Piece of Heart

There were many nice places in Lorule if you let yourself see them. There was a pretty garden of violet blossoms in the silver grasses outside the blacksmith's house. Although, you had to play keep away with the Hinox and hope they didn't notice you admiring the colors. There was a vibrant swamp in the southwest, full of interesting plants growing in the green waters. That place required some creative rock climbing to get to, though, more than most people wanted to do. In spite of the name, the Skull Woods could be called lush and colorful. At least in admiring them across the giant gaping chasm between it and Thieves Town.

Standing there at the edge of the chasm, Ravio sighed and shook his head. "It could be a lot better. Our land could be whole. Still, I don't know about all this talk of another world. I've got this one last place to check out. Come on, Ravio, it's just the same as before. Go in, scope out the place, get the treasure, then get out. Don't even have to fight the big boss, whatever it is."

Wind howled deep in the chasm, but it was strangely still up here. Nobody knew what exactly was down there; no one came back up to tell the tale. Stretching his arms out, he continued psyching himself up.

"I snuck into the place here and even got into the treacherous Ice Palace. Man, I hope those signs work to warn anybody else who gets there from going further. That ascent alone was a horror. Anyhow, focus. I got what I went for. I probably should have dealt with the big monsters too..." he waved his hand. "Ah, who am I kidding? I get splatted by everything, there's no way I'm going up against those fiends. Who ever thought I could be a hero? Not that I blame her, she's just doing what she can. But if I don't do something..." he sighed again.

He should just do this. He knew he would; the idea of what would happen if he didn't was too much to keep him from doing nothing. If he could just get a piece of heart, he might be more confident in doing this.

"Actually, I'd need four," he mused to himself. "And a heart container would be even better, but those might as well be myths. But I haven't been able to find even a piece..."

"Hey, you!"

Startled at the voice behind him, Ravio pulled the hood of his bunny cowl over his head. People in this place were either thieves or members of the cult that imitated monsters to keep safe. It was easier to pretend to be one of them. Thankfully, he'd managed to pick up this costume piece in his favorite color. "Huh, what is it?"

From the lack of a mask, it was one of the thieves. "What're you doing here? This is our territory."

"I'm just looking across the way, that's all," he said. "Was thinking about how to cross over this chasm. There might be great treasures on the other side."

The thief snorted. "There's just skulls and death waiting for you over there, don't even try. Or, are you that loser hero-wannabe that's been scuttling around the country lately?"

"Ah, no, I'm not that guy," Ravio said, glad that this hood obscured his face from others. There was an enchantment on it that allowed him to see his surroundings on the inside of the hood. "Who'd want to be him?"

"Right, especially when we get to beat him up for being that good-for-nothing princess' dog," the thief said.

That irked him. Hilda was working with basically nothing. Nobody else in Lorule seemed to like her, her castle would crumble apart if they hadn't turned it into a dungeon so the magic held it together, and the gods weren't doing anything to stop this slow death of the world. But as much as he wanted to set people straight, Ravio knew better than to antagonize dangerous people. It was too bad that just about everyone in Lorule was dangerous to some degree. Anyone who wasn't dangerous didn't survive Lorule.

"I'm thinking more about having to do all the dangerous stuff for nothing because of being a hero," Ravio said. "I don't mind doing some dangerous stuff for treasure, which is why I might go over that way. But it requires a plan, right?"

"Count me out of any plan that involves going into Skull Woods," the thief said. "One of our guys set up a rope bridge over there a while back. Try it if you dare. Just stop lurking around our base; if you even think of taking treasure from us, we'll beat you to a pulp."

"I, I'm very well aware of that, sir," he said, giving him a bow. The thief seemed satisfied with that and walked off. Letting out a sigh of relief, Ravio turned back to the chasm. It was wide here, so finding their rope bridge was his best bet. "Well, let's do this."

