the spirits were having none of it. Most of the attacking spirits had suffered under Veran’s previous cruelty, and they were thinking nothing of sacrificing one to stop her again.

“He harbors her evil!” one shrieked. “He is a mere puppet; he cannot be trusted! Veran must be stopped, and she can do nothing with an empty shell!”

“Forget the negotiations!” the Messenger yelled. “Run!”

The Techie helped the Informant up, hurrying him along. The spirits shrieked, and the agents all felt the deep chills as the spirits tried to reach him. But the agents were not running in a predictable fashion; they had all received training in eluding pursuers, and although ghosts had never been mentioned in the training sessions, there was no reason why it wouldn’t work now.

The Inspector hissed as a spirit swiped his arm in an attempt to get to the Informant. He glared at the unseen foe, trying to strike back.

“Leave the boy and save yourself!” the spirit shrieked at him. “He will only bring you trouble!”

“No, thanks…” the Inspector retorted, trying to stand his ground.

The Messenger, who had been determined to lead the way, suddenly froze.

“Uh, guys?” he asked. “Is it just the spirits who’re after Infy? Because I think some zombies are about to have a jamboree…”

The Informant paled even further as he saw the sight in front of them. The Techie also paled, his arms around the boy as he saw the approaching skeletal warriors.

“The Stalfos…” the Techie gasped, as the Informant clutched at his shoulders in fear. “They’re with Veran…!”

The Messenger didn’t even bother to ask how the Techie knew it when he did not.

“And what do they want?” he asked, though he knew he didn’t need to ask that question, either. “Jason and the Argonauts are far away from here…!”

The Master Stalfos, the tallest of the skeletons, pointed his bony finger at the Informant.

“Lady Veran requests an audience with her Prince,” he said.

The spirits screeched, swooping among the Stalfos. But they, of course, were unfazed.

“The boy!” one spirit screeched. “They mustn’t get the boy!”

“Neither will you!” the Techie snarled, as the Inspector and the Messenger grabbed heavy branches to hold off the Stalfos.

But the branches were useless against the spirits, who were determined to get rid of the Informant before Veran could lay hands on him. And not even the Techie, shielding his surrogate brother, determined to sacrifice himself before any harm was brought to the blond, could stop the spirits from passing right through him and into the Informant, one after another.

The Techie cried out in pain as the ghosts passed right through him. The Informant screamed as they grappled with his own spirit, trying to drag him out and away.

“NO!” the Techie cried, as the boy went rigid and cold in his arms. “Wake up! Speak to me! Are you still in there!?”

The young man’s eyes were going glassy.

“No… NO!” the Techie yelled, holding the Informant close, but knowing that it was useless. The Messenger and the Informant were by his side now, unable to say or do anything to stop it.

“What are they doing to him!?” the Messenger yelled, only imagining what agony his brother must be going through. “Why can’t I do anything!?”

The Techie’s eyes suddenly shot open, and he seized the Mystery Seed from his pocket—the one Mr. Chan had given to him. Whispering the incant that the Chi wizard had told him to use, he paused as the seed began to glow, and he then pressed the charm into the Informant’s hand, praying for his brother.

The boy let out a shrill gasp as the vengeful spirits all abandoned him, their ill intentions forcing them to be repelled by the Chi spell. The Stalfos snarled at the Chi spell and also backed off, unable to stand it, either.

Veran shrieked as the Informant held on to the Mystery Seed.

“Drop it!” she ordered. “Let it go, Little Prince! The spell will harm you, too ”

But he did not want to let go. The more he held on to the Mystery Seed, the clearer his mind seemed to be getting with every passing moment. The stone… He could feel it weakening as Veran shrunk away from the seed and the spell.

“I said get rid of it!” Veran shrieked.

The sorceress focused all of her waning power, and the stone in the Informant’s pocket flashed again. The Inspector cried out as he felt the encasing clamp onto his legs.

“Keep going!” he ordered them. “You can’t stay here! Keep--”

He was cut off as the encasing covered him completely.

“No!” the Messenger cried. It was just as he had feared…

The Informant looked horrified at the statue. He had been worried that something was going to happen to one of his brothers, and now… something had… something terrible…

“Let go of the seed, or the others will follow!” Veran warned. “I cannot control my power!”

The young agent dropped the Mystery Seed as though it were on fire.

“What are you doing!?” the Techie asked, as one of the Stalfos hit the Mystery Seed with his spear, sending into the shadows. “I saw your face; that seed was helping you!”

“The spell will hurt me, too!” the Informant cried. “And then you’ll be encased, too!”

“Are you crazy!?” asked the Messenger. “Veran did that; she wanted you to let go!” He tried to move the statue, but it was no use; he would’ve had difficulty trying to move the Inspector without the encasing.

“We need to get him out of here!” the Techie cried, as the spirits and the Stalfos both began to advance. “The Inspector told us to go; I think we should listen. If the Informant succeeds, he’ll be alright.”

The Messenger clenched a fist, remembering what the Inspector had told him on the plane. Of course… Right now, they were in this to make sure that the Informant succeeded. That was the only thing that mattered. He was expendable; and if that was the way he could help his younger brother, then so be it. He just wished that he could’ve been more understanding…

He seized one of the Informant’s arms, and the Techie grabbed his other arm. Together, they guided the poor, tormented blond out of the Yoll Graveyard. It wasn’t too difficult; the Stalfos and the sprits were clashing with each other. But it was nearly impossible for them to leave the Inspector behind.

