A/N: Oh my gosh, I'm finally picking this up again after a year. Like, literally, a year. So, um, sorry if this next chapter sounds weird, since I'm not 'into' the story anymore, but hopefully as I write more I'll remember how I, uh, did stuff. Yup. Uh… enjoy? (Insert violent coughing here…)
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Chapter Three: MelodiesHe stood there for a few moments, staring at the spot where Impa had stood, trying to figure out what he should do next. He supposed that he should be a good boy and go to Kakariko Village to fulfill his "destiny" or whatever it was, but as new and exciting this adventure was, there were still Malon and Saria to consider. And he would not not visit them.
Malon first, he decided—he had passed Lon Lon Ranch on the way to Hyrule Market, and it was much closer to where he was now than Kokiri Forest. When he announced his intentions to Navi, she just rolled his eyes and told him if he wanted Hyrule to fall into ruin, that was his problem. So he set off for the ranch at a brisk pace, anxious to get there before sunset, not knowing what kind of things roamed around in Hyrule Field when dark.
The sun was on the horizon when he finally arrived. He was hot and tired and thirsty, and he stumbled in blindly, glad simply to have reached the ranch before dark. His mood, however, improved greatly once he heard someone humming… a girl. Malon. He coughed, brushed off the dust from his tunic, and approached the corral, where she was standing with her eyes closed, humming a tune.
Her eyes opened immediately once she heard his footfalls, and a smile slid across her face. "Oh, it's the fairy boy again!" she said happily.
Link tried to think of something he could say that sounded cheerful, but his mind shut down on him. "Yeah, that's right," he replied rather lamely. He didn't know why he sounded so indifferent, because in fact he was very glad to see her as well. He blamed the rock he had tripped over on the way here.
The smile widened. She began talking about how he had found her father and how funny that had been, then abruptly changed the subject to the pony that was now trotting away from them. "It seems like Epona is afraid of you, fairy boy," she said.
He grunted noncommittally.
She didn't seem to notice and changed the subject once again to the song she had been humming. "My mother composed this song… isn't it nice? Let's sing together."
"I don't want to sing," he stated flatly. He still wasn't sure why he seemed so grumpy to her.
"Please?"
"Well…" He brought out the Fairy Ocarina and raised an eyebrow at her. "I'll play the song with this. That good enough?"
"Perfect!" she squealed. She closed her eyes again and began to hum, and Link followed along the best he could with the ocarina. When he finally managed to play through the song without messing up, he could feel Epona nudge up against him.
Malon smiled once again. "Oh, Epona! She's grown fond of you, fairy boy…"
He permitted himself a brief grin and stroked Epona's mane.
From without, a wolf howled.
"Well, fairy boy," Malon said, "I guess you'll have to spend the night. I'm sure Dad won't mind…" And before he could say anything in protest—not that he had been about to, though—she had taken his hand and led him out of the corral and into her house.
"Good night, fairy boy," she crooned at him after tucking him into an unused bed, sounding very much like a mother. The mother he had never had…
"'Night, Malon," he managed, and was asleep in moments.
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When he woke up, it was only dawn, but he could already hear Malon humming outside as she tended to the horses. Definitely time to leave. He wondered briefly whether or not he should say goodbye to her, but decided that she was too busy and that he'd have plenty of time to visit the ranch again once he found the other two Spiritual Stones.
He slipped out quietly, with no one noticing his leaving save for Navi, who banged against his head annoyingly, chittering about wasting his time and how he needed to go see Saria now.
"I am going to see her, you stupid fairy," he said more than once, trying futilely to swat at her as he trudged toward Kokiri Forest. She flew past his flailing arm nimbly, happily, glad that they were going back to the forest. He thought that she'd be mad at him for sidestepping his "destiny" again to make yet another visit, but he supposed that she had gotten homesick. Homesick already? He shrugged mentally. Fairies were completely different creatures…
As they got closer to the forest, his mind began to wander. He remembered how it had been when he'd left. Saria, making him promise that he would come back. And Mido… Mido, screaming at him, screaming at how he had killed the Deku Tree…
He stopped walking abruptly. Navi, who was still talking about how great it would be to see the forest again, flew ahead without noticing, then paused and looked back at him. "What are you doing?" she snapped. "C'mon! Let's go!"
