Kobas's hands tightened its grip. She was calling him fat? He was stocky, sure, but not a blubbering mess of fat. After a few long seconds of stony silence where Kobas tried to lower his blood pressure by counting to one hundred, he exhaled and dropped her.

"Kobas. And yes, my hair is... blue. What's yours called, carrot top?" he replied, forcing his mouth to twitch into a smile as he repressed his impulse to just kill her. Zeze was... difficult, there was no way around it. She was nothing at all like submissive Arrika, and Kobas had gotten used to that luxury.

Hearing Zeze twit him about his hair reminded him of a prosperous merchant he had met long ago. Burlo... Why so blue, son? Kobas still remembered the name, remembered it because that was the day he and Rebecca were sitting in Hyrule's beautiful fields and she told the old man that she wanted to be a mercenary.

Zeze was telling the truth, Kobas realized, when he probed the edges of her mind. She was of no use except as a standard hostage, but that was better than nothing. Even so, Zeze's banter was distracting and causing his resolve to crumble.

Zeze smirked as Kobas let go of her. Well, it seemed that he was becoming quite bewildered by her wordy ambush. What did he expect her to do? Grovel and beg for her life? Other than the fact that she didn't know what exactly had happened to any of them, Zeze was satisfied knowing that this rogue would get nothing out of her.

"Actually, it's called fiery red - at least, that's what the bottle of dye said, anyway. Speaking of dye, I know the perfect shop that sells them. My hair used to be black, ya know? Black is a very hard color to...well, color. Aaaannnyyyway, I think poop color would fit you perfectly. Reflects your personality perfectly."

She threw him a cheeky grin, and continued,

"Whyyda want Arrika, anyway? Ya in love with her? Ya know, there's a better way to express your affection than that."

Kobas chose to ignore her comment about hair dye.

"In love? With her?" Kobas gave a whooping laugh, as if that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "Oh, Goddesses no. That little wench, that little brat? I bedded her a few times, sure, but that's not love, that's lack of a proper woman around at inconvenient times. I don't want her, not in the way you think. You want to know who I love?" He answered the question without waiting for her to reply. "The most beautiful woman in the world. Rebecca Winters!" Her name came out like a hushed whisper, as if he were treading on sacred ground. "If you like my hair, you'd love hers," he said with a wink. "The deepest shade of purple you'd ever see. Although, I suppose, on a bottle of dye it'd say Deep Amethyst or Indigo or something ridiculous. What I mean to say is, it was beautiful, just like the rest of her."

He closed his eyes. "Rebecca..." He sighed, as if the name was ambrosia. "That's why I'm doing this. You have to understand, she's my reason for everything." He buried his face in his hands and clutched at his hair. "She's dead, gone and dead, that's why I have to keep trying..." he started pacing back and forth across the stone passage, raving like a madman. "I should have gone with her when she asked. We fought the day before she sailed and I changed my mind. But you know what?" He suddenly clutched Zeze by the wrists, strong enough to bruise. There was a fierce light in his eyes. "I think I was just afraid of leaving Hyrule. I was afraid of going to a strange land, and never being able to return."

Kobas suddenly howled, tearing away from Zeze, and beat his fist against the wall. "It's my fault she's dead, and now I've got to set things right, don't you see? She's so beautiful. She's my star. I was lost without her."

Zeze felt the flush of anger rise in her cheeks, when he dared mention how he was abusing Arrika. What had he called her? WENCH?! BRAT?! She wanted to yell that he was unprivileged to even say the thief's name with those filthy lips. Zeze was about to suggest that he leave Arrika alone and go to a brothel instead, when Kobas moaned,

"It's my fault she's dead, and now I've got to set things right, don't you see? She's so beautiful. She's my star. I was lost without her."

"You were lost without her? You're still lost, you ranting idiot!"

The bard said a little more quietly,

"You think they're coming to get me? What do you intend to do? Since it looks like I'm going to die anyway, you can spill."

"I'm not lost!" Kobas replied indignantly. "Immortality means nothing if you've got no one to spend it with." In truth, he had Mirielle and Rhyss, but they were nothing compared to his dear Rebecca.

"I'm not sure if they'll seek me out for you..." he mumbled under his breath, and went back to pacing the floor. "Not much longer, my love..." It was unclear whether he spoke to the memory of the woman mercenary or to Zeze. "Arrika's all grown up, but she was never one for friends, so I don't think she'd risk her life for you, I taught her quite the opposite... No, no, she'll come to me because she simply can't resist..." A manic smile spread across his lips. "Then there's the 'revenge' factor. Yes, my dear, my sweet, she'll come to me sooner or later..."

