Chapter Eight: Time Lapse: Water Temple

.oOo.

Title: Shadow's Light

Chapter: 8

Author: Hikari no Vikki

Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure/Angst

Parings: Slight Link x Dark Link

Disclaimer: Dark Link, Link, Zelda, and Nintendo are not mine.

Description: There is a light within every darkness. You need only to search yourself to find it. But what if you are the darkness? How do find your light, if you are the shadows themselves?

Author's Notes-

I decided, since I was a little vague on Link and Shadow's supposed kiss, well, this was suppose to bed your Christmas present and give you a semi-heavy detailed run through from the beginning of the Water Temple to just before the room where you battle Dark Link in the game but my beta-reader was late in getting it back to me. Still, here you are.

Hope you like, and don't forget to review. Hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a happy new year.

EDIT: Minor fix-its and whatnot. Carry on.

.oOo.

Link's POV-

He's late.

But then again, he always is. Fashionably late he calls it. I just call it late.

I'm sitting on the dock by the water, looking at the little island that conceals the top of the Water Temple. My tunic is blue today, unlike my usual green, and my iron boots sit beside me; as do my leggings, my bare feet immersed in the water. I smile a little. It feels good.

Cold and wet, but good.

Sometimes, I wonder, because I've never seen the sea, what it's like, what it's like to have the water rush over you in one big whoosh, with soapy foam and smell the salt in the air… and then, and then… Then there's the soft waves, when you lay next to someone or most often times, just yourself, and the waves just roll up to you and gently kiss your side or your feet softly, like the kisses in the tales mothers tell their children.

Like the ones Saria used to tell me.

It was never a problem for me that I never had a mother, I had just thought I truly was part of them, the Kokiri. But as the years went by, and no fairy came to my side, well, I was a child, and it worried me to no end.

Navi saved me form going mad, or well, as mad as I could get at the age I was. Even though I'm still young, I was really young then, and all I had were Saria and my courage. Navi is sitting on my shoulder right now, her little white body stiff and unsure. She's like this often now. I suppose it's because of all the evil in the air. She can take it for now, but I wonder how she'll be able to handle it as we get deeper and deeper into this.

What I'm trying to say, without seeming like I'm going insane or trying to drag time just so I can talk myself into things, is that I worry about her. Saria taught me kindness, but Navi's taught me worry. Not personal or physical worry, but more of a love worry. But not quite that kind of love.

And love… I still don't know what it is quite yet.

I feel things for people, strong feelings, but for more than one person. I spoke with Navi about it, and she says it's probably just puberty catching up with me. She didn't ask who the people were, she just gave me an explanation. Yeah, that's Navi for you.

I even asked Victoria, but only once, and she didn't really know.

"I don't know Link," was what she told me, "but tell me, before we go on, what do you feel for me?"

And she stopped me then, putting her hand on my chest with a strange, implacable look on her face.

I do know what I feel for her, but it's not love. Definitely not.

"You're my friend," I told her, "but a friend and a friend alone. Can't you tell?" She had nodded then I remember, and then she gave me a soft smile. "Yeah," she had whispered back, "you're right."

And I was. Victoria really is nothing more than a friend to me.

But the there's Zelda and Peter… for one thing, before I even begin to ask the question of my gender preferences, how do I choose? How do I tell if one is more friendly than "friendly"?

Something jerks me from my thoughts, a sort of crunching sound. I whip around, and see Peter standing behind me. I smile a little.

"I thought you weren't coming." The smile fades. Something's not right.

He looks up. I don't see anything new, except a cut and a bruise. They're obviously not fresh, but the bruise certainly looks like it hurts. I make to mention the bruise, but realize he won't talk about it. So instead I smile again, hoping to comfort him.

"How about we get started? I know you didn't want to do this, but you came anyway. We should get it started as soon as possible shouldn't we?" He smiles a little and then nods, but he still hasn't said anything. I notice one thing now; that he also has a blue tunic on, with the same shimmery surface mine has. A Zora tunic.

But the iron boots are one of a kind…

"Do you need to hang onto me when we go down?" "What?" He looks at me like I'm impaired.

"Do you need to hang onto me?" I say again, putting more expression into my face. "You don't have Iron Boots, so I'm not quite sure how…" My voice trails off as a vision of his arms around my waist takes hold of my innocent imagination.

Then the thought leads to blushing. I look up. Din, he's staring. Damn! He saw! Damn!

I grab two parts of my hair in my fists in both frustration and embarrassment.

He laughs, lightly. "Having trouble?"

I look up, glaring. I don't say it, but he knows I'm thinking, "You think?"

He laughs a little more, softer than before and looks past me by the docks. He seems to think about something that makes him smile devilishly a bit, but part of him doesn't. His eyes go crazy and start looking in different directions.