Link looked down at the grass and scuffed his boots. "I forgot about Mido," he mumbled. "I can't go back."
Navi stared at him. "Who cares about Mido? He's just one boy. Is our ickle Linky-poo too scared to face down big, bad Mido?" She giggled and flew away.
"Hey!" Link shouted. "You can't diss me like that and just fly off!" He began chasing after her, and the next thing he knew, he was standing on the bridge that led into the forest. "Thanks, Navi," he said wryly.
She grinned in reply.
Well, there was no hope for it now. He might as well go in.
To his shock, Mido was not standing around waiting to pounce onto him. In fact, he wasn't standing around anywhere that Link could see. He exhaled slowly and went to Saria's house, glad that he didn't have to endure some other bizarre face-off.
He walked into her house.
There was no one there.
He cursed silently, realizing that she must be in that "secret place" she had talked about before he had left the forest. Well, that was a problem. He had no idea where the secret place was.
He walked around for a while, asking the other Kokiri children if they knew where she was, but got mostly vague answers such as, "Saria said she's waiting at the usual spot." Very helpful. Finally, a girl told him to go ask Mido, who might know. He sighed, realizing that he would have to face the other guy after all, and trudged warily toward his house.
When he entered, Mido was sitting on a chair, sulking. "Mido?" Link asked tentatively.
Mido frowned. "If you're looking for Saria, she's in the Lost Woods, as usual." He saw confusion flash across Link's face and laughed spitefully—which, considering the dark mood he had been in right before Link left, was almost welcome. "Don't tell me you don't know where that is! The entrance is up on the cliff overlooking the village! I know you'll get lost!" He paused, then added almost regretfully, "Don't worry, you just end up back at the entrance. Humph!"
"Uh. Thanks," Link said, and hurried off, wondering where Mido's rage upon last seeing him had gone, but grateful that it was no longer there nonetheless.
He made his way to the Woods without any problems, although making his way through the Woods was a completely different issue. He got lost promptly and ended up at the entrance, just as Mido had said, several times. Finally, he got in far enough so that he could just hear the beginnings of a faint tune through the hollowed tree trunks that were the passageways.
"Hoot hoot!" he heard suddenly, just as he was going to go through another trunk, and turned around, gasping, trying to find the source of the sound.
"Don't eat me," Link said loudly, remembering the stories of what had happened to some people who had wandered into the Woods.
"Link, you idiot, it's the owl," Navi grumbled, and motioned upward, where indeed, the owl, Kaepora Gaebora, sat on a branch.
"Good to see you again! Listen to this! Hoot hoot… after going through the Lost Woods, you will come upon the Sacred Forest Meadow. That is a sacred place where few people have ever walked."
Big surprise, thought Link sourly, still embarrassed at having been afraid of an owl.
Kaepora Gaebora continued on, unaware of Link's thoughts. "Shh… what's that? I can hear a mysterious tune… you should listen for that tune too… hoo hoo hoo! If you are courageous, you will make it through the forest just fine… just follow your ears and listen to the sounds coming from the forest! Hoot hoot!" And without pausing to make sure Link had gotten all that, he flew away.
"What was the point of that?" Link asked exasperatedly after the owl had flown off. "Does he think I'm stupid?"
"He wouldn't be wrong," Navi said, smirking, and Link permitted himself a small smile. "C'mon, let's go!"
They continued through the forest, following the faint melody they heard until they found themselves standing in what was, according to the sign conveniently placed there, the Sacred Forest Meadow.
Link smiled jauntily at Navi, then turned to face the gate in front of them. The smile slid off his face as he walked closer toward it. "How am I supposed to—"
A wolf thing reared out of the ground to his side, howling madly. Link shouted out wildly, pulling out his Kokiri Sword to randomly swipe at the creature. He could barely hear Navi screech, "It's a Wolfos!" before a giant claw came whooshing over his head.
"What am I supposed to do?" Link asked, sounding panicked.
