AN: Here we are then, another week another chapter. I almost didn't finish this in time, but no worries because I did, huzzah. So, big thanks to silverheartlugia2000 for your review, and to everyone who favourited and/or followed this story this week! My saying this is undoubtedly getting old, but it really does mean a lot.
I'll keep you no longer then, so on with the chapter. Enjoy, and feedback really is appreciated!

10- Warnings

'You- You are the biggest idiot that I have ever met.' Someone was talking to him. Link could hear them, but couldn't see them. The world was dark, the only colour a mess of fuzzy silver streaks darting past his eyes. Bubbles? 'Why, why, would you jump off a bridge you moron? Are you insane? Were you dropped on your head as a kid?' Was it Midna speaking? It sounded snarky enough to be Midna.

Something cold touched his cheek and he started, eyes snapping open as sudden pain ricocheted through his body. Wincing he groaned softly, unable to manage anything stronger as Midna raised an eyebrow at him. She was leaning over him, soaking wet, a small jar of red liquid clasped in one of her hands, which was suspended above his face.

'I wouldn't move,' she said, too late. Link tried for a dirty expression, but couldn't get past a grimace, and she smirked back at him. 'Here, this will be easier now you're awake. Open your mouth.' She tilted the jar back and forth, scowling when Link didn't immediately obey from bleary suspicion. Goddesses, everything hurt. Would burning to death have been less painful than this? Just breathing felt like he was being stabbed, every heartbeat made his head feel like it was going to explode. He felt sick. There were tears welling in the corners of his eyes just from breathing.

He'd probably had worse, somewhere down the line.

'It's some of that weird magic potion you people have here,' Midna explained long-sufferingly, rolling her eyes at him as she ignored his pain. 'I got it out of your bag. Which I had to go back and fish out of this stupid lake after I dragged you out, by the way. Tell me again why exactly you thought any of this was a good idea?' Taking a breath Link told her it had been her idea, his voice cracking with each laborious word. For the love of Nayru even talking hurt.

Midna scoffed harshly. 'My idea? How was any of this my idea?' Her eyes narrowed before she shook her head. 'Look, just drink the potion. Given how mangled you look I think you could use it.' Link didn't even want to think about the damage his leap had done so he parted his lips as ordered, forcing himself to swallow before he choked as Midna tipped practically the entire jar's worth of potion into his mouth. It tasted awful, as always, bitter and medicinal – which was kind of the point, he supposed – but as always its effects were immediate and extensive.

It took him a minute or so to work up the courage to try sitting up, even if the stabbing, agonising pain had lessened to a duller ache seconds after he'd swallowed the potion. Pushing himself upright with a groan he surveyed himself carefully, slowly flexing different joints to review the extent of the potion's effects.

'You know, that's something I'll give you lot credit for,' Midna said from where she was now lounging in the air next to him. 'This stuff's pretty impressive.' Regarding her in silence for a moment Link, with a little effort, relinquished his deep-seated irritation and resentment briefly to thank her, as sincerely as he could. She had saved his life, he wouldn't forget that. Maybe it had just been so he could find the third Fused Shadow for her, maybe not, but she had seemed genuinely scared for his life as she had fallen along beside him.

For a moment she seemed taken aback before she regained her composure and grinned a wide, sharp-toothed grin. 'Don't you forget it. You owe me, hero boy.' And there was the irritation and resentment again. Fabulous. With her chin cupped in a hand Midna kept on grinning at him, in a way that made Link think vaguely of a skull. Rolling his eyes he looked away, wondering if they'd ever manage to have a sincere conversation. Probably not.

Turning his attention to his surroundings he found himself on the bank of the river, just a little way from the dark water's edge. There were scuff marks in the earth leading to his heels – where Midna had dragged him from the water, clearly – or rather in the sludge left behind by the receding waterline. Link stared at them for a moment before tilting his head back to look at the bridge, way above them, from which smoke was still rising lazily. His stomach flopped uncomfortably as he registered just how far away it was, as well as because it looked a lot more ramshackle from below. It looked like it was crumbling away; who knew how long it would last. It was a pretty thick hunk of rock, though, so he imagined it would last through this age, maybe even the next.

