A/N-
I should probably mention that I didn't feel like restarting my game just to get the dialogue Goron Link gives, so this is just me ad-libbing it, essentially – while dropping the autograph thing, that never ceases to bug me. Ditto for the "BOOM!" thing. -twitch-
Note: I made up Gerudo for this. I like writing interesting sounding gibberish and passing it off for a language. Don't look for Tolkien grade language in here. XD
Another note: I cannot for the life of me remember the Fire Temple's layout by heart, as opposed to the Forest and Shadow Temples. So, this is all really iffy.
Dark yelped and threw himself out of the way again, wincing when he hit the stone wall a little harder than expected.
"Dark, would you listen to me! He's not trying to hit you!" He stumbled backwards.
"What – of course he is!"
"No, Dark – look." He did as told, noting the rolling Goron's motions – and blinked in surprise. Every time is approached him, it rolled in the opposite direction! Confusion wracked him as he watched the Goron roll back and forth.
"Navi, what do I do? He's obviously the only Goron left." Navi bobbed uncertainly.
"Um – well, there was a larger Goron who used to do this too – Link used a Bombchu. Just aim it and release it straight at him; don't worry, it won't hurt him or anything." He stared up her skeptically, then shook his head. Reaching into the void, he produced a Bombchu, eyeing it, waiting for his target to materialize. He noted the sound and nodded to himself, releasing the strange bomb and watching it shoot across the floor until it impacted with the Goron. The explosion was surprisingly small. He blinked as the curled up form quivered and mumbled something – he imagined he was attempting to be fierce.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that." The fairy slammed her small form into the back of Dark's head, causing him to yelp.
"Don't be flippant. Link, it's me, Navi! Darunia must have told you about your namesake – this is his shadow. Link is in trouble." The small Goron quivered again and unrolled, standing.
"N-Navi? D-dad...Dad said the Hero has a f-fairy – named Navi-" She nodded impatiently, cutting him off.
"Yes, that's me. Where is Darunia?" Much to both Dark and Navi's alarm, the small Goron began to whimper, then wail. Dark looked at the fairy.
"Any other great ideas? We've looked everywhere, he obviously isn't here."
"H-He went to fight the d-dragon! Ganondorf resurrected it, and he's going to feed all the Gorons to it!" The wailing started again, and Dark winced. Navi drifted around the Goron, uncertain.
"Um...maybe you should ask him something?" Dark sighed and nodded, crouching to bring himself more level with the wailing boy.
"Hey – Link, was it? Great name, by the way. Um...what dragon are you referring to?" Like there was more than one.
Sniffling. "T-the ancient dragon V-volvagia – defeated by the hero of the Gorons. A-a lot of people t-think it's a myth, but I know it's true, because my dad is a descendant of that hero!" He was wringing his hands together and staring at Dark with enormous, watery dark eyes, and the shadow swallowed hard. He was slowly becoming acclimated to this new environment and insane job, but he still wasn't a people person. But those eyes, those unbearably large, trusting eyes, were tearing something apart inside of him, forcing him to really feel, instead of just being a smartass with a penchant for saving the world when his light side stumbled – a rare event, but one that had occurred before nevertheless.
"Ah..." The whimpering was starting again – no wailing, though; progress.
"So – the Gorons and your dad are...?"
"I-In the Fire Temple. Please! You must help my dad and the others! I know you can do it?" Really, kid? No question as to why the Hero of Time's shadow was there and not the Hero himself? Dark sighed and nodded. The boy's eyes grew large again, but this time with joy and, Goddesses, why, hope.
"Thank you! Oh, thank you! Please, take this – you won't make it very far in the Fire Temple without it!" He blinked, then gaped as the boy produced the deep red tunic, pressing it into his hands.
"What-"
"This is the Goron's tunic! It'll let you endure the extreme heat in Death Mountain Crater!" He beamed, and Dark absently wondered why he kept expecting a ding or some sort of music to start playing.
"Thanks. ...I'll...just-" Wait. He didn't even know how to get to the Temple.
"Oh! Try pulling the big statue in Dad's room!" Did he say that out loud? Whatever, he got an answer...
"Thanks again. I'll see you in a few." The Goron waved as he dropped from the edge, wincing a little at the landing. Navi snorted.
"Smooth, Dark."
"Shut up, glitterbug."