"Kill it, what else?" Navi shrieked in return.
The Wolfos swiped at him again, and he hurriedly brought up the Deku Shield to block it. In the instant immediately following the swipe, Link noticed the Wolfos was completely vulnerable. He thrust his sword into its chest and watched as it exploded into brilliant white fire, then slumped to the floor, exhausted, barely aware of the fact that the gate had come down.
Navi nudged at him, trying to get him to get up. "You can't be this tired every time you fight a monster, you know," she said admonishingly. "Ickle Linky-poo needs to get big and strong."
"Will you stop calling me that?" muttered Link, standing up slowly and brushing himself off. He looked at his shield. The red design on it was marred by the Wolfos scratching it, but other than that, it was fine. He put it away. "I haven't… used my sword against anything since Gohma," he said. "I… didn't know I'd have to use it again so soon."
"Get used to it, boy," Navi said, and nudged him into the opening where the gate had once stood. "Right. So this next part, from what I've seen, appears to be a maze of some sorts. There are those crazy Deku things in there, so keep your shield up. We'll eventually find Saria if you don't lose your wits."
Ten minutes later, he was walking up a set of stairs that seemed to lead into another clearing, his Deku Shield looking mashed with the impact of all the seeds that had hit it. But the tune they had first heard when entering the Lost Woods was at its loudest now, and he knew Saria was near.
She materialized before his eyes once he was within five feet of her, laughing at his shock. The trick never got old. "I've been waiting for you, Link," she said softly. "This is the Sacred Forest Meadow. It's my secret place…"
Well, no wonder it was secret, everyone who had tried finding their way here had probably ended up back in the forest.
"That's right," she said, laughing.
Link gaped at her, wondering if she had just somehow read his mind. "W-well," he stammered. "I found you, so, uh, yeah."
Saria leaned forward. "Don't forget how to get here," she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Because… I feel this place will be very important for both of us someday. That's what I feel." She straightened. "If you play the ocarina here, you can talk with the spirits in the forest. Would you like to play the ocarina with me?"
"Sure," he replied, and brought his ocarina out. He hoped that he wouldn't have to memorize another song, though.
She saw his expression and laughed again. "It's not hard to learn, really." She brought out her own ocarina and played a simple tune on it, then glanced over at him to make sure he was following her fingerings.
Saria had been right; the song hadn't been hard to learn at all. He got it down in a matter of seconds.
"Great!" she said when he was done, clapping her hands. "Please don't forget this song… do you promise?" She waited for him to nod, then continued. "When you want to hear my voice, play Saria's Song. You can talk with me anytime…"
He smiled uncertainly at her. "I'll play it whenever I can," he promised. Navi, despite her joy at returning to the forest, was beginning to get restless again, mumbling in his ear and telling him to get a move on. "I have go to now," he said, pulling himself away slowly.
She gave him a wistful look. "Come back soon," she whispered. "I'll be here… waiting. Because you're my friend…"
Link suddenly got the feeling that he would not see her again for a long, long time. "Friends to the end," he said, smiled briefly, and turned away, all the while fighting the urge to look back.
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Link and Navi stood at the entrance to the Kakariko Graveyard, looking nervously at the tombstones and feeling edgy about the lack of any sound whatsoever, save for the little boy's footfalls. They had arrived at Kakariko Village without incident, having spent most of the day first navigating their way out of the Sacred Forest Meadow and the Lost Woods, seeing Kaepora Gaebora while at it, then running through Hyrule Field until they had finally arrived at the village, the sun having just set below the horizon. The guard standing outside the village had commented on how strange it was for a little boy to be wandering around at night, then, guffawing, had told him that if he wanted to be brave, he should go visit the graveyard. For some reason, it had seemed like a great idea, except now, as the night darkened around him and the graveyard, he could feel only stupidity. And, well, fear.
He started as the little boy who had been playing near the graves ran past him, probably headed for home. He should go, too. He didn't know why he was still here.
"Look, Link!" Navi cried. She was floating around the far end of the graveyard. He walked up to her and noticed the grave she had been flying around. The grass planted in front of it was shaped like the Triforce. "It's the sign of the Royal Family… remember what Impa told you after she taught you the lullaby? Maybe you should play it here!"