Something that wouldn't last, though, was the pitiful amount of water in the lake. Link could see where it was supposed to reach, from the watermarks as well as just the general formation of his new surroundings, but it had decreased by over half. More like four fifths. How he had survived falling into such a small amount of water was beyond him.

Though he guessed the Twili beside him was the reason. He would definitely have drowned if she hadn't been there, since the impact hadn't killed him. He was suddenly struck by how lucky he was to have her around. So maybe she was just using him for her own gain but she had really, truly saved him, when she probably could have got by without. There were probably plenty of pawns in Hyrule she could use, but still she had chosen to fish him from the lake and had then gone to the trouble of healing him.

Maybe he had been a little harsh in his judgement. Maybe she wasn't just a sarcastic, cold Twili.

'Oi, what's wrong?' A small finger suddenly poked his cheek, making him jerk away. 'You have this stupid, sappy look on your face. It's gross.' She just had to ruin it, didn't she?

Midna huffed when he didn't engage with her, but she was back to grinning as he forced himself to his feet with a few winces. Everything still ached and he felt bruised all over, but it was so much better than before. This was more than bearable. Also, not nearly as life-threatening.

Rolling his shoulders Link looked around once more, wondering if there was any way to identify the cause of the lack of water. When he spotted a trio of Zoras stood across from him on the other bank he decided to make his way round to them, which proved to be decidedly easier when he could just walk across the lakebed instead of skirting the edges.

One of the Zoras lifted a hand as Link approached. 'Hey, are you the guy who just jumped from the bridge?' That caught the attention of the other two, who both turned to look at him. Well, this wasn't what Link had been expecting.

'I thought you were dead for sure,' one of the Zoras snickered. 'Bit reckless, isn't it? A human like you jumping from so high up?' Schooling his expression into something neutral Link reminded himself that he had come over for a civil conversation regarding the distinct lack of water in the lake. On the upside the Zoras all sobered when he mentioned it, glancing at one another with obvious concern.

'We don't know what's happening,' the Zora who hadn't spoken yet explained in reply. 'With the lake dried up as it is we can't return to Zora's Domain – we can't even get upstream at this point.'

'Something's going on, though. At this rate Lake Hylia will dry up completely,' one of the others added, and all three glanced in what Link assumed was the direction of Zora's Domain as they fell silent. Pursing his lips slightly Link followed their gazes, though he was distracted a moment later as he caught sight of a large, ornately carved opening in the side of the lake some twenty metres up from the ground. Eyeing it Link sighed internally. Now that he was down here on the lakebed there was no getting back up, at least not easily, so if he wanted to reach the third Light Spirit, or the temple he assumed was somewhere nearby, he needed to find out what was going on in Zora's Domain.

Great.

Sighing in frustration Link wandered over in the direction of the ornate opening, which he was assuming led to the Spirit Spring, craning his head back to stare at it irritatedly.

'I don't think glaring's going to help,' Midna said, a split-second before her bony elbow dug into his shoulder. When he glanced at her she had her chin on a hand as she leant on him, eyes also on the entranceway. Apparently sensing his gaze she dropped her eyes onto him, grinning her stupid sly grin.

'Up for a little investigating?' She asked, inspecting the nails of her free hand casually. 'I wonder what's happened to these Zoras? Want to find out?' Grin firmly in place she glanced back up at him, staring until he had to look away with a soft huff, shifting his shoulder out of her reach so that she slipped in the air with a soft startled noise. It couldn't be helped, and anyway he was concerned. This had Ganondorf written all over it. Honestly, just how far did the man's influence reach?

So they set about investigating, traversing the lakebed, asking the three Zoras as well as a man, Fyer, who apparently ran some kind of business on the lake, a few more questions. Questioning got them nowhere, however, although the Zoras did inform him of the location of the next temple. As it turned out, it was at the bottom of the lake. Even with the water as shallow as it was currently, it was still too deep for him to reach. He tried, wading back out into the frigid water and putting his lungs to the test. His efforts were to no avail. He couldn't reach it.

