It was only the beginning of the Shadow Temple and Link was already scared out of his mind. The place was crawling with the living dead that kept paralyzing him with their trademark shriek that chilled him to the bone, making him wonder whether the paralysis was because of the scream or because of his fear. The temple was dark, cold, unknown, and seemingly unending, with disturbing things like iron shackles dangling on the walls, giant guillotines that were fully capable of coming down and slashing him in half like a butter knife, and red stains on the walls that looked a lot like blood. The whole ordeal was overwhelming for the adult/child hero. The darkness scared him, and there seemed to be no light anywhere to save him from it. He sank to the ground in a corner of the room on the floor of skulls and drew his knees up to his chest, his head in his arms.
He was supposed to be the hero, but he felt anything but. He was scared out of his mind; he could feel his entire body shaking uncontrollably. He wanted to give up. He wanted to curl up and disappear from this nightmare.
He wished more than anything to get out of here.
For a long time there was no sound except the steady dripping of water from the ceiling, the sound echoing eerily off the walls, and the occasional sniffle from Link. He could practically feel the shadows closing in around him, making him feel small and helpless.
Then suddenly, there was a crack, loud in the penetrating silence, and a tall silhouette appeared on the other side of the tunnel. It was slightly rounded at the chest and back, female, but young, possibly around teen years. There was a soft click and a beacon of light appeared and began bobbing towards him. He could see the beam focused on the ground, showing that the dark ground was made of the skeletons of all those who had failed to pass though alive. The silhouette screeched in fear at the sight and the light jumped back. The yelp was rather high in pitch; he was correct in assuming the figure was female. The light turned forward and focused on Link, causing a sharp intake of breath from the figure. He moved an elbow in front of his face, shielding his eyes from the bright light she wielded.
"Link?" The voice sounded familiar.
Link sat bolt upright, his eyes widening as the girl walked closer to him, the light from the device in her hand bouncing off the dark wall behind him, lighting her face, bringing her into view. He knew this girl. She was the one who lived in the 'other world.' What did she call it? Amrisha? No, America. Her world of which she sometimes spoke was far more advanced than that of Hyrule. The people looked quite different as well; no pointed ears and strange clothes just to point out a few. She looked different than she had last time he had seen her. She wore light blue jeans (why did the girls wear pants? It was weird, it was rather unexpected for a respectable woman of Hyrule to wear pants.), and a shirt that read: 'my patronus is a bookworm,' whatever a patronus was. (See? They really were weird.) Her long, dark brown curly hair was pulled back by a black headband. In her hand was the beam of light controlled by a small device. He tried to remember what she called it, oh yeah! Flashlight.
"Elizabeth." He whispered. His voice shook slightly, as he'd been crying before she had appeared.
Elizabeth slid down the wall to sit next to Link placing the flashlight on the ground so that it's beam faced away from them and out into the dark void. She put a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be ok Link."
"No Eliza, it's not." Link's voice was quiet but full of angry ferocity. He looked up at her with those deep, sea blue eyes, full of anguish and frustration. "I feel so stupid. I'm supposed to be the hero!" He cried desperately, then his tone softened dejectedly, "But heroes aren't supposed to be scared, they're supposed to be brave." He scoffed sadly, "Who would have thought it. The hero of Hyrule. Scared of the dark." He hung his head in shame.
"Link. Stop." Eliza's words were soft and showed no power, just comfort. He stopped. She reached out a hand, touching the side of his face. "Look at me."
Reluctantly, Link raised his head to look at her, a stray tear trickling down against his will.
Her burnette hair seemed to further magnify the deep blue of her eyes as they stared into his own cerulean ones. She enveloped him in a comforting hug. "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you aren't brave. It's ok to be scared."
"But I thought being brave meant you weren't scared." Link was confused.
"Courage is not the absence of fear, it's the knowledge that something else is more important than that fear. Knowing this, heroes push their fear aside for that."
She listens to Sheik too much, now she's talking like Nayru, Link thought.
She pulled back to look at him again, "What do you fight for?"
"Zelda."
"Not just Zelda, who else would you do anything to keep safe?"
"Saria, Navi, Sheik, the other Kokiri."
Eliza nodded encouragingly. "See? You can do it."
Link still looked doubtful.
Eliza drew closer. "Link, on the outside, you are seventeen, but inside," She pressed her pointer finger into the right side of his chest, "you're still ten years old. You were forced to age, but the only thing that changed was your body. Your mind is still ten years old. That whole time travel thing is so unfair, and I'm sorry that you have to carry this burden. It's ok for things like this to affect you. You've seen more things than any ten year old has ever seen, more than most adults have seen for that matter. And do you know what?"
"What?"
"I'm scared of the dark too. Those Redeads scare me too."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Then why did you come to me when you're afraid of those things?"
"Because I'm not the hero, you are. You needed someone to keep you going so I just closed my eyes and entered your world again."
"You don't look very scared right now. You said you were afraid of the dark." Link said in an accusatory tone.
Elisa nodded, "And I am. You're right. But you know what helps me to not be scared?"
"What?"
"If I know that there is someone in the darkness with me, I know I'm not alone, so I won't be vulnerable. I know they will protect me. And I will protect you."
She stood.
"We'll protect each other. Come on. We'll go together." She extended a hand towards Link for him to take. He hesitated, then took it, letting her pull him to his feet.
"Now, let's get out of this goddess-forsaken temple." She smiled at Link. He managed a weak one in return and together they walked into the heart of the Shadow Temple.
Eliza was right. With her by his side, Link wasn't as scared anymore
Hey guys! This is one of the many stories that I have been working on at the same time as Chained Warrior. Like I said, Eliza is largely based off of myself, in both appearence and personality. She is slightly braver than I am in real life tho, because when it comes to facing monsters, I would likely run for it if one showed up on my front lawn.
I know, I sort of started the story in the middle where Link and Eliza had already met. The story where they meet may come later when I come up with it. These one-shots will be mostly in order, but not all the time. I will try to keep them in order as best as I can tho, so as not to make all of you guys confused as heck. Yes, they are in the Shadow Temple. REDEADS AH!