While the very idea of a rope bridge across one of the great chasms was daunting, it got worse when he finally located it to the northeast of Thieves Town. It was made up of two ropes strung across the gap in the earth and anchored with simple stakes in the ground. It had a third rope at one point, but now it was only a frayed bit tied to the metal post. From the look of it, it had once had one rope at ground level to walk across and two ropes at waist level to hold onto. At least it was one of the hand ropes gone. Ravio couldn't imagine how to cross if it was just the two higher ropes left.

"I can't see this surviving much longer either," he said to his thoughts. He went to rub his head and touched the hood instead. "But the Hookshot isn't going to reach any of those trees. Maybe if I looked more, there'd be a closer tree. All well, here goes nothing… over nothing." Ravio gulped and put a hand on the remaining hand rope.

There was some give, but it was staying in place. Ravio carefully tested the lower rope with one foot. Far below that foot, there was nothing but darkness and certain death. Sort of. He didn't know about others, but he knew that he himself would end up lying by the chasm if he fell in. There would be a moment of darkness, then it was back to land for him. After all, he'd slipped down these chasms plenty of times trying to get around Lorule's broken land. It left him with a terrible queasiness to escape death like that, though. He hated it and hoped that he didn't fall this time.

Wobble… he gripped the hand rope tighter and slowed down. He was over halfway now, he'd get there. Of course, going slower meant this would take longer. Ravio tried scooting over a bit quicker. When it wobbled again, he dove for the ground just ahead. Dust scattered and the rope swayed. "Phew, made it across. If the rope stays, I have a way back. But that's after the dungeon."

And if just getting across the chasm took all that effort, the dungeon was going to be awful as usual…

The first obstacle was that there was no clear entrance. Walking through a thick cluster of lavender-colored flowers, Ravio thought aloud, "So where am I supposed to get…?"

The ground disappeared under his foot as he put his weight on it.

"...iiiiinnnn?!" He crashed onto hard dirt covered in dried leaves. "Guess that's how, ow!"

"Guuuh?" Something shuffled towards him in the dark.

And there was a usual obstacle, the monsters. "Uh, just dropping by, you know?" Ravio said, getting himself to his hands and knees quickly. "Checking the place out? Oh, but I won't disturb things much. Maybe grab a thing or two, I'll try not to mess things up..."

A bandaged horror staggered out of the darkness, darkened eyes looking own at him. Was this someone who'd lived here once? And then couldn't find peace after death due to evil magic?

If he had to, he did have a fire rod in his bag. But Ravio would rather sneak around to get what he wanted done. It was less risky to not draw attention to himself. With his heart pounding, he got to his feet. "Well, nice meeting you and all!" He waved with both hands as he took a step back. "Later, maybe never."

Then he turned and ran for the nearest door.

Next, there were the Floormasters. They were everywhere in the Skull Woods underground.

Navigating the dungeon here required Ravio to move slow and keep his eyes everywhere. It was his normal method of explorations, though others called it far too cautious. Look ahead in case of pits and monsters, look above for ledges and monsters, look below for weak floors and the unmistakable shadow of large fingers… no matter how quietly he tried to move, no matter how much he stuck to the shadows, the Floormasters kept finding him.

"Maybe they sense heat?" he said without a sound. Doing that made him feel better than just keeping his words in his head. "That'd be how they'd find me. It is brisk in here. Can't be motion since they'll still drop down onto you if you're keeping still for something else." That familiar ominous shadow appeared at his feet. "And there's another one, oh boy. It seems a bit different, thicker maybe? Gosh, that's silly, maybe I'm just imagining it."

He rolled away right as the Floormaster dropped down with a tremendous thump. That was different, much louder than their usual landings. Maybe it had misjudged the distance and smacked palm down on the floor? Ravio hadn't seen one do that. He turned around…

This… was no ordinary Floormaster. Larger than the rest, it wore jointed metal armor. It might hurt himself more if he tried to take out that one with a sword. And then it lifted itself up and revealed a bloodshot angry eye placed disturbingly in the middle of its palm.

How was anyone supposed to beat that thing? More importantly, could he get away from it so he could complete his goal here? "Uh, sorry, gotta run!" Ravio then took off towards the nearest door.