It was a dead end, and they were stumped until Midna somehow managed to wrangle a giant bird which she then convinced (forced) to carry them upriver. It made for an unpleasant journey through a narrow, monster-infested tunnel, especially considering that Link, who was used to and had knowledge of riding large birds, ended up clasped precariously between its claws while Midna steered.

At the very least he no longer felt quite so sure that she was going to deliberately do something to get him killed.

'Well, that bird turned out to be pretty useful, didn't it?' Midna's eyes were trained on said bird's rapidly receding form as she spoke, as Link massaged his sore arms in annoyed silence. They had landed just moments ago. 'What's with that look?' Midna's bright eyes flitted onto him as she quirked an eyebrow, so Link huffed and looked away. Childish, maybe, but it still drew an annoyed sound from her. Of course, violence quickly followed as she swatted his arm, so he relented, looking back at her questioningly before things could escalate.

'The Zoras' village should be around here somewhere, right?' She asked, to which Link shrugged. He had as little clue as she did. 'Well, let's look for it. And quickly, because it's getting cold.' It was, she wasn't lying. Link wasn't sure why – there couldn't be that much difference between the two sections of the river – but he didn't dwell on it as he set off again, Midna settling back into his shadow.

There was another stranger up at this point in the river, a woman who reminded Link of Coro the lantern salesman, and who had as little to say on the state of Zora's Domain as any of the others. The riverbed here was covered in frost, something Link discovered when he half-jumped, half-skidded down the steep bank, intent on following the river further. While she might not have had much to say on the matter of Zoras the woman, Iza, had told him that he could find Zora's Domain even further upriver. So that's where he headed, finding himself skidding across the frozen remnants of the river as he went. Until he hit a particularly decisive dead end, that is.

'Wow. It's completely frozen.' As per usual Midna was being oh-so helpful, but she wasn't wrong. Standing before a frozen waterfall Link couldn't help but think it must have taken some impressive magic to freeze an entire river like this. But then, he'd always known Ganondorf was capable of some pretty spectacular things. Evil, yes, but undeniably impressive.

Tilting his head back Link stared at the mass of ice, wondering just how necessary it was to get up past it. Fairly, it would seem.

Midna didn't seem best pleased when he made towards it, throwing various insults that escalated into threats at him as he found a purchase on the slippery surface and started climbing. She mentioned a few times how he had just barely survived a fall from the bridge, and how idiotic it was for him to be deliberately climbing another high, exceedingly precarious structure so soon afterwards. Link managed to render her silent by mentioning that it seemed like she was worried for his wellbeing, but it didn't stop her from hovering almost anxiously at his shoulder during the entire climb. There were a few times Link was sure he was going to plummet to his doom, but he managed to cling with rapidly numbing fingers to keep himself from falling.

When he finally reached the top, hands jammed under his armpits in some effort to find warmth, it was to find the entirety of Zora's Domain encased in ice. Maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise, but Link still halted for a full minute to take in the scene before making his way gingerly over the surface, supressing a startled yelp when he looked down and found that it wasn't just the domain that had been frozen. The Zora were all suspended in the ice, looking as though they had been trying to reach the surface before freezing.

This was definitely the work of some dark magic.

Link couldn't understand the purpose of doing something like this, though. What did Ganondorf have to gain by making an enemy of the Zora? Link wasn't sure if it was egotistical to think that perhaps it was all an elaborate plan to stop him from fulfilling his "heroic destiny", but it was a possibility. That or it was a display of power, maybe meant to scare the Zora, and others, into following Ganondorf.

Still, that wasn't the main issue right now. Defrosting the Zoras and their home was more important.

In the end they came up with a ridiculous plan that could just as likely kill the Zoras as save them, but it was the only option they had, really. So they went back to Death Mountain, Midna revealing she could warp them there, where they picked up the massive boulder the goddesses had tried to squash him with the first time he had visited the mountain.