Link paced, eyes flicking to the Master Sword, leaning against the wall, and back to the window, staring out at the perpetual darkness that surrounded the castle. He felt uneasy – those instincts that had led him through the Forest Temple were humming like mad. He need out. A snarl left him as he whipped around, picking up the Master Sword, ignoring the burning sensation that was slowly turning his hand numb with the constant pain, and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Ganondorf didn't need tracking spells to know when the Hero was approaching – he had a habit of scaring the guards by simply approaching – either because he was grinning maliciously, laughing maniacally, or in a rage that promised to obliterate anything in its path. This time, it would appear to be rage; the doors slammed open, one dangling dangerously from one hinge – the remnants of earlier episodes.
"I need to leave." The king raised an eyebrow, turning his attention fully from the map in front of him to the fuming blonde.
"Something pressing has captured your attention?" He decided against moving when the smaller form shot forward and leather-clad fingers curled around the edge of the armour around his throat, yanking him down to eye level. Hot breath washed over his face, and he absently noted the alarmingly clean state of his teeth.
"We," forced a step back, "are not," another step, "going to play this game right now." The grip tightened.
"You're taking me with you when you go to the Gerudo Fortress." He nodded slowly, and he was released. Link examined him impassively, then strode out, buckling the Master Sword on even as Ganondorf realised what the smell he'd barely noted before being accosted was – burnt flesh. He dismissed the rest of his guard to prepare their mounts, before following the Hero out, eventually cornering him in a courtyard – the same courtyard he'd first seen him in. He snorted at the irony even as he caught the boy's hand and pulled the gauntlet off, staring at the blistered flesh.
"Deika*..." Link raised an eyebrow at that, even as gold light left the taller man and wreathed his hand in a perplexing sensation, before he hissed in surprise, snatching his hand away as the skin mended itself. The king merely nodded to the entrance and strode out, leaving the Hero to slump onto the steps.
This effervescent, unending anger that gnawed at him all the time, and for the first time since he'd first walked out into Hyrule Castle Town upon awakening seven years after opening the Door of Time, fear clamped its powerful jaws around his heart and began to sap his confidence, his strength. He didn't understand the strange surge of fury that accompanied every moment near the Master Sword, and of late, strange dreams had plagued his sleep, stealing his comfort and demolishing what little rest he got, leaving him restless and wrathful. The anger morphed into some strange sort of flirtation when near Ganondorf; occasionally Link would remember that this man had destroyed the world he – sort of – called home, but then the dragon coiled in his heart would unfurl its wings and snarl cruel truths into his mind; these people had done nothing for him – he had lived in peace, only to be snatched from safety and thrown into battle with little preparation and almost no help. He rarely fought the dragon – he had known it was there from the moment he truly began to think and understand the world around him. It usually was dormant; coiled around his heart, sleeping, malice and fury held in a golden and azure body, beauty and light surrounding a core of hate that terrified him, and yet they coexisted perfectly. It defied his understanding, limited as it was, of the universe. Hate and anger seemed to be at the core of everything he was fighting against – Ganondorf in essence. They were the dark forces they fueled wars – they, along with greed and many others, brought anguish to the world as nothing else did.
Save for love. He flinched, wrapping his arms around himself. The dragon's voice was so much stronger now, and it's cold, crisp logic never ceased to bring him to a screeching halt. He leaned back against the stone, eyes fluttering closed. Why would the Goddesses knowingly leave such dangers on earth? Why would Din allow her power to merge with someone like Ganondorf, and why would the Goddesses willing leave their chosen to struggle for eternity when they probably could have stopped the feud thousands of years prior?
Is your real question really the why, or rather what it has to do with you? He gritted his teeth and sat up.
"Just shut up."
Oh, Link – that's like asking you to cut your own tongue out. Rejoin your King of Evil. I imagine he is impatient to leave. He snorted and rose, stalking out the courtyard, leaving behind the unsettling thoughts and letting the dragon have its way – again.
The blast of fire very nearly engulfed the fatigued warrior, who had recently realised that the Goron's tunic did not actually protect against fire itself – only heat and certain lavas, of all things.
Damn it. He eyed the seemingly innocuous pairs of pillars and hissed under his breath.
"Navi, can you fly through and see where I'm supposed to go? Stupid timed switches..." The fairy chimed sympathetically and flew ahead of him, tracing the path twice, before returning to him.
"Just hit the switch and follow me – if you stay close, you won't get fried."
"Thanks, glitterwings, just get moving." He pressed the switch down with one foot and broke into a run, following the surprisingly fleet fairy, dragging himself up onto the platform just as the wall of fire shot up behind him with a roar. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, panting.
