Ask The Dark Princess and friends!

“Is this necessary? I have feet you know.”

“Extremely.”

Krys, Octavo, Harmonia and Vaati approached Hyrule Castle – Harmonia levitating Vaati with her magic to ensure he didn’t try anything. As they entered the castle, Zelda was pacing the floor with a concerned expression on her face. She stopped and looked up upon hearing the four enter and her face lit up, “You’re alright! Thank goodness. I saw storm clouds in the distance, and I got worried.”

“That was me.” Krys admitted, “I may have let my temper get to me for a spell. Pun fully intended.” Zelda giggled at Krys’s joke before noticing Vaati floating behind Harmonia, “And him?”

“I sealed away his magic. He’s harmless.” Krys reassured as Harmonia dismissed the spell, causing Vaati to fall to the floor with a thump. “Ack! Hey!” Vaati growled, glaring at the Symphonyxian princess. “You tried to drop me off a cliff. We’re even.” Harmonia stuck out her tongue. “He did what?!” Zelda exclaimed. “I’ll explain everything.” Krys placed a hand on Zelda’s shoulder, “But for now, I need to talk to you about something important.” Zelda took a deep breath to keep herself calm before turning to Octavo and Harmonia, “Can I trust you two to watch him?”

“Of course.” Harmonia nodded. “I’ll be on my best behaviour.” Octavo smiled innocently as he held his baton behind him and used it to levitate Vaati back into the air before slamming him onto the ground. “Ack! Why you-!” Vaati went to lunge at Octavo. Octavo, who maintained his innocent smile and kept his baton behind him, just sent Vaati flying into the wall. Zelda sighed as she muttered, “Somethings don’t change…” before following Krys into another room.

 ———————————————————————

 “What do you think they’re talking about?” Harmonia asked. She and Octavo had been waiting for a good while now while Octavo had Bass Guitarmos watching Vaati to make sure he didn’t do anything but kept shooting glances at Vaati. “Everything alright?” Harmonia asked. “I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him before…” Octavo muttered. “Now that I think about it,” Harmonia began, “You kinda look similar.”

“How so?”

“You both keep your hair over your right eyes, you both have long hair, you both seem to like red and purple, and your collar jewel is even similar to that jewel on his hat!”

“Huh. I guess you’re right.”

“I can hear you both talking about me.” Vaati spoke up as he shuffled a bit away from Bass Guitarmos, “And for the record, I’ve never seen either of you in my life. I’ve only heard you two from the situation three months ago.”

“Ah.” Octavo shrugged, “I guess it’s just me then…”

“And can you please tell your buddy here to back off a bit! I can feel him breathing down my neck.”

“Sure.” Octavo smiled. Bass Guitarmos disappeared, but the four Guitarmos Knights appeared in his place and just surrounded Vaati. “Seriously?” Vaati glared at Octavo who just chuckled.

 Harmonia and Octavo turned to the door as they heard it open, Krys and Zelda emerging. “Vaati.” Zelda began, giving the former mage a stern look, “You crossed the line the first time you put the lives of my people at risk. The fact that you did so again over a personal grudge with Krystalite here is unacceptable in any circumstance. And under normal terms, the punishment I would give you would be far worse than any I’ve dealt out during my time as princess. However, since you technically have been punished by Krys stripping you of your powers until she deems you worthy of regaining them, alongside Krys informing me of both of your current…situation, I will tone down your punishment.”

“Situation?” Harmonia muttered as she and Octavo exchanged confused glances. “Your punishment is that you will be kept here in Hyrule and redeem yourself by aiding Harmonia and Octavo here in helping around the kingdom.” Zelda continued, “If anything, I’m being too kind in giving you this as a punishment, but I digress. Unless you feel you deserve a worse punishment, I take it you have no objections.”

Vaati cursed under his breath before sighing in defeat, “Fine.”

“Good.” Zelda nodded before turning to Harmonia and Octavo, “Well, now that all of that is out of the way, Link is currently helping the citizens resume preparations. And I believe you two have work to do in terms of the Music Festival.”

Harmonia giggled as Vaati scampered away from the Guitarmos Knights who were stomping up and down excitedly upon hearing mentions of the festival. Zelda also laughed at the excitable quartet before smiling, “I better let you two get to it. I have a few extra bits to take care of, so I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you then, princess!” Harmonia waved as Zelda retreated into the throne room. “Well, since I’m in charge of the hex I placed on Vaati,” Krys began, “Looks like I’ll be staying in Hyrule for a while.”

“Ooh! We have space at our place!” Harmonia exclaimed excitedly, “You could stay with us!” Krys glanced at Vaati who was behind them with his arms crossed in an x while shaking his head and mouthing, “No! No, no, no!”