The Master Stalfos snarled as he finally noticed that their quarry was being taken away.

“After him!” he ordered. “Lady Veran demands that he be brought to her!”

The Informant glanced back, paling at the thought of being in the custody of those skeletal warriors. The Techie looked back, too, realizing that the protective Mystery Seed was long gone. Veran would be able to do whatever she wanted to him now. But more importantly, the Informant was at a greater risk. He had seen the blond’s face begin to gain his former fire as he had held the seed. But Veran had forced him to throw it away be encasing the Inspector, and undoubtedly threatening him and the Messenger—and then probably saying that it wasn’t her fault. The Techie clenched a fist. He rarely felt hatred towards anyone as it was, but he had never felt a hatred so deep as he had felt towards Veran.

But he knew very well that it was a hatred that was matched by Veran’s loathing at him. And without the Mystery Seed, well… He wasn’t so confident that he would be able to see the end of this adventure.

The trees, now, old and withered away by time, seemed to be coming alive, the dead branches grabbing at the newcomers, as though knowing that they were bringing Veran back to the land.

“Don’t tell me that the tree ghosts are after us, too!” the Messenger yelped. The old, twisted tree trunks looked like leering faces. “What kind of crazy place is this!?”

“I don’t know…” said the Techie, helping the Informant free his trenchcoat as it snagged on the branches. He wanted to say that it was the wind causing them to move like that, but the air was utterly still.

“Let him go!” the Messenger yelled, determined to be of some use. He karate kicked the withered branch off of the dead tree. To his horror, the branch began to move of its own accord, crawling towards the Informant.

There was no more waiting around; the Stalfos were approaching, too, following their Master’s orders. And although the agents were finally able to escape the sprits and the angry trees, the Stalfos still pursued them. They headed towards the west, pausing only after seeking shelter in a watery grove. Only one large tree grew here, and it looked alive, as opposed to the dead trees they had seen in the Graveyard. Hiding behind it, they waited until the Stalfos passed.

“We shook them off for now…” said the Techie, holding the Informant close. “But they’ll be back once they pick up the scent of the stone. We need to find that volcano.”

“Yeah, but where is it?” asked the Messenger, leaning against the tree. “And who knows what else is there between here and the mountain? I mean… zombie trees? I officially draw the line at undead trees! I’d be freaked out enough if it was a live tree moving around, but…” He trailed off at the looks on the Informant and the Techie’s faces. “What? Wait, don’t tell me…” The Messenger flinched. “The tree I’m leaning on is alive and moving…?”

“Why, Dear, do you act as though you haven’t seen a tree move and speak before?”

The Messenger yelped and leaped away, turning around to see that the large tree now had eyes and a mouth.

“Uh… Uh… listen… Ma’am…” he stammered, for the tree spoke in a feminine voice. “Where I come from, trees don’t have eyes, mouths, voices, or wills of their own…”

“Things are not what they seem here…” sighed the tree. “I am the Maku Tree.”

“Yeah, I think we figured that out…” said the Techie, staring, too. “I mean… the things not being what they seem; I had no idea that you had a name…”

The Informant, however, was staring at something else—a marble statue at the base of the tree.

“Was he encased, too?” he asked, glumly.

“Who? Oh, goodness, no!” said the Maku Tree. “This is a statue commissioned by Queen Ambi of the Hero Link, who defeated Veran hundreds of years ago! Is he not precious? Alas, I only wish he lived as long as trees, for I fear that Veran as returned to lay waste to the world once again…”

“I bet Link would have a few words for me…” sighed the boy. “I was the one who let Veran out.”

“Oh, dear…” said the tree. “I’m sure Link would sympathize with you, dear boy. Veran took advantage of his kindness as she did to you; it was Link who unwittingly allowed Veran to steal the powers of the Oracle of Ages and nearly destroyed Labrynna once. And that is how I am sure that you can save Labrynna again, not to mention the rest of your world!”

“Of course he can,” said the Messenger. “Our Infy has been through thick and thin and still comes through just fine.”

“Oh, sure…” sighed the Informant. “I’m fine. But what about the others… the ones who got encased? It’s because of my mistake that--”

“Dear,” said the Maku Tree. “You have the power to stop Veran before she achieves her goal. You are lucky that you do not have to physically grapple with her as Link did, but your task is, admittedly, just as hard. If you head just a little further west, past what remains of the city, you will find the Tallus Peaks—and the Skull Dungeon entrance at the top. Beware of the Stalfos; they will not let you go so easily.”

The Informant nodded, the fight in him starting to make a comeback. The Techie’s heart lifted at the realization.

“Let’s go save the day,” he said, softly.

“Yeah,” the blond said. The fact that Link had messed things up but somehow became a hero seemed to help him realize that he was not as bad as the thought.

And the Messenger was pleased and relieved to see his brother in higher spirits.

“Alright,” he said, as they headed out of the grove. “I’ve changed my mind. Talking trees are okay in my book… as long as they’re on our side!”

A ghost of a smile crept along the Informant’s features. And the Messenger began to feel better about the whole ordeal, too.