He seized Zeze by her shoulders now, clinging as desperately as a drowning man. "She has to come! Or it'll be all over... If there's anything I'm afraid of, it's death. Old Dusty Bones and I have a delayed appointment, you see? ...you won't catch me, oh no you won't, Shade Reaper, I've outrun and outfoxed you all these years and I'll do it as many times as I need, I'll do it forever and-"

The rogue was going out of his mind, falling into one of the many frantic lapses he had been having lately. They were the combination of an unholy amount of fear, stress, and a repeatedly shattered soul. He was the mirror that had fallen off the vanity too many times, each time resulting in a crack. It would not take much more to destroy his well-being completely. Zeze's banter was not helping him- she was such an oddity, and had the type of approach so completely unsuitable to the situation that it made his senses go haywire. What was real and what was not? He could feel Zeze in his hands, sure, but there were many times that he tricked himself so well into imagining Rebecca beside him that he could almost smell her.

"-apple blossoms and rain, that's what she smelled like," he interjected suddenly. "I could still smell her on my skin when she left me. We fought that day, you know, the day she sailed away," he added, despite having said that earlier. "That was the day I told her all about what I had learned from Rhyss, and he from Mirielle... the secret to living young forever. I asked her to join us, no, me, live with me forever... She called me a thief." He let out a harsh bark of laughter. "After all those years together, that was when she decided she didn't like my trade. I watched her, you know? Watched her since she was ten. Rhyss saw her with her governess in the town square. I knew what he was thinking, and I never judged him. Back then he liked girls more. He wanted her, I saw it in his eyes, but I stopped him. Told him I didn't want to tug another little brat around with us, and she was well off and someone would notice if she disappeared. Maybe he figured it out later, but there was something about her... I couldn't do what I did to Arrika, you know?"

He threw a pleading look at Zeze to sympathize with him, although that was highly unlikely considering his complete disregard for the Sheikah girl. He spoke so frankly that his innocent tone was overwhelmed by his unabashed cruelty.

"I hadn't even met Arrika- the girl probably wasn't even born yet, when I first saw Rebecca. From then on I watched over her. I made sure she had everything she needed and more, in my own little ways. I wanted her life to be perfect. And so I waited for her."

He rubbed his eyes tiredly, sinking to the floor and pulling Zeze down with him. "Let me lay my head in your lap," he insisted, and did just that. "Let me pretend, for a little while, that you're..."

His voice caught in his throat for a second. "I think the girl I had at the time was Alexandria. Or was it Adrianna? Wait... Alina, Amelia, Annie..." he counted off on his fingers. "...Aggie, Alexandria, Adrianna, Arrika...? Yeah, that sounds right," he muttered, as if the girls were as trivial as knick knacks.

Zeze stared as Kobas began to rant, all sense of reality lost on him. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head as he began to speak to no one in particular, but seemed desperate nonetheless. She expected frothy spit to dribble out of his lips any moment, as that seemed to be the common symptom of madness. Even though she hated the situation, she felt sorry for him…sort of. The world and fate had been cruel on him, and perhaps in anger he had decided to strike back. Except in his case, it was more unconsciously evil than intentional. He wasn’t really doing all this out of greed for worldly goods – he was in love – who else knew better of the tugging feelings of the powerful emotion than herself, who was a bard? She sang of it all the time…

When Kobas pulled her down, Zeze landed face flat onto the cold, musty ground and he laid his head on her back. Annoyed, the girl struggled to get up as the madman began to rant about his past victims. She jumped up, finally, and yelled, annoyed,

“Seems like you’ve got a penchant for names that start out with A’s. You know what? Then you won’t like me much, cuz I begin with a Z. Ta!”

Zeze began to run, her eyes seeking out a path, desperately, in the darkness. She had no intention of spending all her youth in a stinky tunnel with a crazy hundred year old.

Kobas lay curled up on the ground, eyes open but seeing nothing. He let Zeze run for a few good minutes- she would never find her way out of this maze on her own.

"She's right, you know... Maybe it is time to start anew..."

He clawed at the cold floor, strong enough to dig his fingers into the stones, sending a wave of shadow that followed the path Zeze had taken. He let it chase her right at her heels for a while before tiring of the game. He clenched his hand into a fist, and the shadows wrapped themselves around Zeze like a dark blanket.