"Erm…" he begins, or rather, not sure how to begin, "well you might want to put your leggings back on."

Huh? I look down. Shit! My leggings!

I run, holding the bottom fabric of my Zora tunic. I can hear him sniggering a little, but not as hard as I know he wants to. He's trying not to, but it's not all out of courtesy. Something is wrong.

I pick up my leggings hastily and put them on in a rush. I jump and twist on the dock, Navi watching from the tip of my iron boots. Peter is behind me, silent, most likely thinking… (cough) …impure thoughts. Well, if he's that type of guy. He doesn't really strike me as the women type, even though he's kind enough.

"Ih…" a ragged breath as I pull one foot into one side. "Ah…" another ragged breath as I bend over to put the other one into the other side. "Eh, ah…" I try to pull it up and end up making a mix of the two sounds. Finally after much struggling, I get it, I have them on! But…

There's a whooshing sound and I feel like I'm… falling!

I wave my arms and hands and see fleetingly the image of Peter running after me with an arm outstretched, but he's too late. Then the splash. Water rushes over me, my eyes instantly shut. I try to swim up to the surface for air but something doesn't want to. I can't… I feel…

But then a hand reaches my collar and brings me up.

"Are you okay?"

I blink. "Peter?" My voice is harsh and strained, like I've just had a cold.

My vision manages to focus and his face is an inch close to mine. So close I can see the jewels inside the hilt of the sword on his back. I can feel the beginnings of a blush, but I don't. His eyes are too worried. But still…

He is worried about me. He's never been worried.

His breathing is shaky, and he looks a little sweaty. I've never seen him this close. But for a single second of time his midnight blue eyes flash, and I see something… something red.

I blink again. "Are you okay?"

He brings me up, myself helping him a little, and I nod, vaguely, to assure him. Only then once I'm turned from him do I blush. We had been only an inch close. Did I love him? No. But did I like him? Now that…

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I nod again, this time with more vigor. "Yes, I'm alright." He smiles. A soft smile. Like the smiles I give to comfort him. Only his is a smile of relief, happiness, and joy. What kind? Not to mention smiles like that are rare, at least, coming from him.

I put on my Iron Boots and Navi hides in my hat again, settling in my hair. She feels soft and fuzzy, like a blanket. I don't mind it really, I kind of like it.

I turn to him. He's still a little worried. I strap the Master Sword to my back. I smile at him with a kinder, deeper smile and put a hand on his shoulder. "Really, I'm fine. It happens all the time. Now are we going or not?"

He looks up. He's a little cautious about it, but he nods.

"I'll just hang onto you okay? All you gotta do is jump."

If it were only that easy.

He takes hold of my waist with both arms in a hug-like motion. A word comes to mind for one second, "Straddling," and then it goes away. He's having a little trouble adjusting to holding me around my shield but as soon as I feel he's ready, I got ready to jump. Thank Nayru he can't see how hard I'm blushing. But I jump anyway.

And then we're sinking, down to the Water Temple deep underneath Lake Hylia.

.oOo.

Reader's POV-

Link and Shadow, known to Link as Peter, had sunk down the bottom of the lake at last. The problem was, they still had to walk to the temple.

On the bright side, Link had already gotten it open.

It seemed hours to them both as Link trudged in the water, the iron boots making a horrible clanking sound against the rocks and dirt. Shadow was clinging to Link with his legs now, so he could stay down under the water with him.

However, the little walking trip, no matter how enjoyable, was beginning to get incredibly boring. So Shadow decided to strike up a conversation, as hard for him as it might be.

The tunics allow them to see, breathe, and hear underwater, but Shadow had never tried speaking. He had thought about it, and since sound could travel in water why was there any reason not to? You could also breathe underwater in these tunics, and all you need to speak is oxygen and some sort of matter.

So to pass the time, Shadow talked with Link.

"How long do you think it'll be, with you going at this pace?" Link didn't look back, because apparently, the dust he was kicking up in the water was making difficult to see clearly.

"I don't know," he sighed truthfully, "but if this dust doesn't clear it'll take even longer." Shadow made a sort of frowning look, and a worried look, as though he could feel something was coming. "Don't you have sort of tool or bit of magic to help clear things out of the way?"

Link thought for a bit. "Well do you think this would work?" He held up the dim red triangle that was Din's Fire. Shadow nodded.

"Give it a try."

Ignoring the fact that Shadow had clung tighter to him, Link activated the crystal. Shadow, in view of his magic meter, watched the green bar go down slightly as a dome-shaped circle of connected bright red bubbles surrounded them and then spread outwards from where they were with a great BOOM!

Link, who had had his eyes closed, opened them.

"Hey… it cleared the dust!"

Shadow looked around and at the rock below them. "That's a reaction I've never seen before…" Link just shrugged, and trudged on, the magic hanging in the air keeping a good bit of the dust away from them.

