Author's Note: See? I promised it wouldn't take me a month to update this time (even if my spare time is still hopelessly consumed with playing Breath of the Wild.)

Anyway, not much to say but thank you to everyone who read, reviews and support's this story! You rock! And Enjoy Chapter 20!

Chapter 20: Crystal Visions

Planet Aether. It was a gray world, bleaker looking than any planet they had been to before. From the moment the ship touched down on it surface, Zelda could tell something very wrong had happened here recently. Exiting the ship and seeing it up close didn't improve matters at all.

Zelda followed behind Samus, who had donned her power suit once more. The hunter had said there were no monsters to worry about now, but she had other reasons for wearing it. Apparently, the Luminoth were like many of her acquaintances and had never seen her outside of her armor either. It made sense, but something about the way she constantly had to hide her identity made Zelda a little uneasy in a way she had not felt before.

Then again, it might have just been seeing her there, in the fully powered armor on this desolate planet and realizing it was the one place where the hunter didn't stick out like a sore thumb. She looked almost like she belonged on this world amongst its gray and rust brown structures that had a motif that made them look both ancient and futuristic at the same time. Nothing looked manmade. It was so… alien. And for the first time it hit her just how alien Samus was as she followed along listening to the metallic thud of the hunter's boots on the ground that appeared to be made of the same material as the surrounding buildings.

"That's the Great Temple," Samus said in her suit's synthetic voice as she pointed to some kind of structure up ahead. Zelda could only guess it was a building, and she would not have thought it was a temple.

The princess didn't say anything as she followed the bounty hunter into the entryway of the temple. It didn't resemble the temples back in Hyrule that were built for the beloved goddesses. There were no stones walls or ornate altars, only more of that gray almost-metallic material. The only things ornamental were the rust-colored geometric circles that seemed embossed onto the floors and the beams of unpleasantly hard light coming in through the openings in the ceiling. If temples in Hyrule had a soft and almost comforting feeling, then this one was the exact opposite.

However, even the austere architecture of this world could not have prepared her for what she saw standing in the middle of the temple. Massive creatures. Three of them. Beings she had never seen in her life. They appeared to be more insect than man, though they stood nearly three times Samus's height. The fuzzy anthropomorphic moth men were shades of gray and tan that looked tailor- made for this planet, save for the few pinkish-red markings toward the centers of their bodies.

Zelda wasn't sure how the moth men could see out of their blind-looking pink eyes, but ear-like feathers at the tops of their head moved about like sensors. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up at the sight of the otherworldly beings, but Samus strode forward with more confidence than Zelda had seen the hunter display in human settings, and much to her surprise, the moth beings fell into deep bows, each with a hand covering where she presumed a heart would be.

"Welcome, Savior," came a voice Zelda could only assume was coming from the center moth, probably the leader. "We hope you have returned to our world well and still bathed in the Light of Aether."

When he finished speaking, Samus simply bowed her head in greeting before looking back up at the alien. "I wish I were here under better circumstances. While I'm grateful to be reunited with the Luminoth, I'm afraid I'm actually not well at all. But first things first."

She gestured to Zelda, who had been standing slightly behind Samus, not realizing how small she had been trying to make herself while the Luminoth spoke. Zelda stepped forward, feeling her heart race at the sight of the massive aliens. She had not expected these beings called "Luminoth" to be human, but she had not expected them to be quite so different either. With the exception of the creepy toads, most creatures they had encountered in their journeys had looked human or like some kind of recognizable animal.

"This is Princess Zelda of Hyrule," Samus continued. "She and I have been on a mission. The Space Pirates, who I know you're familiar with, have gotten it into their vapor-brained heads to go after these artifacts called the Seven Wonders. Zelda and I, with the help of an electrical rodent called Pikachu, have been trying to hunt down these treasures before Ridley and the rest of them can."

The head Luminoth just nodded silently as he listened to Samus's story.

"Unfortunately, we recently met with some bad luck, and now at least one of these seven artifacts is in the hands of Ridley and this dark wizard guy called Ganondorf who had been in some temple living under a sword for the past seventeen years."

The Luminoth's feather ears twitched. "You mean like in a form of stasis? As the rest of my brethren were during the end of the decades long war with the Ing?"

Samus shook her head. "That was a voluntary stasis for their protection. Ganondorf was sealed away by Zelda and this guy named Link. Apparently the three of them together have triangles inside of them and when you put them together it makes some kind of bigger triangle with more magic."

"Triangle magic? Fascinating." The Luminoth seemed genuinely interested as he continued in his surreal voice that sounded almost like singing. "So Princess Zelda, the man called Link, and the wizard Ganondorf are the vessels of the Triforce?"

Zelda's eyes widened at the Luminoth's mention of the Triforce. There was no way he could know about that, but somehow he did. This had been the last place she had been expecting anyone to know anything about the Triforce or the Wonders, but she found herself getting hopeful they may have accidently stumbled into some sort of lead.

"How do you know about the Triforce?" Zelda demanded, a bit more abruptly than she meant to. She resisted the urge to take a step back as the moth's blind-looking pink eyes turned to her.

"I apologize for my lack of manners," he said as he addressed the princess. "I am U-Mos, Sentinel of the Luminoth."

"They're a very old species," Samus added. "They knew the Chozo and the two groups swapped information and technology from time to time."

"That is correct," U-Mos continued. "The Chozo knew of the Triforce and understood the Seven Wonders quite well. They were the ones who scattered them across the galaxy, after all."