“Sure! We’d love to!” Krys grinned. “Yay!” Harmonia cheered. Vaati glared at Krys and mouthed, “I hate you.” Krys just made a heart-shape with her hands before following Harmonia and Octavo out of the castle, Vaati trailing behind.

 ———————————————————————

 A crowd of people gathered in front of a large stage outside Hyrule Castle. Harmonia parted the curtain slightly to peek out at the audience. She spotted Link and Zelda sitting in the front row with Krys and a very bored-looking Vaati a few seats away from them.

“Ack! Gohmaracas!”

Harmonia stepped back from the curtains upon hearing Octavo yell. She giggled as she watched Octavo chase a group of Gohmaraca larva across the stage while Gohmaracas looked very proud of herself. “Gohmaracas, I know you love your babies,” Harmonia chuckled, “But can you wait until after the performance to play with them?”

Gohmaracas nodded before shaking her maracas at the babies, who nodded at their mama and scuttled backstage. “Thanks, Harmonia.” Octavo sighed, “I swear, it feels like I’m the parent of these four.”

“Wouldn’t that make the Gohmaraca larva your grandchildren?” Harmonia chuckled. “No! I’m too young to be a grandpa!” Octavo feigned terror before the two ended up laughing together. “I missed this.” Harmonia giggled.

“Missed what?” Octavo asked.

“All of this! Performing together, making dumb jokes together, having all this crazy banter before performances. It feels like forever since we laughed like that.”

“Well, I don’t plan on leaving again anytime soon.” Octavo smiled. Harmonia smiled back, a small blush dusting her cheeks. The moment was interrupted by one of the Gleeokenspiel heads nudging Octavo’s back playfully. “Hey!” Octavo chuckled as he scratched the Gleeokenspiel’s chins before clapping his hands, “Alright, everyone. Places!” The instrumental monsters scampered into position near the back of the stage. Bass Guitarmos stood with his knights, Wizzroboe floated into the air with a happy toot, Gleeokenspiel stood next to him with their tail held high at the ready, and Gohmaracas raised her maracas high with excitement. Octavo and Harmonia stood centre stage – Octavo facing his monsters and Harmonia facing the curtains. “Ready, m’lady?” Octavo smiled. “Ready, maestro!” Harmonia grinned. A cheer erupted from the audience as the curtains opened. Octavo tapped his baton on his stand, getting the attention of his monsters and the audiences before looking at Harmonia for the go-ahead. Harmonia gave him a confirming nod before gazing out to the audience as Octavo began to wave his baton, getting the monsters to play as Harmonia began to sing.

 “Here we are in the future. Here we are in the future and it's bright! Nothing to fear, No one to fight. I can't believe we've come so far. Happily ever after there we were, And here we are!   So happily we'll face, Whatever comes our way, And after, we might do it all again!   I’ll be ready every day, For as long as I can say, I~ I can make a change… I~ I can make a change… I~ I can make a change!   Here we are in the future! Here we are in the future! Here we are in the future! Here we are in the future! Here we are, Here we are, Come so far! And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright, And it's bright!   I'll be ready every day! For as long as I can say, Here I am in the future with my friends! That's why…   Happily ever after never ends.”

 A round applause erupted from the crowd as Harmonia and Octavo stood together and took a bow as the curtains closed. As the champions excitedly gathered together, engaging in banter, Octavo and Harmonia looked at each other with a smile before Harmonia leapt at Octavo in a hug and Octavo swung her around a few times before placing her on the ground, still holding her, as they laughed. “You were great!” Octavo and Harmonia accidentally said in unison before bursting into laughter again. “We haven’t changed a bit since back then, have we?” Octavo chuckled. “Nope! We’re still a couple of crazies!” Harmonia grinned. “And I wouldn’t change it for anything.” Octavo smiled as he held her close. Harmonia could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. ‘Now or never…’ she thought to herself as she leaned back a bit before kissing Octavo, her eyes closing as her sleeves rested on Octavo’s cheeks. Octavo was surprised at first before wrapping his arms around Harmonia and leaning into the kiss. The two slowly pulled away before briefly meeting each other’s gaze. Harmonia hugged Octavo tightly before saying, her voice barely above a whisper, “Love you, Tavo.”

Octavo chuckled as he held her close, “I love you too, Harmonia.”

 ‘Happily ever after never ends…’

The End.

‘I can make a promise. I can make a plan. I can make a difference. I can take a stand. I can make an effort, If I only understand, That I… I can make a change.’