He took his time getting there, all the while mumbling under his breath. "We fought the day she sailed, you know?" he repeated over and over. "She was so beautiful. Am I a thief? I always was, my love, I always was... What did I do wrong...?"

He stared at Zeze for a long time when he finally found her. She was so different from Arrika... that made him think.

"I'm going to kill Arrika," he said clearly and calmly. "I will get Rebecca's soul back in exchange, and host it in Arrika's body. I used to only choose girls who looked like Rebecca because of that, but lately Rhyss has discovered ways to alter one's appearance. After Arrika is gone, I'm going to need someone else..." He appeared to be thinking aloud rather than talking to Zeze.

"All those A's... I disagree, I think you'll be a nice change, my dear."

Cold sweat sprang upon Zeze's forehead, and panic rose at her throat with each step. Damn, I'm never going to get outta here...

"I'm going to kill Arrika."

The voice startled her, as she hadn't heard him nearing. She turned around, and began to laugh like a soul who had abandoned all sense of reason. Her high pitched laughter rang throughout the halls, bouncing off the walls. She could still hear the rest of his statement, though - and she finally felt the claws of fear tugging at her heart.

"No, you won't! Sakiko's going to come get me! So is Arrika! And they'll kill you, and I'll laugh in your stupid face!"

She laughed again, as if to prove the point.

"And you know what? I think you've lived too long, anyway. Do you think, that if you bring back Rebecca, she's going to love you?! She'll think of you as a thief - just like the day that you guys fought. She's going to barf right at your feet. No woman can love a thief and a murderer like you!"

"She won't come for you," Kobas said derisively. "Maybe Sakiko will. But not my Arrika. She's using you, you little fool, and you're falling for it. I taught her well, it seems."

He froze when Zeze brought all of of his fears to light, all the ones that he had kept locked away and never dared speak himself. "She didn't want to die there," he said, and lunged forward, hands wrapped around Zeze's throat. "Do you understand? She was life itself. She was afraid of death, as am I. Those... barbarians from across the sea murdered her when they had no right to! Absolutely no right, how could they, to my star..." he started to ramble again hypocritically, and finally released Zeze's throat, instead clutching her arm. He dragged her along as he paced to and fro. "I love her, how could she not love me...? She will, she has to, look what I've done for her all these years! Look... look at me...!"

He grabbed Zeze by the chin and forced her to tilt her face up at him. "You'll see. I'll bring her back, you'll see..."

His body shook, as if he were sobbing, but no tears ran down his face. "She used to sing to me when I was angry... why won't you sing?!" He demanded, shaking her. "You stupid girl. Do I have to do everything?"

He closed his eyes, and, although it seemed impossible, calmed himself.

"It was down by the Sally Gardens, my love and I did meet.
She crossed the Sally Gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I was young and foolish, and with her did not agree..."

Kobas swayed too and fro as he sang, pulling Zeze along with him into a a crude waltz. He had a rich voice, although it wavered at the end of every phrase. "You're a bard, aren't you?" he whispered. "Please tell me you know the rest."

OoC: I found this beautiful version of that song on youtube. And then I found this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhS9A4SpvF4

Zeze cringed when Kobas lunged forward, and it seemed to her as though his eyes had lost focus. He's crazy! She backed away, but it was too late. His strong fingers pressed her neck, squeezing all air from her body. She coughed, but no sound came out - tears started to well up in her eyes, and she was really, truly scared.

She began to shake when Kobas started to sing, her eyes round and almost bulging out of her head. Zeze began to frantically pray to the goddesses that some miracle would happen - Sakiko and Arrika appear suddenly to rescue her or something like that. Or maybe even Laido. Masakazu, her twin?! Or even her long dead friends and family...

The bard, coughed, holding onto her still sore throat, and barely listened to Kobas's voice. This man was definitely bipolar or something - going crazy and singing the next. She screamed when he asked her to sing the rest,

"Music is only beautiful when the singer has beauty within! You're evil! You're ugly inside!"

Zeze began to cry, all fright and hatred that had welled up inside her exploding in violence. Her body shook uncontrollably, and she felt weird; she wasn't really used to tearful tantrums like this. She choked and yelled at the same time,

"I hate you! You're the most...most...stupidest, idiotic, dumb, evil, evil, evil person I've ever met! I hope you die, and die again, and again, and again!"

"Shut up!" Kobas growled. He couldn't stand it when women cried. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He struck her on the side of her head multiple times. "I'm never going to die, do you understand-?"