When at last they arrived at the temple, Link tapped his boots together, the iron dissipating into the water, and the both of the went up through the water like magic.

"Ah!"

Link looked back at Shadow, who had let go now. "What? I always do that." The thing was, they had exhaled precisely at the same time. Link nodded, slowly, and clambered up to the ledge. Shadow followed, no help needed.

They both walked through the hallway, Link looking around in awe with Shadow watching him. He knew what the temple looked like. A little too much. Then he remembered there was something about this hall… something not right. Maybe he didn't know the entrance as well as he thought he did.

"Ah!" What?

Link was trying furiously to keep his balance. Why? Then he remembered. The edge… There was an edge at the end of this hallway, and Link was about to fall over it. But what was at the bottom? Water? Sand? Both, his mind supplied. At once he remembered how high the entrance was. He knew hitting either (the sand or the water) falling from this height was bad. In an instant he reached out for the collar of Link's tunic.

"Link! Stop!" He sort of stopped, but he could feel some fear ripple through Link's skin. "Just stay still," he coaxed, Link having no objection to obeying. Shadow grabbed Link's right arm, and slowly let go of the collar, grabbing Link's left arm with his other hand. Without warning, he jerked back a little, and they went tumbling onto the ground.

"Sorry, sorry," Link muttered, shaking his head and turning away, "but thanks. Thank you."

Shadow sort of shook himself out of his little world that the fall had sent his mind off to, and focused on Link. Link turned back to him, with a little bit of a blush still on his cheeks. "No problem," he muttered, looking down, the floor suddenly very interesting. Link shook his head and got up.

"Well are we going or not? Personally I'd like to defeat whatever's in this place before dusk but if you really don't want to hurry…" Shadow looked up. The blush was gone, replaced with a smirk and an odd mischievous glint in his blue eyes. Shadow smiled.

Grunting, he got up, smiling softly. "Yeah, sure. Come on, let's go kick some evil ass shall we?" Then he returned the same mischievous smile with a chuckle. "Yeah, come on." Link took Shadow by the arm and they walked over to the edge of the hallway.

"We're going to have to jump."

Link looked at Shadow. "Jump? You're telling me after all that all we have to do is jump?" He looked at Link. "Yeah." Link slapped his forehead. "Oy…" A snicker. A glare, but playful. "Okay, okay, just get your iron boots ready." Link clicked his feet again and once more were his boots covered in iron.

"Ready, Peter?" Shadow nodded. He was accustomed to the name Peter but just once he wished that Link would call him by his name. He clung to Link's back, swinging Link's shield around to his chest. "Now this is much better." He's stiffens a little when he sees how close he is to the Master Sword, but it seems to know he won't do any harm to its master. He relaxes, and Link jumps.

It seems like a long way down, both of them screaming as they fall. Shadow's grip on Link tightens, causing a small break in his scream. Shadow doesn't notice this though, as he's too busy screaming on his own.

Then, SPLASH!

And they arrive on the bottom of the water, landing on more sand. But very hard sand. "You know what, Link?" Shadow finally says after their landing, "I have a bit of magic I can use to duplicate these boots. Care to let me try?"

"And you just now remember you can do this?" Shadow smiles sheepishly, even though Link can't see. Link sighs. "Go on, then. Try it."

Shadow taps Link's iron boots twice with his own feet, and at once a pair of iron boots appear, weighing Shadow down. "Ah, it works!" He looks at Link excitedly, with Link shaking his head. "Yeah, come on Peter." Link had now switched his shield back to his back, and they were both walking to an opening where two torch stands were standing.

This hallway was tiled; sapphire blue tiles from corner to corner. A beautiful hall, but still a hall in this Din-forsaken place. They walked on, then turned the corner, and Link gasped.

"Ruto?"

It was a Zora. A very pretty one. She had soft azure eyes like Link, and a very slender build.

"Oh… you…" She whispered it, as if to herself, like she didn't believe something. "If-If I'm right… Link?" Link nods, slowly. "I heard you were trapped here." She huffs a little. "Was, but this Sheik character saved me from the ice. I'm trying to get rid of the beast that's poisoned this temple and probably frozen my home." They were both silent at that.

"Who are you?" Shadow asks. She looks at him. "You don't know? Why, I am Ruto, Princess of the Zoras! And this cutie here is my fiancée!" Link shakes his head in disbelief. "What? Ruto, that was years ago!" Ruto laughs. "Why my love, don't you know women remember everything? I never forgot those vows we made to each other seven years ago! You're a terrible man to have kept me waiting for all those years…" And so she went on and on.

"Err, vows?" Link clears his throat and mutters, "Apparently the Zora Sapphire doubles as an engagement ring." Shadow sniggers. "Lucky you." He scoffs. "Yeah, lucky me."