Vaati glared between the angered Octonia and the surprised Krys – who was still trying to recover from the shock of the situation and the new person appearing before her. Vaati’s teeth were bared before chuckling to himself, “Well…I gotta admit, that’s a nice trick. But if you think fancy tricks are going to help you defeat me, you are even more stupid than I thought.” Vaati lobbed a blast of energy towards Octonia, “To stone with you!”

“Accelerando!” Octonia tapped themself with their baton, casting a haste spell, before effortlessly dodging the attack and pointing the baton at Vaati, “Reprise!” A lavender glow appeared around Vaati. “Seriously?” Vaati sniggered, “That didn’t do anything! Fireball!” Vaati went to toss a fireball at Octonia but cast the stone spell instead, which Octonia dodged once again with a smirk, “What were you just saying?”

“Wha-?!” Vaati exclaimed in surprise before growling and going to cast fireball again, but it came out as the stone spell again and Octonia continued to dodge. “Try all you want.” Octonia chuckled, “But for the next while, my reprise spell will only allow you to cast the spell you used previously. Now, let’s get into this performance’s climax!” Octonia made an arc in the air with the baton, summoning a group of purple fireballs, “Feurig!” Octonia pointed the baton at Vaati and the fireballs were flung towards Vaati. Vaati dodged most of the fireballs but was hit by two of them, sending him flying backwards. As Vaati got up, he saw the lavender aura disappear from around his body. “Finally.” Vaati muttered before summoning a gust of wind in an attempt to knock them off the cliff edge. “Mezzo!” Octonia swung their baton downwards in a slicing motion, causing the gust of wind to separate into two different directions, as if it was sliced in half. “Is that all you’ve got?” Octonia twirled their baton while glaring at Vaati, “If that’s the case, then I suggest you walk away before I do something we’ll both regret.”

Vaati growled, “I won’t admit defeat to a couple of goddesses-damn musicians!” The wind mage teleported behind Octonia. Octonia spun around and went to cast another spell but was sent flying backwards by a blast of dark purple energy and unfused into Octavo and Harmonia – their magic once again disabled. “Not again…” Harmonia groaned as she struggled on the ground. Octavo tried to get to his feet but was knocked backwards again by a blast of wind from Vaati, who approached them with a furious glare. “I’ve had enough of the both of you!” Vaati growled, “All the two of you have done is get in my way and irritate me beyond belief.” Harmonia glanced up at the sky and almost did a double take. The sky was darkening as grey clouds were filling the sky and Harmonia could feel arcane energy charging the air. Vaati seemed to not notice the change as he held up a fireball in each hand, “I won’t let you stall the inevitable any longer-!”

 *C R A S H ! ! !*

 “ARGH!!!”

A bolt of silver lightning struck the ground by Vaati, sending him flying sideways and tumbling across the ground. Octavo and Harmonia felt their magic return to them as Harmonia hovered upright again. “What was…?” Harmonia began but stopped as she looked behind her. Krys was standing there – coat and hair billowing in the wind – as her hand was clenched in front of her with silver and white magic glowing around it and a pair of beautiful white and silver wings were stretched out behind her. Her eyes had a silver sclera with glowing white pupils, and the mark on her forehead was also glowing brightly. Her expression was almost unreadable, but Harmonia could feel the raw anger and fury radiating from her. This was the Krystalite Ginmaho that Harmonia had read about in books: a mage whose powers knew no bounds and who would never back down from a fight. A mage who would put her life on the line if it meant protecting the innocent. This was her. This was the Silver Mage.

 Vaati got to his feet and went to glare behind him, but his furious expression turned to one of fear upon seeing Krys. “Vaati…” Krys began, her voice now cold and serious as opposed to her usual animated and chirpy tone, “You wanted me to ‘grow up’, right? To be mature? …very well then.” Krys held out her hand and a bright orb of light appeared before shifting into another shape. The light scattered to reveal a scythe; a dark purple, plum and purple staff with a large, curved silver blade emerging from it – wisps of silver light were drifting off the blade like mist. “I never got to show you all of my spell back then, did I?” Krys continued, “You always begged me to show you them. Well congratulations, Vaati…you got your wish.” Krys swung her scythe around before slamming the blade into the earth, “Silver Crescent!” Blades of silver lights emerged from the blade and zoomed across the ground straight towards Vaati who soared into the air to avoid them. “Meteor Swarm!” Krys pointed into the sky as small flaming asteroids appeared in the air above her and went screeching towards the wind mage. Vaati tried to swerve out of the way but was knocked out of the air by the flaming rocks. Vaati landed on the ground with a pained grunt before sending multiple fireballs at Krys. Krys, seemingly unfazed, just deflected all of them with the blade of her scythe but was caught off guard by Vaati lunging towards her and pinning her to the ground. He went to blast her with a fireball when Krys squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them to reveal a shining silver light that blinded Vaati, sending him stumbling backwards as Krys got to her feet. “Blink!” Krys yelled as she teleported behind Vaati and held her palm out towards him, “Investiture: Wind!” A blast of wind emerged from her palm and knocked Vaati backwards. “Investiture: Ice!” Krys clenched her hand and dragged it upwards, causing a spike of ice to emerge from the ground. “Scatter!” Krys palmed the ice spike which splintered into smaller shards and went flying at Vaati. Vaati sat up and saw the ice shards coming right at him and quickly melted them with a series of fireballs.