In all honesty, Link was completely sure they were going to end up committing genocide with this plan, but how else was he supposed to get the Zoras out?

Luckily for him, though, the goddesses were feeling at least somewhat benevolent that day, and after the ensuing explosion of meltwater all of the Zora were still alive. Dazed, disorientated, and weak, but undeniably alive. Link didn't think he'd ever felt more relieved as he went around checking on them for ten minutes, making sure they were okay.

He couldn't believe their plan had worked. It was undeniably one of the stupider ideas he'd come up with over the ages.

'All right, let's go. They're all right now, our work here is done.' She tried to hide it, but Link could tell Midna was just as relieved as he was that they hadn't accidentally murdered an entire tribe of people. 'We should finally be able to meet that last Light Spirit.' She nudged him in the side with a foot, so Link batted her aside lightly before setting out to head back the way he had come. He was tempted to just jump in the water and let the currents carry him all the way back down, but he hadn't forgotten that waterfall. Or his stunt on the bridge.

No, he'd rather just walk.

And walk he did. He was almost out of Zora's Domain when a voice suddenly called, 'wait!' For a moment when he looked back he saw nothing, before his eyes picked out a faint shimmer in the air above the recently melted pool at the centre of the room. Even as he caught sight of it it began to come into focus, solidifying somewhat to take the form of a great, beautiful figure. It glowed with an ethereal light, and when Link squinted he realised it was, in fact, a Zora. Unsurprising, considering the location.

'Please, you must not leave before I give you my thanks,' she said, her voice an echoing whisper that Link could somehow make out quite clearly. It was less like she was speaking out loud and more like she was speaking into his mind. 'Thank you, for reviving my people and this spring. It is the water source for all the lands of Hyrule, after all.' Link nodded slightly in agreement, wondering what such a spirit wanted with him. It couldn't just be to give him thanks. That wasn't how these things worked. Clearly, there was something more that she wanted.

He was right. As it turned out the spirit was the Queen of the Zora, Rutela, who had been executed by Zant in order to send a message to her people. That got Midna's interest, and Link could practically smell her rage as her short limbs quivered with righteous fury. She really, really didn't like Zant. Link couldn't blame her; what he'd heard of the guy was enough to anger him and they'd never even met.

But that still wasn't all Rutela had to say. She had a son, Ralis, who she had sent to Hyrule City to escape Zant and his minions as well as to inform the Princess of the Zoras' fate. Midna confirmed that the message had never arrived, and Rutela got on with saying what she had really wanted to say.

'I feel my son's presence grow fainter to me – the darkness must have followed him from this place – but I no longer have a life to risk in his rescue. My time in this world has passed, so now…' she trailed off with a glance down at her people where they lay below her, as Link sighed internally. Clearly her time hadn't quite passed, and clearly she expected him to risk his life for her son now that she no longer could.

Then came the dreaded words; 'Please, will you save my dearest son?'

Well, of course he would. He resented it, but he would do it. He wasn't just going to leave some kid to die, even if they had never met before, even if they had no ties whatsoever. What kind of person would he be if he let someone die when he could have prevented it?

'You need not do this task for free,' Rutela continued, apparently sensing his aversion. 'If you can save my son I will bestow upon you the protection of water. It will give you the abilities of a Zora – that is to say, the ability to swim and respire in very deep water.' And just like that he no longer had a choice. He was fairly certain he heard all the cogs click into place in Midna's brain as they both worked out what that meant. If they had the "protection of water" he could reach the Lakebed Temple, and therefore the final Fused Shadow.

When Midna turned to look at him, eyes alight, grin in place, Link felt a sinking in his stomach before he sighed softly. Yes, he would save this Prince Ralis, yes, he would find the Fused Shadow. Everyone would be happy. Apart from him, but that was nothing new. As long as everyone else got what they wanted, right?