"But," she says suddenly, "But now is not the time to talk about love- "Thank Din," Link says under his breath "–and you must have already seen it. My home is frozen, as is my father and my people." The look on Shadow's face seems to say, "I admire your sincerity but can we get a move-on?" and Link's expression is a serious one.

"I want you to save them all! I want you to save Zora's Domain! You! You have to help me! This is a request from the woman who is going to be your wife!" Shadow coughs. Link pales slightly. "Link," she continues, "you have to help me destroy the evil inside the temple!"

"All right, Ruto, I will, but…" Link trails off. Shadow knows what he wants to say, and Ruto sighs. She knows it too. "Fine, I might not become your wife, but you are one handsome devil!" Shadow breaks out in a coughing fit, and then controls it after a few seconds. "Now, I'm serious here. Inside the Water Temple there are three places where you can change the water level. I'll lead the way. Follow me!"

And she begins to swim up, and up, and out of sight.

"That was a little… odd." Link nods. "Yeah…"

After a little bit, Link says to Shadow, "Shouldn't we go follow her?" "Yeah, we kind of have to…" Then they both tap their boots and float to the surface of the water.

Now they're in a square room, also patterned with sapphire blue tiles, and there's a door to their left. Shadow also spots a triforce pattern on the wall in front of them, but that's about it. Link gets out of the water and helps Shadow out, and then he looks at the triforce pattern.

"Where's Ruto?" Shadow wondered. Link frowned, glancing around. "I didn't hear her scream, but…" He shivered, an icy feeling sliding down his spine. "I don't think we'll be seeing her again. Not for a while." Then he noticed the pattern on the wall.

"I wonder what it means…"

"Try playing some notes," Shadow said, squeezing some water out of his hat, "like a special song or something." "On what? Oh, my Ocarina!" He takes out the little blue ocarina out but stops short. "Hey Link, what's wrong?" "I have a feeling we can't do this yet. We've got to do something else first. So how about we go in that room and see what's in there huh?" Shadow follows him, drawing his sword, knowing a battle is about to take place.

"Ack, they're everywhere!"

Shadow rushes to Link's side, whacking the rock in front of him. It blows up into tiny bits, leaving nothing behind. "Those are spike traps." "Well that's obvious!" Link retorts. "They're spiky, yes, but they turn into rocks if they don't sense movement nearby. Now, just wait for the nearest one to turn…"

And a silver spiked ball near them turned brown and rocky, and Shadow whacked it hard once with his sword, the creature crumbling into dust. "See, not so hard." Link laughs. "Yeah, and we only have what, four more?" "Don't be so ridiculous Link. They aren't that hard to defeat." Link whacks two in one attack and stands up and looks at Shadow proudly. "I told you so." Link scowls as Shadow smiles to himself.

Link finishes off the last two with ease.

Then a chest appears, and Link walks over to it and opens it. "Hey, it's a dungeon map! Cool!" "Yeah," Shadow says to him over his shoulder, "absolutely amazing." Link scowls again. "Hey… look Peter! There's a note on this one room… it says 'Compass: Water must be at full level' and there's a square drawn on it too…" Shadow looks at it. Hey… I wrote that. But he looks back at Link, who is now putting the map into his hat.

"Is that thing enchanted or what, because I have no idea how you keep everything in there."

Link laughs. "Yeah, course it is. All the Kokiri have hats like this." Shadow shrugs. "Now let's go get that compass. Seeing as the water level is still where we need it to be, all we have to do is go back and find that compass." "No, we can get the compass later. I've been in here before, and that compass isn't easy to get to with what we're equipped with now." Link looks at himself and at Shadow. "Yes… I suppose you're right. I'll lower the water level down then."

Link walks out of the room, Shadow following. He stares at the triforce inscription for a while and then a realization dawns on him. Shadow raises an eyebrow but says nothing. Then Link takes out his ocarina and plays a soft tune. Shadow closes his eyes and imagines how those lips playing the ocarina might taste when applied elsewhere… but then the lowering of the water shakes him out of his daydream.

Link drops down, his feet hitting the very bottom with a loud THUD! Shadow follows, rolling instead of landing in the same spot.

"Link," Shadow says, as Link starts to leave, "I think we have to light these torches." Link shrugs. "Sure, I'll give it a try. Here, hold onto me so you don't get hit." Shadow clung to him as he had before, but this time he was the one blushing. He hadn't realized how warm other bodies were. And this was his hikari… most likely the warmest person he could ever touch, unless someone had a fever.

Link then set off his Din's Fire, lighting all the torches in the room, letting the door behind them become un-barred. Shadow let go of Link, trying to rub the blush off his face. When he finally did look up, Link was gone. And then the bars went back up. Why?