Just after he got through, the armored Floormaster punched the other side of the wall hard enough to make the floors shake.

The musty smell of the dungeon greeted Ravio as he woke back up. "Nngghh, six now? Seven?" It was never a good feeling when he started losing track of how many times he'd fallen in battle in these dungeons. While he'd not fully died yet, that fact only worried him more about what would happen if his injuries did get that bad.

He got back to his feet and looked around. The door he'd investigated last time led to what seemed like a dead end (literally in his case). What about that other doorway? He'd not yet found the treasure in this dungeon. There had been an empty treasure chest in an important looking location. Had someone else got it? It'd be a pain to track down.

In the darkened doorway, Ravio found stairs heading up to the surface. "Ah, this is where a proper entrance is! That's good to know, where is it? it'd be mighty handy if it were on the other side of the chasm… heh, though that'd be really improbable for something of this depth to actually cross the chasms."

Coming out in a small opening in the dark trees, he glanced around looking for landmarks. There was a narrow path ahead, and behind him… the opening to the dungeon was inside of a gigantic skull, creepy with its empty black eyesockets.

"Yeek!" He put his hands to his chin, feeling a chill. "Man, I would not want to meet the creature that left that skull behind! But who would go into an entrance like this, walking into a skuil's mouth? They'd have to be totally fearless. That's the kind of person I'd like to find. They might actually be able to do something about all this."

Though if he could just get Hilda to listen to him, he might not need to do all this.

In the last rooms he had to explore, Ravio ran across one of the thieves. It might have been smarter to avoid him, but it was unusual to find someone else in a dungeon like this. There were treasure rooms that some people kept trying to crack as they didn't have monsters in them. In a place like this with so many Floormasters, most people would stay away. Plus nobody lived in Skull Woods as far as he knew.

"Hey there buddy," Ravio said, coming into a lit area so they could see each other. The burly thief gave him a skeptical look. "Who are you?"

He stared for a moment, then said, "George. Who're you?"

The name was underwhelming compared to the man. "Ah, I'm Ra..." his mind checked him before he fully said it. The thieves hated him. Maybe they knew he'd taken that bomb bag from them? But he'd already started. "Ra-Ravioli, that's my name!"

With a mostly stony face, George raised an eyebrow at him.

His hood covered his face, but his nervousness kept him talking. "I chose it myself, isn't it unique? It means a lot to me." He still wasn't convincing him. "Hey, don't judge me for liking cheesy pasta! It's good stuff!"

"You're a weirdo," George said. "But you're here. That makes you better than ninety-five percent of Lorule. I got some things here, but they're useless to me. Wanna buy?"

Maybe he had the treasure. "What've you got?"

"Got a toy," he said, bringing out a wooden boomerang. "Doesn't kill things, fifty rupees."

"It's kind of sad that's its qualifier," Ravio said, coming up with a sales pitch in his mind.

"It doesn't," George said, taking out something else: a large key. "And a key. Already unlocked the door, wasn't anything useful back there, just a big armored Floormaster."

"And you let it get out of its room?" he asked. No wonder it was roaming the dungeon, making this trip harder and more terrifying than it should be.

He shrugged. "Room could become a hidden stash; the Floormaster would keep others away. But I don't need one. Ten rupees for that."

Between the two items, it was a really good deal. Ravio could remember some places where just the boomerang would recoup the costs in a snap. "I guess, if you could find a reliable way to keep coming back here."

"Also got a piece of heart," George said. And to Ravio's surprise, he brought out an authentic piece of heart. It shimmered like a red jewel suspended in glass, although its precious quality wasn't in monetary worth. "Nine thousand rupees for that one."

"N-nine thousand?" Ravio asked, tensing at the sticker shock. "It's not that useful on its own. Why so much?"

"Some folks pay far more than that," he said. "It's a bargain since you met me here. Not changing the price."