'So, what do you say, Hero?' Midna raised a sly eyebrow at him as Rutela faded away with a last faint plea for him to save her son, 'time to save ourselves a prince? That protection of water she talked about sounded pretty handy, didn't- hey, don't just walk off!' Link paused mid-step, glancing over his shoulder at her from where he had started walking away halfway through her sentence. He feigned innocence, grinning widely and not particularly pleasantly into the sour look she gave him in return. He didn't need her nudging him; he already knew what he needed to do, what was expected of him.

Goddesses, how had he ended up just wantonly obeying the orders or desires of everyone around him again? They said 'old habits die hard', but was it really a habit he just couldn't break? Was this what he got for trying to be a decent person?

What did it matter? He was still going to keep doing it.

Without another word, or thought, Link jumped into the river. He heard Midna's startled exclamation as he surfaced, the shock of cold water helping to clear his head, feeling the current grab hold of his legs. He suddenly felt very drained, yet somehow frustrated at the same time, and he couldn't bring himself to care about the waterfall ahead as he drifted along.

The impact wasn't nearly as bad as when he had jumped off the bridge, just a slight jolt, a sharp slap against limbs he hadn't tucked in quite enough.

'You really are insane, aren't you?' Midna was floating alongside him, matching the speed of the current as she curled her lip at him. 'Seriously? You just jump off any high drop now? Do you have any more idiotic tendencies I should know about?' The current was a little faster now, so Link kicked his legs, sculling the water with his arms, keeping his head above the surface. He tilted it back, watching the walls and ceiling of the tunnels drift by as he told Midna that he might have a few more. Never turning down a request from another person, for example, or just generally being reckless. She didn't seem surprised, just sighing, but then again she'd probably already picked up on his "idiotic" traits from her travels with him.

They didn't speak again until the current spat him out on the shores of Lake Hylia, which was now back to its original depth. In fact, he was dragged right to the third light spirit's door, the steps to which he bashed his shins against before he managed to catch himself. Midna snorted, so he shot her a glare that didn't dissuade her in the least.

'Now, do we really even need this spirit?' She asked, drifting up to the carved walls and running her fingers over the grooves. 'We know where the last Fused Shadow is, and we have things to do before we can reach that point, so why even bother?' Although he agreed, Link felt the need to point out that he was the one doing all the work. There was no we, because she had done next to nothing at all during this whole journey beyond making sarcastic comments.

'You mean aside from saving your life?' She returned, arching her eyebrows at him. Oh, for the love of Din was she going to hold that over him now? 'What's got your hackles up all of a sudden?' Pushing himself to his feet from where he'd been lounging on the steps he grimaced at the sensation of water-sodden boots, telling Midna that she hadn't been under any obligation to save him.

'So you're saying I shouldn't have?' She seemed like she was getting a lot of enjoyment from his agitation, so he clamped his mouth shut and didn't say another word, striding past her into the Spirit's Spring. She had told him not to, so he was definitely going to go in.

It wasn't even Midna he was annoyed at, well not particularly anyway. No, he had just realised that despite his struggles he was still just a pawn for the goddesses. Saving people, collecting an ancient power to defeat Ganondorf with, journeying with a companion who he, in spite of himself, felt he was becoming fond of. It was all so familiar, and because of that he hadn't noticed before, but it was just the same thing repeating. Again.

He had tried so hard to avoid it, but apparently it was impossible. He needed to get out while he could, before he had to go through any more. He just didn't know if he would even be able to. Did he… did he really even want to?

A sudden colossal splash distracted him, and he found himself stood on a narrow walkway over a pool of water, surrounded by bioluminescent trees that glowed with a soft, otherworldly light. Midna was nowhere to be seen. When he peered over the edge of the ledge he saw a great shining shape shifting beneath the water's surface, its light casting rippling patterns on the walls of the cave. Then it rose up with another splash, and this time Link felt water dampen his already sodden clothes as he got the briefest impression of a giant snakelike creature, a pair of burning eyes, an orb of light so bright it was blinding. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes and distinctly felt something in the air change.

'Hero chosen by the gods,' a voice whispered, or maybe roared, he somehow couldn't tell. 'The power you seek, you will find it in the temple beneath the lake. But it is a dark power, and before you continue you must bear witness to something. Something that you must never forget.'