He began to panic, but after a little while Link came back out, holding a small key in his right hand. "Piece of cake," he said, tossing the key to Shadow. Shadow just looked at him. He truly was the chosen hero. He didn't need anyone's help. Certainly not his help anyway.

Shadow sighed a little in relief and followed him out to the main room.

They walked to the other side of the room and climbed on top of a box that had come from the water when it fell. They walked down the hallway and came to a big block, which they pushed, and when it was pushed far enough, it dropped into a hole down through the water. "Shall we?" Shadow nodded, and they dived down again into the water.

It was a blue-tiled hallway, and as they walked to the end of it, they clicked their boots and rose to the top. "Great, another room," Link grumbled. "There's always going to be another room my friend," Shadow told him, "every time. At least, until you get the boss key." Link laughed, and the walked into the room.

There was a big gap in the room, at the bottom of held a small waterspout. To the right of them was a switch you could hit, and across the room was Tekitie. "I hate those things," Link muttered. "Me too," Shadow agreed.

"Let's do this thing, shall we Link?" He nods. "You do the honors." Shadow whacks the switch and the fountain comes up, at which they both jump across and go through the door in record time.

"Wow," says Shadow, breathless, "we did that in like fifteen seconds." "Yeah," huffed Link, "we should do that again sometime." Shadow laughs, and helps Link up as they look at the new room.

It was basically a gigantic room with lots of spinning water.

"So, who's going down there?" "Well you're the one with the hookshot." "True." So it was unanimous that Link would be the one to go down. After much watching Link struggle to hit the switch in the dragon's mouth and then reach the chest in time before the gate went down Link finally came up at Shadow's feet with a gasp, holding another small key.

"Here. Take it." Shadow took it and looked at him strangely. "You're insane." It was a statement, not a question. "Yeah, I might be insane, but you know, when you're a couple of inches away from being fried, electrocuted, or some other form of pain, it really doesn't matter." And he finished this with a crazed smile. "Yeah," Shadow said, "you're definitely insane."

And then they made their way back to the main room.

Shadow dragged Link up to the ledge. "You know, I swear that little monster was after me. It completely avoided you!" Link laughed. "Right. And who's the one that declared I was insane?" Shadow just glared as Link laughed some more. "Touché, Link, touché."

And then they walked to the south side of the room where a locked door was waiting. Shadow took one of the two keys he had with him and unlocked it, watching the chains drop to the floor with a dull CLUNK!

"Shall we?" Shadow motioned to the door with his hands. "Yes, lets," Link replied in the like.

The next room was very tall, not to mention it contained about a half dozen ledges. "Wow… that's…" "Not as big as the last room," Shadow inserted. "Still…" "Yeah." Shadow spotted a hookshot symbol on a ledge up top. "Hey, look!" Link looked up. "It seems to be the only way up, seeing as there's no door on the other side of this bridge."

They were also standing on a bridge of stone, surrounded by nice pointy spikes. "Wouldn't want to fall on those from any height," Link muttered. "Likewise," Shadow agreed.

"You're going to have to hold me again, seeing as I'm the only one with a hookshot. I don't suppose you can do that thing you did with the Iron Boots now can you?" "Sorry," Shadow said, "but it only works with clothes." Link nodded. "Very well then. Hang on." Shadow did as he was told and Link brought them up to the ledge.

Shadow spotted another triforce symbol. "Link, look! Another symbol!" Link saw it, gauged the jump from where they were, and then ran. "Link, wait!" But it was too late. Link had already jumped. Shadow closed his eyes, as he couldn't bear to watch. "I'm alright Sh-" Shadow looked up. "You're okay?" Link looked up. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's not that far of a jump." Shadow nodded. Why had Link tried to say Shadow? Was it possible he had let his real name slip at some point, or was Link just getting tired? Shadow shrugged, and then jumped.

By the time he had jumped, Link had finished playing the song and the water began to rise. And they were now floating in water.

"Smooth, Link. Real smooth." Link just laughed.

Then they climbed up onto the ledge where the only available door stood. And then they entered it, Shadow apparently thinking very hard.

"Hey Link?" "Yeah?" "Do you remember that crack in the wall we saw when we were floating up that first time? Back in the place where we found Ruto?" Link nodded. "Yeah. Why?" Shadow looked at the water. "We'd be able to reach that now, and it wouldn't be full of water either. You do have some bombs with you don't you?" Link smiled.

"Bombs? Of course. I always have bombs." Shadow looked at Link.

"Uh oh."

Shadow barely had enough time to get his iron boots on before Link dragged him down into the water rather comically, and then ran (in an also comical slow-motion style) to the chamber they had seen Ruto in before. After which, they took off their boots and floated to the top of the water, which was just where Shadow had said it would be, right in front of a crack in the wall.

"Why are you looking at the wall like that? It did nothing to you." Link laughed. "I just get a rush whenever I set one of these things off." Shadow scoffed a little, and stayed where he was, in the water, holding onto the side with his fingers. "Adrenaline junkie," he muttered.