"-Kobas!" called a muffled voice, and the rogue drew the glass orb from out of his pocket. Rhyss appeared inside. "Kobas, we've searched all of Castle Town, they're not there. Then we- hey, are you okay?"

"No. No, I'm not. Find- find them, Rhyss, I can't-" His hands shook and he nearly dropped the orb.

"Calm down, Kobas," Rhyss said, concerned, but not too much so. This was not the first time he had seen Kobas like this.

"Ooh, is he having another panic attack?" Mirielle asked sweetly, pushing Rhyss aside so she could peer at Kobas. "Look, the man's awake. ...wait! Kobas, you fiend, you made him cry!" she said gleefully, spotting Zeze behind him.

"Anyway, we're heading out to Rauru Town right now. Do you want me to stay with you, and let Mirielle go ahead?" Rhyss asked. He spoke slowly, as if to a child.

"No, I'm fine," Kobas insisted, dragging his fingers through his hair.

"No, you're not," Rhyss replied. "I'll be there in a few."

The light from the orb flickered off, and Rhyss disappeared.

Zeze stared wide-eyed as Kobas began to speak to people in the glass orb, and she felt slightly insulted when a high-pitched woman called her a man. She supposed that she didn't really have the feminine charms of most ladies she had met, but a man? That was harsh.

She shivered at the thought of more Kobas-like evil beings coming here. Just one villain was enough...

Kobas sat on the cold stone ground as he waited, glassy eyed.

A flurry of wind rushed through the tunnel as Rhyss appeared. The mage walked right past Zeze and straight to the rogue. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, dammit," Kobas insisted, shooing Rhyss away.

"Get up," the mage said, dragging him up by the arm. He jerked his thumb at Zeze. "He hasn't given you any trouble, has he?"

"None at all," Kobas replied, not noticing that Rhyss referred to Zeze in a masculine form. "Have you found them?"

"I told you we didn't, remember?" Rhyss said gently.

"...I suppose you did." The rogue's eyes were unfocused, and he staggered, as if drunk.

Rhyss sighed. "Let's get out of here. I can't see in the dark, and it's depressing and cold. Arrika won't come."

Kobas nodded slowly but did not move otherwise.

"Well?" the red-headed man said exasperatedly. "Come on, Kobas. Snap out of it." He turned to Zeze, legitimately apologietic. "Dreadfully sorry about this, really, I am. Wrong place, wrong time for you to be in, I think. Hopefully we can end this mess in a clean stroke. Kobas! What are you waiting for?"

The rogue mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Rebecca..."

Rhyss took Kobas' hand and tugged him along firmly. "She's gone, remember? Wake up, you fool, you don't have much time left! We're going to meet up with Mirielle at Rauru, alright?"

There was more mumbling and bickering, and at one point Kobas attempted to dash away down the tunnel, but Rhyss stopped him. The mage sighed, unleashing a powerful zephyr from his palms that circled the three of them, and finally they escaped the oppresive labyrinth.

Rhyss apologized profusely and released Zeze; he had held onto her as they transported out of the sewers. The chilly night air seemed to clear Kobas' mind. The tortured expression left his face, replaced by grim determination. It later evolved further into his original swaggering cockiness.

They were now in the fields north of Rauru Town.

Thank the holy goddesses; finally, a normal person had appeared! She had been scared that she would rot away into a corpse with Kobas on the loose, and now it seemed, a kindly, handsome, reasonable man had come to the rescue. Well, he wasn't Arrika or Sakiko or any of the people she had thought of, but he would have to do.

Zeze looked around confusedly at their new surroundings, wondering why they had come here.

Ooc: Sorry, horrible post. >_M

"Where's Mirielle?" Kobas asked.

"Scouting around the town. What are the chances they're hiding in Rauru, do you think?" said Rhyss.

"Highly likely. They know how invisible one can be in a crowd." Kobas peered through the darkness, and although his eyes were green and not the standard Sheikah red, he had the same amount of night vision. "They'll try something unexpected."

"That could go either way. Going with the textbook examples we taught them, like hiding in town. Or something completely different."

"We don't have much time," Kobas said, taking hold of Zeze's arm. "We'll go the opposite way Mirielle did, and meet her halfway."

Rhyss nodded. "Hiyagi!" There was a sudden violent breeze, and a large wolf materialized at the mage's foot. It growled at Zeze, snapping at her until Rhyss hushed it.

Kobas stalked off into the night, taking the bard with him. Something drew him to Rauru, and his intution was rarely wrong.