He could really use a piece of heart (actually, four of them). It would be the difference between getting knocked out by everything and being able to run from a hit here and there. However, he didn't have nine thousand rupees on him. He wasn't even close to one thousand. He ended up buying just the boomerang and big key from George. If only he'd been the one to find that piece…

On confirming which door was the one the big key operated, Ravio paced around the chamber just in front of it. "Okay, now where is it? Hey armored Floormaster? Come 'ere and..." he gulped. "Get me? Actually, don't, give me a few moments to do something first. Sh-show yourself, at least. Pretty please?"

There were mossy skulls on the floor here. Normal sized ones. However, they were still unnerving in that they were shaped like they belonged to humans and animals. So many had died here if they were real. Why had that happened? Had there been people living in these woods around the time that the Triforce was destroyed? They could also be fake, fabricated based on dungeon magic. Though that didn't change how creepy it was.

Finally, he spotted the different shadow of the big boss. Ravio pretended not to notice even though he was completely wary of it. Once it dropped from the ceiling, he dashed towards the open door and spun to face it. "Hah, you missed! Heh, that was cool of me, right?"

The armored Floormaster lifted itself off the ground so that its eye could look at him; it flexed its fingers.

He was sweating, but he was trying to get it to do something particular. "I know how to evade you all now, even if you should drop faster from all that weight. But who cares about the physics of it? I lured you down and..."

Clenching itself, it turned on its side and rushed at him as a fist. Ravio rolled out of the way, grabbing the door as he got back to his feet. Then he slammed the door shut, trapping the armored Floormaster inside. Hopefully. He locked it with the big key just to make sure.

"Hah, got you right how I wanted!" he shouted, relieved that his plan had worked. He had gotten what he wanted, but, "You shouldn't be allowed to roam the dungeon freely, hand. The big boss has got to wait behind the big boss door, that's how things work. So you're going to stay in there."

A metallic clamor shook the door as the armored Floormaster attempted to punch the door down. But thanks to the magic of dungeons, this door couldn't be destroyed now that it was locked with the big key. Unless there was a way out of the room up near the ceiling, it was trapped.

"I hope there's not a way for you to escape," Ravio said quietly. "Well, I'll just hide the key back in the empty chest. I know I saw trap mechanisms in that room, so whoever manages to get the key next should be capable of defeating you for good. Yeah, that's the ticket."

"You," a deep voice boomed nearby.

Instinctively, Ravio turned and put his back to the door. He'd rather see whatever was trying to attack him. There wasn't a monster immediately in sight. But down by the floor, one of the green skulls now had white glowing eyes. "A-are you a ghost?" he asked.

The skull voice ignored his question, saying, "You have heart."

That was an odd thing for something living in a skull to say. "Uh, yeah. Just one though. I could have gotten a piece of heart earlier, but the guy was asking way too much for it."

"I don't mean that." The skull lifted up off the ground, bringing it eye to eye with him. "You have heart. Being born in this dying world, most lose heart early in life. You still have heart. You want to save Lorule."

"Sure, I want to," Ravio said, relaxing a little. But it would be prudent to keep ready to run given that this wasn't a normal being. "I don't know if I can, though. Were you watching me through here? Then you would've seen me fall many times even though I never looked for a fight. Well I did pick on the armored Floormaster, just to trap him. Or was that the Master Floormaster?"

"You didn't give up."

"Well someone has to do something," he said.

The skull floated closer. "I should still ask you something. What do you think of Yuga?"

He tilted his head, wondering why that question was the one to ask. "Him? He's a horrid singer." There was a moment of silence between them. "It's true! He's obsessed with beauty and tries far too hard to be beautiful. It really doesn't work with his voice, but he thinks he's so wonderful and will take any chance to sing his awful melodies. Any time he tries, I just want to stuff my ears with cotton and run."

"Is that really all?" the skull asked skeptically. Its spirit grew strong and intimidating.

"Uh, heh…," he rubbed the side of his head. "Actually, that's just what I tell people. If I said what I really think, people would, ah, recognize me for who I'm supposed to be and beat me up for it. It has happened before! So I just be silly to throw them off."