"What?" "Nothing!" "Right…"

Link set a bomb at the center of the crack, lit it; then ran to the left corner of the room behind Shadow.

BOOM!

Lots of crumbling, crashing of bits of rock, maybe some squeals. It didn't sound good. Shadow had closed his eyes and waited patiently for the smoke in the room to clear, but realized that it already had, and Link was standing in front of him, squatting so he could look into Shadow's eyes. "Are you coming or what?" Shoot… he was too close. Shadow knew he was blushing, but his slightly tanned skin hid it a fair bit. His eyes wandered to the bottom of Link's tunic, but before any thoughts could enter his head he looked back into Link's eyes. "Err, yeah. I was just waiting for the smoke to clear. Now help me out will you?"

Link smiled a strange smile. "Say please." Shadow shot him the same strange smile. "Please, then. Help me out now will you?" Link sighed, but the smile still remained. "Whatever am I going to do with you?" "Nothing. You just have to deal with me." "Haven't I been doing just that for a good hour now?" Shadow flashed him a cocky grin and whispered to him, "I believe it's been two hours Link. Now help me up." He looked up at him and gave him a soft smile. "Please."

Link got up and held out a hand, which Shadow took gratefully. "Really, thanks. You didn't have to do that." "It's alright Sh-err, Peter, really. We're friends right? That is what friends do." Shadow nodded. He had tried to say Shadow again. Was this some trick, something of Ganon's? No, he couldn't possibly have touched him or cursed him without Link remembering, much less telling him about their connection. He gave a friendly smile. "Yeah, that's what they do." And they entered the next room.

"Hey, it's just a key. Wow." Shadow looked up. "That's it?" "Yeah." Shadow shrugged, "Well, be thankful for the little things I suppose." Link nodded. "Where to now?" Shadow thought for a bit. "Let me see the map." Link gave it to him after a short search through his hat. Shadow took it and looked at it.

"See this marking here?" Link was looking over his shoulder. "There's a key in the room we were just in. The one where you raised the water level last." Link nodded. "Let's go get that key then." He winked. "Can't have too many now can we." As Link dived in and he was following, Shadow's mind was pondering things at a record pace. He didn't know if Ganon would try to find him here, but he did know he would most certainly focus most of his attention on him, if not Link.

Upon arrival at the previous room, Shadow came out of his brooding session.

"Okay," says Link, looking at the map, "this subscript here says the key is below the water." He stuffs the map into his hat again. "You coming?" Shadow looked up. "Oh, yeah." And so they dived down into the water, making sure not to land on the bed of pointy spikes on both sides of the bridge. Now that the water had risen a wooden block from a hole in the bridge, they were free to go down in it.

And so they did.

It was square and had a switch in one corner. Link spotted it and hit it, causing a few enemies to fall from a grate in the ceiling. Shadow was killing the spiked balls with his sword while Link was busy with the three clams that fell with his hookshot. Shadow wiped his brow to clear the hair out of his face. His streak of blond bangs as blond as all of Link's hair was getting in the way again, and then he heard Link cry out.

"Ah!"

Shadow whipped around. One clam had apparently escaped Link's hookshot and knocked it out of his hand. It was advancing on him and he had no sword either. Shadow saw the hookshot floating nearby and stunned it, grabbing the Master Sword and finishing it off. He looked back at Link as a grate went up to reveal a chest. "You alright?" He looked into Link's eyes and found a strange look in them. Confusion?

"Yeah," Link breathed out, "I'm fine." He got up and walked over to the chest and took the key out. Shadow stared at the Master Sword. He was holding it. Wow. It really did trust him. Something swelled in his chest. Maybe, if it accepted him, Link just might-

"Shadow." What?

He looked at Link. Shadow? "I'm mean Peter. Sorry. I don't know where that came from." He stared at Link still, speechless. "Hey, can I have my sword back?" Huh? Shadow looked at the sword. "Oh! Yeah, here." He gave it back to Link, deliberately avoiding contact with his hand. He really had to stop this, before Link started to notice.

"Hey, come on, we got a monster to kill." Shadow forced a cocky smile. "Yeah, let's go." And he followed Link out and back to the main room.

"Where to next?" Shadow looked at the map. "I don't know…" Then something silver glinted in the distance. He looked to his left, around the corner. "Hey, how about that door?" "The locked one? Sure, we have plenty of keys." They swam over to the wooden block that made it possible to access it and entered the door after unlocking it.

Then next room was another square, blue tiled room with a switch and a waterspout. "Care to guess what we have to do here?" Link laughed. "Oh, I don't know. It's such a puzzle." Shadow laughed back. "You're hilarious. I really l-like you." He laughed again, to cover up his stutter. Link smiled. Shadow sighed, partly form laughing, and partly from relief. Link hadn't noticed.