And then Link was tipped headfirst into a nightmarish realm. It was the history of the Fused Shadows, narrated by the light spirit's lamenting song. It told of how people had battled for entry to the Sacred Realm, of how interlopers who excelled at magic created the whole Fused Shadow in an attempt to access said realm, of how the light spirits were tasked with sealing that power away. All the while granting him a series of hellish visions. It showed him the Fused Shadows, and he felt their pull, and then it spoke again, as he fell through a void filled with manic, shrieking laughter.

'O hero, beware,' it murmured, 'those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, become enslaved by it. Do not forget that.'

And then the spirit's spell broke. Sucking in a gasping breath Link found himself suddenly back at the spring, alone. For a moment he stared blankly at the far wall before his legs gave out, pitching him onto his knees. Taking another deep breath he sat back, closing his eyes briefly, trying to calm himself. His hands were shaking so he curled them into fists, biting back the sudden urge to scream.

He didn't need the lecture. He already knew. The lure of the Fused Shadows, he had felt it. Did they really think he was stupid enough to try and wield something like that? Sure, the allure of power was, well, alluring, but that had always been Ganondorf's shtick, not his. He didn't want power, he wanted peace. And anyway wasn't he courage? Wasn't that what the glowing gold symbol on the back of his hand meant? That he had the courage to do things with his own strength, not the borrowed power of some ancient evil?

No, he wanted nothing to do with those Fused Shadows.

But was that the point? Were they trying to warn him against giving them to Midna? Or had they been trying to show him what had happened to Zant? Why did they always have to be so cryptic about these things? What was he supposed to remember, exactly? The spirit hadn't told him anything he didn't already know.

'Link?' Glancing to his left he found Midna hovering beside him, her expression serious for once. She seemed almost concerned, so Link clambered to his feet, dusting himself down as he reassured her he was fine. Well, maybe he was reassuring them both. Lying to, more like. Midna frowned at him in reply, clearly not convinced, but amazingly didn't make a single snarky comment. It was unnerving, to tell the truth. Link didn't know what to do with her when he couldn't snap back a sarcastic remark.

With a few more assurances as to the nature of his wellbeing he made his way from the spring, not looking back once in case the spirit decided to show him something else unpleasant, give him a little more nightmare feed. It wasn't like he didn't have enough of that already or anything.

As it turned out, the business Fyer ran involved a giant cannon, which was apparently the easiest way to escape the steep walls that surrounded Lake Hylia. Link was both intrigued and horrified by the prospect – he'd really had enough of falling from high places at this point – but the former won out so that minutes later he was being flung directly towards a building high above the lake. It was actually quite fun, exhilarating for all its risk of horrible death, and one roll later found Link stood safely above the lake, thoroughly windswept. Apparently Midna had nothing to say to that. Maybe his stupidity had shocked her speechless.

Nevertheless he didn't hang about to wait for her to regain her senses, making his way back out onto the wide open plains of Hyrule Field, summoning Epona with a tune played on a reed. He'd have been quite happy to never return to Lake Hylia as they galloped away, but return was inevitable. When he paused to survey his map Link noticed that Hyrule City, and thus Prince Ralis, was to the north of Kakariko Village, and he paused to wonder. Was that what the spirit, Eldin, had been talking about?

Seriously, why were these spirits all so cryptic? Was it so difficult to just give a guy straightforward directions?

In the end it didn't take him long at all to track down the prince once he reached the city; everyone seemed to be talking about the Zora boy who had collapsed and been taken to "Telma's". Following the directions of a helpful city resident Link found that "Telma's" was a bar, unsurprisingly owned by a woman named Telma.

As it turned out, however, Ralis may not have been what Eldin had meant at all. Because as Link entered the bar cautiously, dodging an irate old man with a stooped back and glasses so thick you almost couldn't see his eyes through them, he found something – someone – else that he had been looking for. Sat beside a hastily constructed cot, hands clasped around one of an incredibly sickly-looking Zora boy's own, there she was. The final person he had been searching for.

Ilia.