"I understand the value of that tactic," it said, toning down its disapproval. "Then what do you really think?"

By this point, he felt more like this being might be reasonable. It was certainly open to hearing him out. Ravio relaxed and leaned against the locked door. "Yuga doesn't care about Lorule for all his bluster about the dark beauty of our land. He's a cruel narcissist bastard that is going along with Princess Hilda's plan to take control at the last moment. I mean, he hasn't said anything outright, but in the ways he acts and speaks, I can tell that he's crazy and dangerous. Well, more dangerous than anyone else around." He shook his head. "But how am I supposed to fight against him? One wrong move and I'm gone. And I'm sure I won't be getting up from that loss once I stand against him."

"What do you plan to do about him?"

"Well it's kind of a long shot," Ravio admitted. "Hilda and Yuga want to get a Triforce from another world, through a crack in the Sacred Realm. But that just moves the problem elsewhere, won't solve it. If I can sneak in and get through the crack, though, I could find a hero in that world. I mean, I'm here, and the world over there seems similar to ours. There's got to be a chosen hero over there, probably better than me too. So I figured, I'd find a way to help them out."

"What if their land is peaceful and the hero isn't active?"

"That is a valid question," he said with a nod. "But if I could find some way to train them, like send them out on less dangerous objectives to train up, they could get strong. I could lend them my stuff so they could get to good places to train, cause all the good stuff is away in dungeons that would be hard for a newbie to get into. Though lending this stuff out leads to the problem of if they just take it and run."

"If you can get this stuff, why not challenge their foolish plan yourself?"

He held his hands out to signal him to stop there. "Whoa, whoa, that's outta my league, remember? I'm, well, I'm not really fighting my way through these. I don't have much power and I faint easy. To get through these places, I gotta sneak through, thinking through my every step." He shrugged apologetically. "I've got skills more suitable to a thief than a swordsman. But I don't like stealing from people. Everybody here is in a tough spot one way or another and I don't want to cause more hardship to others. Even if they all mock me; they're right in a lot of ways.

"Hmm."

"If there was some way for me to be a noble thief, that'd suit me great!"

"You have the spirit of Lorule's legendary hero," the skull said. "And more heart than that whole Thieves Town combined. I'll help you with this plan."

"Really?! That's great, buddy! So who are you?"

The glow in the eyesockets flashed brighter. "I am the god of this forest!"

The god? Panicking that he'd offended him with his words, Ravio bowed low. "Oh, sorry, sorry! Didn't realize you were."

"That doesn't matter." The spirit shook itself, making the skull crumble into dust. What was left was a white and minty blue bird. "I am Sheerow. Nobody has respected me since the Triforce was destroyed. I'd rather not be discovered for who I am, just mistaken for a cute bird."

"I understand that feeling all too well," he said, nodding to it.

"And I've never minded terms of familiarity from people with pure hearts," Sheerow said, shifting to Ravio's other side.

"Well all right, I don't mind a friend in this," Ravio said, smiling. "Although, your voice really doesn't match your current form. You sound more like you should be a dragon."

"I should be," it said. Then Sheerow chirped in a way that was actually cute and little. "I just won't speak unless we're alone. Does that work?"

"Yeah! Well, this is the last dungeon I planned on going in before crossing over to the other world, to the land of Hyrule. There's not a lot of time to get there before Yuga does. I've just got to put this key back and reset the room's puzzle."

"I have some ideas to go along with your proposed plan," Sheerow said.

Unfortunately, the god of Skull Woods had ideas that required them to go visit all the other dungeons again, to better define the objectives that would train the hero from Hyrule. Sheerow did make it easier to get around, though. And they needed to get the actual hero enough power and experience to stand a chance against Yuga.

This was to make sure that Lorule did not lose what goodness had endured through all this ruin; all the effort was worth it.

A/N: I've got no proof to Sheerow being what he claims to be here, just some guesses I found amusing.