By Din… I almost said I loved him! Oh… what a mess I'm in.

Link then whacked the switch, grabbed Shadow and then stood on the rising fountain, whacking away a Tekitie that fell from the ledge.

"What the hell was that, Link? You bloody scared me doing that!" Link just laughed. "That was the intention. You looked bored out of you mind." Shadow blanched. "You have a strange way of acting around others my friend. Me especially." Link just laughed.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Come on man. We've still got a lot more temple to go through." Link straightened up and patted the giggles out of him lightly. "Yeah, let's go."

They opened the door and came face to face with a very small hallway. "Wow." Link looked down. "Reminds me of how we entered this temple." Shadow hummed in agreement. Then he spotted the triforce symbol. "Hey, Link. Look." Link looked back. "Oh. Thanks Sh-" Link stopped. "Why do I want to keep calling you Shadow?" Shadow blinked. Was it simply instinct then? They were after all, hikari and yami. It might only be natural to have an instinct to call the other by their real name. But Shadow simply shrugged. This was interesting to watch. "I don't know. But you can keep calling me Shadow if you like. Sounds cool." He flashed a grin.

Link laughed. "If you really want to," he paused, "Shadow."

At last, my name!

He turned back to the triforce symbol and played the song again; raising the water level back to the level it had been when we'd first entered. While Link was busy putting the ocarina away in his hat, he shot at the two blue Tekitie that were jumping up and down at them, killing them and making them burst into blue flames. He might not have enjoyed it, but it was cool to look at, though.

He noticed another locked door on his left again and pointed to it. "Let's go there Link." Link looked at the door. He shrugged. "Why not? Let's go." They dived into the water, swam to the wooden block, and opened the door and entered the room.

"Whoa. Now this is a room." "Yeah, they certainly had style." "Yeah…"

It was another large room; only this time it had a waterfall in it coming from the ledge on the other side of the room where another locked door was waiting.

"Let's do this thing shall we?" "The question is," Shadow murmured, "how do we do this? I can see how one person would do this, but two? It truly is a puzzle." Link hummed an agreement. Then his head shot up after staring at the end of the room for a while. "Hey! I know!" Shadow looked over at him, his arms crossed. "How?"

"I'll go up there first," he explained, and then I'll slide this onto one those sliding platforms." "And?" "And then you, from down there, will-" "No, it's too dangerous. We could lose the hookshot if I didn't catch it in time. Or you, if I went first. I'm going to have to hold onto you. That is, if you don't mind."

"Course not. We've been doing that for the whole temple haven't we?" Yes, a little too much, thought Shadow. His attraction to Link was becoming more and more noticeable each time there was a situation like this. But he was going to have to keep hiding it, for Link's sake.

Link slid down to ledge and Shadow following. Then they slid to the ledge under that one and Shadow held onto Link once more. "Ready" "As always." "Alright then." And that was that. Link did his job, shooting the hookshot time after time, and, after a long time of listening to the hookshot shooting off, they were finally at the exit.

"See," said Link, dusting himself off, "that wasn't so hard." Shadow said nothing as he dusted off as well. Then they used the last key to open the door and enter the next room.

"They cease to amaze me." "What, the Zoras or the Tekitie breeding habits?"

"Both."

The room was also large, and contained a switch, lots of water, an exit to the right of them, and three blue Tekitie creatures sitting on the water, as well as several stone dragon statues.

Link looked at Shadow. "Let's do this thing?" Shadow nodded. "You shoot, then toss?" "Deal." He shook Shadow's hand and as Shadow shot the creatures to death, he made the statues rise and he shot his hookshot on the nearest one tossing the hookshot to Shadow who crosses over as Link shoots at the switch and lowers the statues.

"You know, I really don't know why I keep wanting to call you Shadow. Are you sure you don't know why? I mean, you look just like me, only darker, like a shadow. Is that why?" Shadow stares at him. Getting way too close… but Shadow clears his throat. "N-No. I'm afraid I really don't. I wish I knew." His expression wasn't one of his usual casual ones, and he was fiddling a little with his collar. Link passed it off as a reaction to the sudden subject change.

"Okay," he said, taking the hookshot and crossing to the ledge, tossing it back from where he stood on the dragon's head, "just let me know if you do know. It's starting to bother me. I mean really, really bother me." Shadow nodded slightly, crossing and handing it back.

"But what I don't get," he continued to say as he shot at the switch and crossed again to the last head and tossing the hookshot back, "is why we're so alike. We aren't related, though it is possible, and it's just strange that we look as we do." Shadow tossed him the hookshot again, shooting the switch for Link.

Link climbed up on the head and Shadow with him and then shot the switch raising them up to the ledge, where they fought off another two Tekitie creatures. "Really Shadow, if you know, tell me."