"Ow..." Navi bobbed above him.
"You can rest out here, but we need to move on." He nodded, swallowing, and rolled onto his knees, forcing himself to his feet and stumbling over to the clay pots, shattering them with unnecessarily powerful strikes, gathering the bombs and walking slowly to the door, eyeing it skeptically. He lobbed a bomb at it, stepping back and nodding when nothing happened, before cautiously continuing. He quickly ran through the information the Gorons he'd freed had given him, when the door locked and an odd, crackling laugh filled the air. A flaming, spindly form spun up from the platform in the center of the room and glided to the floor, still laughing, spinning.
"Navi-"
"I don't know. I really don't." They were both too tired to react to the strange laughter, and Dark decided that with that fatigue, shortcuts were allowed – not many things could survive being blown to bits, right? He chucked yet another bomb, leaning against the wall as it exploded and the flaming form dissipated, leaving behind – what the hell?
"Is that...a heart?"
"Look a little like a bomb."
"It squeaks."
"Hey...do you think we should, maybe, hit it with your sword?"
"...Eh. Doesn't seem like it's worth the effort, but sure." He shrugged, unsheathing his dark mirror of the Master Sword, and waited for the heart-bomb to run to him again. It appeared, squeaked, then howled when he calmly sliced into it, battering it with as many hits as he could get in before it fled. This repeated itself until it leapt back onto the platform, presumably to reform its original form. Dark yawned, returning to his wall. This was going to get tedious.
The battle continued, the monotony barely broken by the flaming creature changing colours and throwing flames, but eventually the heart-bomb exploded, and the door unlocked. Dark meh'd and sat on the platform without thinking – and thus, Navi was treated to a rather fascinating sound that resembled a squeal of surprise when the block rose into the air, leaving them in a new room.
"What an interesting noise, Dark."
"Shut up! It startled me! I'm tired!"
"Uh-huh." She smirked as he dragged himself off the platform, eyeing it balefully, before flopping over and groaning.
"Can I-"
"Go on and sleep. We're safe in here." He grumbled and closed his eyes.
Navi let him nap for several hours, before gently bumping against his nose.
"Wake up, Dark – let's see what else is in here and awaken the Fire Sage!" He groaned and slapped her away, yawning.
"I dun wanna..." She sighed.
"Oh, Nayru bless it! Why does this always happen to me?" He cracked one brilliant crimson eye.
"Don't swear at me, glittery missy. I'm going." She giggled a little and flew away from him as he rose, stretched, and yawned, working kinks out of his neck as he followed her out of the room.
"Oh, great – a giant staircase."
"Well...yes...but it would seem we need to get to the ring of fire."
"It's probably timed."
"Probably."
"...Let's do it." Navi chuckled and nodded, following him to the switch.
"Take out the Keese first, hit the switch, run up narrow stairs without falling, open chest before fire engulfs us. Easy." He eyed the bow in his hand dubiously.
"If there's anything Link has always been better at than me, it's marksmanship."
"Well, we have all day."
"Limited arrows."
"Just take your time." He sighed, nodded, and began the tedious work of shooting flaming Keese out of the air. It took him several shots each, and he almost emptied his quiver, but he eventually managed it. He blew out a exasperated breath and trudged to the switch.
"See you at the top?"
"Like you said – easy. Don't worry, Dark; I have faith in you."
"Like that apparently undying creepy mask salesman..."
"What?" Dark snorted.
"Never mind." He pressed the switch down and broke into a sprint, ignoring the edge while still trying to stay to the left. It wasn't as hard as he'd thought it would be – there was more time than the fire wall switches in the rest of the temple. He skidded into the chest and barely threw it open when the timer when off.
"Good job, Dark!" He coughed a thanks and pulled the item out of the chest, staggering a bit at the new weight.
"Oh! This must be the hammer Darunia mentioned!" Dark groaned.
"Which means I have to drag my ass down there and save him too, right?" Navi sighed.
"Well...probably..."
"And what the hell is with the Gorons being totally unfazed by the hero's shadow showing up to save them? You'd think someone would say something!" Navi shrugged.
"Don't complain – let's just go." She shook her head at the shadow's grumbles as they descended the stairs. Apparently saving the world was no problem, but the hero and his shadow had the strangest pet peeves.
A second Flaredancer – as Dark identified the cackling dancer – was the most eventful part of the temple after that. There was some brief confusion about where the boss room was ("How did you overlook the enormous, horned gold lock behind Darunia!" "Damn it, I was trying to listen to Darunia!" "Don't swear at me, puff ball!"), but eventually they got across the lava filled room and into the final chamber of the enormous temple.