He nodded stiffly and brought the ocarina out. Yes, that seemed right. Placing the instrument against his lips, he began to play, messing up the first time but getting it right at his second attempt.
Without warning, the sky darkened, and it began to rain heavily. A bolt of lightning struck the grave he had been facing, making it explode into a million pieces, showering everything with bits of stone. Link was thrown back by the force of it, nearly hitting his head on another tombstone. Just as suddenly, the rain let up—only a drizzle now, compared to the downpour from before.
"Ugh." Link shook his head slowly and stood up. "What was that about?"
"There's a hole, Link!" Navi replied. "Look, where the grave used to be…"
She was right. A small, squarish hole occupied the space where the Royal Family's tombstone had once stood. He wondered if he should jump in. He hoped there was something soft to cushion his fall if he did. "I'm going down," he announced, and dropped in.
The room he had fallen into was dark and dreary. Bones were littered everywhere, and something—he wasn't sure if it was water—dripped from the ceiling. There was also a soft flapping noise, though he didn't know what that was.
"The flapping noises are made by Keese," Navi whispered in his ear. "I think there are four of them in the room. Use your slingshot on them before they notice you…"
Automatically, he brought his slingshot out and hurled his Deku Seeds at them, trying not to listen as they died. It didn't seem to affect him as much as it had before, though. Funny.
There was a screeching sound, like metal on metal, and he realized that a gate had opened. He went through it, not really knowing what he would find on the other side, but sure that if this place had a gate that he could only unlock after doing something, there must be something worthwhile down here.
He found himself in another room, this one with pits of some sort of smoking green substance. Something in here was moaning—something, which he realized with a shock, that was human in shape, but dull gray in color with blank sockets where the eyes should have been.
Navi, who was floating around his head, stiffened and fell to his shoulder. "Redeads!" she gasped tersely. "Oh, Link, please, get out of this place, you don't want to face up against these guys."
For some reason, her worrying made him feel better. "Come on, what is there to worry about? If they're dead, they can't do anything." He smiled rather cockily. "Let's go." Navi continued to fret, but he paid no heed, practically skipping down the corridor leading to the room with the Redeads.
Everything was going absolutely fine when suddenly, as he was passing in front of one, he heard a terrible screeching sound and found that he couldn't move anymore. He tried to say his fairy's name, but his mouth refused to form the word.
Why can't I move?
What's happening to me?
From the corner of his eye, he could see the Redead lurching toward him, slowly but surely. His stomach churned violently.
"Link!" he heard Navi shout. Even though she was flying right in front of him, she sounded so far away. "Just… just think about moving! Think! As hard as you can before it gets you! You have to break free of its stare!"
Before it gets me?
His stomach churned some more. He thought that if he weren't frozen, he would have thrown up by now.
Stop thinking about random things!
He gritted his teeth—or tried to, anyway—and concentrated on running through Hyrule Field, what it had felt like, the contracting and lengthening of his muscles as he went.
Move!
Feeling came back into his limbs, and he found himself sprawled onto the floor, having been unfrozen in mid-step.
"Link, get up!" Navi screeched.
He couldn't. He was too dizzy. Oh Goddesses, how terrible that had felt…
Then before he knew it, the Redead was on top of him, mouth fastened to his neck, sucking at his blood.
"Link!" he heard his fairy scream.
He gagged at the feeling of the Redead on his back. The Kokiri Sword was still in its sheath, but he could not summon enough strength to pull it out. And yet if he did not do it now, he wouldn't get another chance, because he was getting weaker each second…
Thoughts of Zelda crowded into his mind. Strange, that Zelda should be so prominent. He hadn't really thought about her since leaving the castle. Had he done that on purpose? Something about the Princess had reminded him of something, but he didn't know what that something was, and that scared him…
He suddenly remembered her words. Link, now we are the only ones that can protect Hyrule…
Just the two of them.
He couldn't let her down.