"And what if I don't?" "Then you don't know, I suppose." And they stood there for a while. Then Link looked up, a dark expression on his face.

"Or you could be an ghost, a ghost given a solid body and existence, by Ganon perhaps?" "Never Ganon!" Shadow shouted, "I hate the man! For who he is and what he's done! You are a good friend to me, Link, but do not accuse me for being his slave! I would never dream to become as such." Link was taken aback by the sudden explosion, and then noticed something.

His shoulders were shuddering. Peter… Shadow… whoever he was…

Shadow pushed away onto the wall, tears stinging in his eyes. Some of them escaped him, and he closed them furiously in hopes of keeping in the rest. He couldn't. "Don't you ever accuse me of that." Shadow groaned, ashamed and wondered what in the world he was going to do now. Link approached him and softly set his hands on his back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I'm just confused, that's all."

Confused? Right. Or was he?

Shadow turned to look at him, tears of the past couple days rolling down his cheeks. His face felt hot, and Link's face was so close… too close. He could feel Link's breath tickle the wet flesh where tears had run over.

"Why did you react that way? What has Ganon done to you?"

.oOo.

Shadow's POV-

"What has Ganon done to you?"

The words sparked something in me then. I wanted to answer, but I couldn't. It was as if some animal had taken over my brain and was running it on fried emotions and no common sense. Or quite possibly, for me at least, common sense didn't exist anymore. Not in me. Whatever the case, I couldn't have stopped the coming events even if I had wanted to.

That is, if I had wanted to at all…

"Link?" My voice was a whisper. A very soft one, but Link was close enough to hear it. "Yes?" His voice was soft also, but it was meant for comfort. Link sat down close beside me, ignoring the Like-Like on the other side of the spikes in the hallway.

"Do you really want to know?" Darn, darn, darn! My conscience had woken up at last, but it was too late. The thing that was driving my brain now had locked up anything that could've saved me.

"Sure. Tell me everything." Everything? No!

"N-Not everything…" Link looked at me. "No?" I shook my head. The thing had soothed my conscience for now, but there was still no stopping it. Not now. "No. You see… he's after me." "Who?" "Ganon." Link stares at me. Nothing's wrong yet. I'm still safe.

Not for long, my conscience tells me.

"Okay, so he's pursuing you. Why?" I look at him desperately. I don't want to tell him, but he's my partner. We have to be truthful to each other.

"He wants to kill me." That's what I think in my mind so it's not entirely a lie. "What, why? I won't let him!" I smile wistfully and now my conscience has given up rebelling. I'm forced to listen to myself say, "Yeah, you can try. I'm dead anyway. For helping you." He looks at me, he's worried. Oh Link, can't you see I'm telling the truth?

"No! He can't get you…"

Great, now I've made him cry. What a nice mess I'm in. Wait… he's crying? I've never seen him crying, much less over me.

"Just because you helped me? You're dead? No… I won't let him. Ganon has done enough damage. He won't take you too. You're mine, not his." I blink. His? Maybe… could he… and then the thing that's driving my brain commits its final act.

"Look at me Link."

He obeys, looking into my eyes. I can tell they've stopped turning blue and their true color is showing, but I don't care. Not anymore. If I'm going to die, then I'm going to experience what I might never experience again… now.

"Shadow, your eyes…" I can't hear him. I see his lips moving, but it makes little difference. "Link…" His breath smells so wonderful, it's completely intoxicating now that I'm so close. His lips are right there, and then I can't hold it anymore. I move closer and close my eyes.

It was just a kiss. A simple kiss. I had never kissed anyone like this and if I was right, and I was going to die, then I probably never would ever again. There was nothing that added to the kiss like chocolate or anything. No strawberries, incense, candles, or anything like that. The kiss was just him; just Link. My partner.

It was wonderful. I wanted to stay there forever.

And then it ended, my eyes opened instantly, not to find that he'd pulled back, but that he'd fainted. Oh Din, what had I done?

I rushed out of the temple as fast as I could, hoping that he didn't wake up before I could get him to the shore. I laid him on the shore not far from my cottage, and I waited. The wind blew through my hair gently as I watched him, though I knew I couldn't stay. I couldn't see him again. I stroked his cheek, marveling at its surprising softness, and I buried my face in his hair. I didn't want to leave, but the chances of being found were too great. Then I gave him a small peck where I'd stroked cheek and covered him with a small blanket I found in his hat. No, I couldn't bring myself to think about it.

Not until I was ready to face him.

But, I thought to myself as I watched him from my cottage window, how long would it be until then?

.oOo.

And so ends the time lapse for the water temple. I hope that all of my faithful reviewers, Mike included, give me input on this chapter. Hope you liked the kiss! ;)

P.S. Merry Christmas! (late or early)