Hello again!

I made a new one shot - a crossover this time! And much to my surprise, I managed to keep it short again. Though I think I rewrote most of it three times or something.
It's a crossover between The Legend of Zelda and Indiana Jones. I really had problems with not going into to many details, so this was good training for me. Anyway, I tried to keep Link a bit more general so it could be almost any Link, but in my mind it's mainly the one from ALttP.

Anyway, it's kind of about ropes. And miscommunication.

Enjoy!

Ropes

The famous archaeologist, doctor Indiana Jones, was making his way down the ancient temple they had discovered earlier that day. Even though the archaeologist had no clue of what he would find in there, he was always on the alert in order to avoid traps and stuff. But there was still nothing that could have prepared him for when a wall far ahead of him suddenly exploded, and the silhouette of a small person with a sword and shield stepped appeared from the hole.

The person coughed and sneezed from the dust flying around and Indy realized it was a child. Just then the kid spotted him and got into a defending position. Neither of them moved as the dust cleared - both wanting a chance to analyze the situation. The first thing Indy noticed was the green garment, with a brown undershirt and boots. Then, as the dust settled a bit more, he could see that the child was a boy - probably in his early teens. And even if the suspicious glare from those strong blue eyes caught the adult's attention, the thing that really made his eyes widen was the long pointy ears that was stroked back against the boy's head.

"Just what are you..?" he asked carefully.

The kid swallowed and shifted slightly, so Indy held up his hands and continued to talk.

"Calm down, I'm not going to to harm you, kid. I just got a bit surprised, I've never seen anyone like you."

The child didn't lower his guard, but he tilted his head and frowned confused. Indiana pointed at his own ears.

"Your ears", explained Jones with a friendly tune, not wanting an armed teen to attack him in a fit of sudden rage. "I've never seen anyone with pointy ears like yours."

The kid blinked and took a few steps forward. Then, much to Indy's surprise, the kid put his sword and shield away. The archaeologist kneeled down to his level and the boy scooted warily closer. Indy noticed the boy studied his ears and the man smiled.

"What's up with that look?" he chuckled. "Never seen round ears like mine?"

When the boy shook his head, Indy stopped laughing.

"What? You haven't? Where do you come from?"

The teen did not answer, or even point out a general direction. Maybe he didn't have a home, or knew which direction it was in. Or maybe, he had been raised to not tell strangers such a thing. He digressed and held out his hand to the boy.

"I am Indiana Jones. Do you got a name, kid?"

The kid looked at him like he was some kind of idiot for asking such a question but nodded.

"It's Link", he suddenly said, causing Indy to recoil his head in surprise.

"You're not mute!" the archaeologist exclaimed in shock. The kid scowled at him.

"Of course not, why did you think that?"

Indy threw out his hands. "Because you haven't said a single word until now!"

"It wasn't necessary!"

The adult groaned and massaged his template. The logic of kids never ceased to amaze.

"Mister Jones, what are you doing in here anyway?" asked Link abruptly. Indy looked up.

"I'm an archaeologist", he answered. "It's my job to excavate and research old items and places like this. What are you doing here? This isn't done kind of playground for kids. This place could be littered with traps and stuff you know."

Link shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm looking for... something magical. Haven't been able to find it yet though."

"You're lucky you haven't triggered any taps, kid", noted the man wryly, wondering if he should tell the kid magic didn't exist.

Link shook his head. "It wasn't luck, only skills. I neutralized them yesterday. Anyway, I don't think there's anything of interest for you here. I only found some pots and they were all empty. And when I blew up what I thought was a secret passage I got back here and met you."

Indy's jaw dropped. The kid had blown up that wall on propose? And been there since at least yesterday? And already searched through the place?! He couldn't believe it. "Have you really searched through this entire place?"

"Afraid not. I would have but... there is one way forward I haven't looked through. But I can't reach it. It's to high up..." Link's voice faded away as he looked at the man, then he began to grin. "Although, you could probably reach it."

Indy's eyes narrowed. "You're trying to use me."

"It's not like I'm gonna ditch you. I need to get forward, and if you help me, I'll give you the map over this place that I made. It would help you out too, wouldn't it?"

Indiana thought about it for a minute, then he got up on his feet and nodded. "Alright, I help you out. The faster you get out if here, the better. Show me the way, Link."

The boy grinned and began to lead him deeper into the temple. Indy looked around as they walked, and he could indeed see traces of traps that had been rendered useless. And even if he wasn't the kind of person who would be very careful with ancient artifacts, a part of his archaeologist heart still ached when he saw all the shards of crushed pots. Didn't the kid know how to look into pots without breaking them?

Suddenly, Link skipped backwards, startled by an unusually big spider running across in front of them.

"I hate spiders", growled Link and Indy chuckled.

"I know what you mean. I hate snakes, myself."

Link didn't reply, but he looked up at him with a rather confused look. Jones couldn't help but feel a bit proud - this cocky kid must really see him as a macho man if the thought of him suffering from herpetophobia was so hard to imagine. He patted encouragingly on the boy's back and they kept walking. At some point when it got too dark the kid pulled out a lantern from nowhere, but it did the job so Indy didn't comment it - for now. Eventually they came to a wall with old writings on it and Link pointed up, towards a ledge far out of his reach.

"Here it is", he said. "If you lift me up, I can reach it."

Indy have him an disapproving look. "Not happening, kid. I can reach up there, so I'll take the first look. I'm the adult after all."

Link did not look happy about it, but he stepped away to give room to Indy. The man ran towards the wall and stepped on it to get higher up, successfully getting hold of the ledge. Link reached up the lantern to him and he grabbed it gratefully. It wasn't much to see the distance the light could travel, but he noticed there was a wide - and possibly deep - hole in the floor up ahead. If they only could swing over it...

He jumped down and handed back the lantern.

"It is possible to get there, but we will need a rope. A long one."

Judging by the look he gave him, it seemed like the idea if using a rope was absolutely absurd in the boy's mind, but he did nod eventually.

"I think I saw a few ropes in a room nearby", he said and lit up an old torch on the wall. "I'll go get one. We don't need both of us to get a single rope."

Indy nodded in agreement. "Good. Make sure you get a strong rope, okay?"

Link nodded - still with that weird look on his face - and left. The man looked after him before he began to look at the wall, studying all the symbols and drawings. He was so caught up in it he didn't hear the boy return until he spoke up behind him.

"I've got your rope."

He turned around, and was greeted by the face of a hissing reptile with long, sharp fangs, just inches away from his face.

The scream of the archaeologist could be heard even outside the old temple, and that day the two of them learned something they would late forget:
Because what Indiana Jones knew of as "snakes", Link knew of as "ropes".

The End.

Well. I hope I at least could make you smile a bit. Let me know what you thought of it, and I'd be really grateful if you point out any mistakes I've might have made!

This was fun to write :p

Though I still don't understand why they call the snakes "ropes" in Zelda...

Edit: Thank you TheObsessedBookworm for pointing out some errors I had made! :) I appreciate it!