Finding some hidden last reserve of strength, he unsheathed the Kokiri Sword with a yell and swiped at the thing on his back. It moaned in response, and he hacked at it again, his fear and anger taking over. Finally, he could feel the pressure on his neck lessen as the Redead slid off of him, truly dead.
He closed his eyes slowly, still sprawled on the ground. Goddesses, that had been so terrible. He didn't want to face one of those things ever again.
And to think! How could he have been so stupid, so overconfident? Already dead, he had said. But he had never known that dead things could be so dangerous.
Navi appeared in front of his face; he could see her glow through his eyelids. "I don't mean to hurry you, Link," she said, her voice shaking, "but even though these Redeads have a pretty limited field of vision, they're bound to notice you eventually. And then they'll come for you."
Just the thought of having to face off against more Redeads sent him into a wild panic, giving him the energy required to pull himself up onto his feet. "I want to go back," he whispered hoarsely.
"No!" Navi snapped, her glow flashing in anger. "Did you let that Redead get you for nothing? Come on, we have to at least find out what great secret is in here."
Link glanced wearily at the other Redeads, who still seemed ignorant of him. "All right." He walked slowly, one step at a time, not caring where his feet went as long as it was away from the Redeads' piercing glare. He could barely even feel the smoking green substance, which turned out to be acid, eating away at his boots as he stepped into it. He had lost too much blood, he knew. His skin was white.
Eventually, the two of them arrived in yet another room, this one blissfully free of any Redeads. Pits of acid occupied two sides of the room, leaving only a small raised surface he could safely walk across. At its end there was a wall with something inscribed into it. "Read it to me," Link said tiredly. "I can't focus on it."
Navi obidiently flew over and began to read it out loud, her small voice clear and sure in the gloom. "'This poem is dedicated to the memory of the dearly departed members of the Royal Family. The rising sun will eventually set, a newborn's life will fade. From sun to moon, moon to sun… Give peaceful rest to the living dead.'" She looked at him. "This is an interesting poem, isn't it? Oh, there's something else here… I think it's a song. Bring out your ocarina."
"I don't want to learn another song," he said thickly. He'd already learned three in the past few days. He didn't want to learn a fourth.
"It might help in defeating the Redeads," Navi suggested tentatively.
That was enough to convince him. "Fine." He brought out his ocarina. The ocarina that Saria had given him. Funny, how it should come with him to the world of the dead when it had come from such a living place. He shook his head slowly. What was he thinking? That wasn't funny. Ironic, maybe. Not funny. Nothing about this place was funny.
He brought the ocarina to his lips and played the notes that were scrawled onto the wall, then paused to see if anything had happened. Nothing did.
Navi looked back at the wall. "There's a little more," she said. "'Restless souls wander where they don't belong, bring them calm with the Sun's Song.'"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Assuming the thing you just learned was the Sun's Song… restless souls… what are restless souls?"
Something clicked inside Link's head. "Navi, I think they're talking about… Redeads." Just saying the word sent a thrill of fear down his spine. "If I play the song… then… they'll be calm?"
"Link, do I even have to tell you how stupid that sounds?"
"It could work," he said defensively, swaying in the process. He needed rest, but there was no way he was going to let himself collapse in here. If he did, he thought, he might never get up again.
He attempted to stretch, got dizzy, and quickly stopped. "Let's go." With Navi following behind him, he stumbled to the entrance of the room with the Redeads, trying not to shudder as they came into view. He put the ocarina to his lips and slowly played the song he had just learned, praying that it would affect the Redeads in someway.
There was a freezing sound, and he looked up quickly. The Redeads were still standing there, but they were all encased in ice. They wouldn't be able to move. He smiled wearily and dragged himself as quickly as he could past them until he was standing, at last, in the first room, in front of the hexagonal raising that would bring him back into the graveyard.
Smiling, he stepped onto it and felt himself being raised away, away from both the dead and the living dead, back to the world where only the living were.
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A/N: At this point, I'm wondering if the next chapter should only contain Dodongo's Cavern or both the Cavern and Jabu Jabu's Belly… depending on how much I decide to skim through the dungeons, focusing only on the boss battles… any thoughts, anyone? Cough…