"Finally." The fairy rolled her eyes at the man's exasperated tone.
"Leave it alone, Dark. We're here, so...I guess you just walk forward until the big ugly appears." He stretched languorously and leapt from the door to the enormous hole ridden platform in the center of the room, watching the platform between them sink into the lava impassively.
"Typical."
"Dark!" He turned and froze, instantly noting the bubbling, smoking hole directly in front of them.
"Navi-" His words were drowned out by the blast of lava and an air rending roar as a slender but nevertheless enormous form rose slowly from the pit, translucent, segmented body pulsing and glowing. Another roar was followed by a blast of fire, reaching several yards in the air, before the pulsating dragon sank into another pit, roar still echoing in the air. Dark hissed under his breath.
"Breathes fire and flies? Not fair..."
"Dark!" He looked over to where Navi was circling and noted the lava spewing from the hole.
"Look out!" He moved back as the dragon's head popped out with a snarl, holding itself up by its spindly, clawed forlegs.
"Hiya, ugly."
"Dark, the hammer! Hit its nose!" Its nose? He didn't bother wasting time questioning her – he imagined this thing had patterns just like the Flaredancers. The heavy hammer was cumbersome, rather irritating to wield, but it, with the right amount of force, would probably do a hell of a lot of damage – he slammed it down on the creature's nose and watched it whip its head around, screeching, forepaws over its nose, before collapsing before him, stunned.
Sword it is. A few strikes and it came to, hissing, disappearing back into the pit. He stepped back and scanned the room, starting when the dragon's snarl echoed behind him and the creature rose from another pit, not bothering with the pop out and snarl tactic, heading straight into the air.
"Navi!"
"It's about to start breathing fire – look!" He saw the blast as it was heading for him and barely rolled beneath it when its tail grazed him, burning a hole into the shoulder of his tunic. His following words were nothing if not vulgar.
"Okay, don't touch it, don't let it hit you with fire, wait for it to pop out, hit it in the nose, hit it with the sword, repeat-" He ran around the edge of the platform, skidding across one of the pits and freezing in place as he watched it descend into another hole. He ran back into the center of the room, red eyes flitting from each hole, until he saw the tell-tale signs of Volvagia's approach. He repeated the process – hammer, back up, flay – and again moved away, waiting for it to rise from the earth again. This time, however, no fire followed.
"What-" Chills ran down his spine and he looked up slowly, eyes widening as he watched the creature roar and coil above them, calling chunks of stone from the ceiling.
"Damn it." He found himself rolling, skidding, and generally just running like a bat out of hell to avoid the onslaught, barely noticing the dragon disappearing into a pit behind him. A stray shard of rock sliced across his cheek. He stood still, panting, one hand going to his charred shoulder, wincing as stinging sweat ran into his eyes, into the bleeding cut. He saw two pits boiling and swore under his breath, pulling the hammer out of the void and stumbling forward – to the wrong pit. The dragon hot up from the second one, mane burning across his back. He bit back a scream and whipped around, slamming the hammer into its nose, leaping back even as he unsheathed his sword, leaping forward again, executing a powerful jump attack. Adrenaline coursed through him and his mind began to clear; the pain, the muscle freezing fatigue, all was forgotten – everything but the creature in front of him. Navi had stopped talking, simply circling his target, weaving in between its claws, occasionally causing the light wreathing her to brighten in an attempt to blind the dragon. His final blow glance off the dragon's nose, but it was nevertheless effective; the dragon screamed, rising into the air, coiling, forming knots in the air, before its inner fire consumed it – charred pieces of skeleton rained down, and the megalithic skull slammed into the ground next to him, a hollow echo of the monstrous being he'd defeated. Blue flames engulfed each pieces, ending with the skull, which was replaced with a crystal heart.
"You should pick that up." He looked up in surprise, tossing sweat drenched black hair out of his eyes to see Darunia standing in a ring of blue light, smirking.
"Come on, hero – we don't have all day." Navi fluttered next to his cheek, brushing against the wound uncertainly.
"You okay?" He stared up at her and laughed harshly, almost hysterically.
"Yeah – yeah, I'm okay."
* This is essentially Ganondorf calling him an idiot. It also translates as young – basically going to that with age comes wisdom thing.
A/N: Whoo. Was the battle scene okay? -sweatdrop- I hope so – it took a lot of work. Review! :)