Hi! I'm back from the dead! To all old readers, I offer you this sacrifice, and to the new, welcome! As always, reviewing is something I'd love you for (even if it's just yelling at me for being late). Props to therichardater for following... that's been a long time coming, hasn't it?

Why are second and second the same word? I can't use them both without things sounding weird, dammit.

So I wrote half of this a month ago, and the whole thing turned around pretty suddenly, right? I didn't really see it coming either until today. Well, I just skipped the thing that gave me a problem, after all.

Zelda and her minions are not my intellectual property. Just sayin'.

There was a narrow passageway at the bottom of the well. Streams of rainwater trickled down the sloping path ahead, leading on into the darkness. The little light available from above did little to illuminate the situation, and Link's glow only reflected dull rocks on all sides. The walls slowly closed in on Navi as she progressed down the tunnel, careful not to slip. She had one hand on the wall, the other on the Kokiri Sword, but eventually had to sheath it again.

After a few minutes of increasingly cramped space, the passage opened up. The child stood up, brushing off her knees as she did so, and started looking around. Bones lay heaped up on the floor, all old and brittle; they crunched underfoot like a layer of snow. Against the far brick wall leant a full skeleton. Whatever clothes it once wore, there were only a few scraps lying about here and there. Half-made whispers echoed from around the body.

Navi reached for her blade. Link had fought Stalfos in the Forest Temple, and it didn't look like this one had a weapon. The Hylian warrior took a deep breath, her eyes focused on her foe. It didn't move.

A huge skull appeared an inch away from the girl's face. She stumbled backwards, swinging her sword at it, but it just swung from side to side, not in the least bit fazed.

"Get away, get away, get away!" she shrieked in time with her slashes. Link darted up to her face.

"Navi, calm down! It's a Skulltula! You won't be able to attack it from the front," the fairy warned. "I said, stop slashing it! It won't let it's guard down otherwise!"

Reluctantly, Navi stopped her assault. After a few moments, the spider-like monster pivoted on its string, in time for a vertical slash all the way down its body. It twitched twice, then stopped moving entirely. Navi carefully poked it with her sword to move it to the side as she walked past. The skeleton still hadn't moved, so it was probably safe to examine. It was still whispering, some final memento of its death.

"Hey, what's it saying?" the Hero of Time asked his companion. "You can understand Old Hylian, can't you?"

She listened for a little longer. "He's telling us about some kind of eye... the Eye of Truth, maybe? Miru... look? Yes, that seems to be it. 'Look for the Eye of Truth'. That's what we were here for anyway," Navi said. "He's only repeating the same words. There's nothing to be learnt from this guy."

"Okay, but how do we move on?" Link asked. "We're at a dead end. Maybe you can bomb the wall?"

The Hylian rummaged about for her bomb bag. It was full, thanks to the supply run she'd done in the future, so it was only a matter of pulling one of the explosives out and lighting it. Two flints had been tied to the bag for convenience.

The wall shimmered slightly from the explosion. It seemed totally unaffected by the blast: no cracks appeared, no holes punched through, no chips flew in random directions.

Through the phantom wall the air was slightly humid. Large faces carved into the walls spilled water into wide channels all around the area. The waterways snaked around each other, crossing occasionally. They all seemed to be draining further down the hall, but Navi stopped following the current when she caught up to Link. He bobbed a little as he stared at some kind of relief. In large letters spelled 'DANGER' in Old Hylian, with some more writing underneath, much smaller. It was worn away in patches.

"It's a warning, Link." Navi stated. "I can't read most of it from here, though."

The fairy grinned. "You'll have to teach me how to read this sometime. It's written everywhere."

He moved aside as Navi prepared to jump across; after all, she didn't want to wet her boots any more than was necessary. The Water Temple had been more than enough of that. She hopped over. The cobbled floor met her feet, then shimmered as they passed it. The girl let out a slight cry before her momentum brought her into close contact with the wall ahead. Her shield clashed horribly against the rock, knocking her top half back. A second passed in spinning free fall. Navi crashed to the floor a moment after that.

Link had, of course, chased after her. Unable to do much else, he noted with some relief she'd not hurt herself too badly. A pile of bones had cushioned her fall slightly. There'd definitely be bruising, and that was the side his shadow had cut her, but nothing looked broken or too out of place.

Navi hissed as she stood, levering herself up with her sword. Her other hand was holding her side, as if stoppering up any blood or pain. She swayed slightly, and leant against the wall as she took out a red potion. Link watched from a jagged bone, a few feet away, but said nothing.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the Hylian waiting for her breathing to slow and wounds to patch up, if only slightly, and the fairy keeping an eye on her. The cavern they had landed in was a far cry from the meticulously-built system above: rough stone and moss formed uneven walls, and even a few budding bomb flowers were seeping through cracks. Grey bones of all types littered the floor, shattered in most cases. Few were collected into full skeletons; most were strewn randomly like leaves under a tree.