 Krys noticed that his movements and attacks had become more panicked and frenzied, not expecting Krys to be this powerful. She had him on the ropes. “Vaati, for your sake, give up.” Krys began, “You know you can’t beat me.”

“No, no, no!!!” Vaati roared, “I won’t let you get the better of me!” Vaati’s eye’s went completely red as he leapt into the air and summoned a giant ball of dark energy, holding it high above him, “I. WON’T. LOSE!!!” Vaati threw it at Krys who didn’t move an inch, not even flinching. “Krys, watch out!!!” Harmonia yelled as she reached out to her. “Time slow.” Krys muttered as she watched time around her. She took a deep breath as she cleared her mind, “Light of Radiance.” Krys lifted her scythe and pointed it at the incoming blast, “I call the light onto me, from sky and space, from land and sea.”

A silver magic sigil appeared at the end of her scythe, aimed at the blast, as Krys continued, “Destroy evils that have awoken. Break the ones who can’t be broken.”

A silver aura began to swirl around Krys as the sigil began to glow brighter and brighter as she continued her incantation, “Enlighten the darkest soul. Form diamonds from the blackest coal. Radiance, destroy the darkest powers, and see the dark forces devoured!”

As time began to speed up again, a large beam of light shot from the sigil and destroyed the blast as it continued forward and hit Vaati, knocking him out of the air. Vaati landed face-first on the ground, groaning in pain as he struggled to push himself off the grass. He went to crawl away but was stopped by a silver scythe blade suddenly appearing in his line of sight, slicing into the earth. Vaati flipped onto his side with a terrified expression, his eyes back to normal, as he saw Krys looking down at him, still in her Silver form, with an unreadable expression. Vaati stared at her with frightened eyes before chuckling darkly, “Ha…haha…go on then. You won’t kill me. I know you. You hate killing. So what now, oh great Silver Mage?”

“…what happened to you, Vaati?” Krys asked, her face still expressionless but a hint of sadness in her voice, “You weren’t this arrogant, hateful person. You were so kind and friendly to everyone.”

“People change, Krys.” Vaati groaned in a mix of pain and frustration, “What do I have to do to get this into your head? That weak and pathetic Vaati is gone! So grow up already!”

“I can see nothing I do will stop you from seeking revenge.” Krys sighed, “I’m sorry, Vaati.” Krys held her hands out in front of her as the marking on her forehead glowed brighter. Silver chains of arcane magic shot out from her hands and wrapped around Vaati before a silver arcane lock appeared on the front and a key briefly appeared in front of Krys before they disappeared. “Wh…what was…?” Vaati stared at Krys, confused. “Do you remember the last spell I showed you before I left?” Krys asked. Vaati just seemed even more confused until a look of realisation and shock crossed his face, “N-no…you didn’t!”

“‘Dispel Sorcery’. A hex that prevents the target from using any form of magic or sorcery until the caster removes it. Until I’m sure I can trust you again and that you won’t hurt another innocent soul.”

“Y-you can’t do this!” Vaati exclaimed, “My magic…I can’t-“

“I can, and I will.” Krys cut Vaati off, “I didn’t want to, though. But you were the one who attacked this kingdom. You were the one who nearly killed Harmonia and Octavo. You brought this on yourself.”

 Krys turned away from Vaati before sighing in exhaustion as her form returned to normal and she sunk to her knees. “Krys!” Harmonia and Octavo hurried over to her. “Are you okay?” Harmonia asked as she helped Krys back onto her feet. “Yeah. I’m okay.” Krys smiled weakly, “It’s just been a while since I used my Silver Light form.”

“Silver Light?” Octavo asked. “It’s the spell that caused the scar on my eye. It amplifies my arcane capabilities and allows me to cast spells that would usually be damaging to me if I casted them in this form. The first time I used it, I didn’t cast it properly and it scarred my eye when I used my Radiant Gaze spell.”

Octavo turned to look at Vaati who was desperately trying to cast a spell, but to no avail, “What do we do with him?”

“He’s pretty much harmless now without his magic.” Krys explained, “But I’m sure Princess Zelda has a few choice words for him. Besides…