Zelda felt her jaw drop as she stared at the Luminoth Sentinel, and she knew Samus's must have done the same.

"Why do you seem so surprised, Savior?" U-Mos said as he turned to Samus, whose expression was completely hidden by her helmet. "You must have realized how like them it was to take powerful ancient artifacts and hide them throughout the galaxy. That's basically what the Chozo did with everything."

Samus remained frozen and as blank as a robot, and Zelda could only guess she was trying to think of how to respond."

"Why would they do that?" the bounty hunter asked after a minute. "And why not tell me or leave some kind of map?"

U-Mos blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry. I assumed they did tell you and that was why you were on this mission."

Samus shook her head. "No… I just found out because I was hunting the Space Pirates…"

"So then… you really don't know?" U-Mos just stared down at her. "Never mind that for now. More urgent things come first. You said you are not well."

Raising her hand up, Samus pulled off her helmet and the suit dissolved around her in a flash of light. The hunter stood before the Luminoth in nothing but the royal blue workout tank and shorts and their matching boots. She looked exhausted, and it was easy to see dark vein-like lines running up her back and abdomen beyond the heavy bandaging of her midriff.

"It appears I've been infected by some kind of darkness," she said. "I was hoping… perhaps, the Light of Aether might be able to rid me of it or help me fend it off just long enough to finish this mission."

The great moth looked her over curiously, and Zelda realized he had definitely never seen her under her power suit before. As he crouched down beside the hunter, Samus looked so tiny in comparison. From the way he had addressed her as their Savior, Zelda wondered how he felt seeing her looking so soft and vulnerable without the armor, particularly injured as she was.

He raised a feathery digit and gently touched the hunter's shoulder. She didn't flinch, but Zelda could tell her posture was even more stiff than usual as the Luminoth inspected her.

"This is quite serious," U-Mos said as he took a step back and turned to his brethren. He said something in their language that sounded like he was giving them commands, and the other two Luminoth bowed to him before turning to Samus. "Savior, you should go with R-Tyu and Q-Wer. Our anatomies may be different, but they can still take you to our healers and so we may assess what we need to do."

Samus just nodded and turned to Zelda. "I'll be back, okay?"

"I'm coming with you," Zelda replied. "I'm not letting you go through this alone."

"Actually," U-Mos said, looking at the princess, "I would like to speak to you, Bearer of the Triforce. Our Savior will be safe in the hands of our healers, but you and I have much to discuss regarding the Wonders."

"I'm not leaving, Samus," Zelda insisted. The thought of being alone with the giant bug-being made her hair stand on end, but the thought of leaving Samus was even worse, especially seeing how far the darkness had progressed in such a short period of time.

"It's okay," Samus said, suddenly holding up a hand and stopping the princess from trying to follow her. "You stay here with U-Mos. Get information. We still have to complete this mission. Protecting Hyrule and the rest of the planets is still our first priority, and I need you here taking care of that because I won't be able to do anything while I'm undergoing treatment."

Zelda wanted to ask what kind of treatment Samus thought they were going to give her, but she realized she wasn't sure she wanted to know or if she would even understand if Samus explained it. But she knew the hunter was right; one of them had to keep working on this mission, and this was every bit as much her mission as it was Samus's. Perhaps even more so considering the duty she owed to Hyrule.

"All right," the princess replied after a minute, but she strode up to Samus and put a hand over the bounty hunter's heart as she stood up on her tiptoes and gave her a deep kiss. "I'll be waiting, and I'll take care of this. You worry about getting well."

Samus smiled and ran a hand through Zelda's hair before gently kissing her on the forehead. "I'll be all right."

As the two Luminoth and the bounty hunter walked off, Zelda felt an indescribable sense of dread settling into her stomach. Dozens of thoughts raced through her mind, but above all, she found herself terrified that she was never going to see Samus again. As soon as the others were out of earshot and it was just her and the Luminoth Sentinel, Zelda took a step toward him and stared up at his feathery face.

"They can't do anything to help her, can they?" she asked, already knowing what the answer would be. "Maybe they'll give her something to help with the pain, but your healers can't fix dark magic, especially not once it's spread that far."

U-Mos just looked at her. He made a strange sound that almost seemed like the moth-person equivalent of a sigh. "I didn't know our Savior had chosen a mate, but there must be something truly unique about you for her to abandon the biological necessity of a male for species propagation."

Zelda almost opened her mouth to explain to him that wasn't how Samus's orientation worked, but she decided against it. For all she knew, the Luminoth might not have had multiple sexes at all or may have had more than two, and whatever the case was, they probably laid eggs anyway.

"You didn't answer my question," she said instead. "They can't save Samus."

"You state that as a declaration, not a question. Either way, you are correct. The healers can make sure she's comfortable and that she has proper care as the condition progresses. And of course, someone to grant her mercy once it reaches that point."

A chill ran up Zelda's spine, and she felt her whole body go limp. She thought she might fall over, but she stayed standing, watching the Luminoth. "So we came here for nothing? Your light of Aether can't do anything to fight the darkness growing inside of her? Inside the woman you refer to as your Savior? You're just going to let her get sicker and then put her down like a farm animal when there's nothing left to do?"

The Luminoth tilted his head. "I said we couldn't save her, not that she couldn't be saved. Are you not a Bearer of the Triforce?"

Zelda stepped closer to the Luminoth as she glared up at him and felt rage suddenly coursing through her body. "Don't you think I've tried everything? I've dealt with Ganon's dark energy before! I've dealt with his Malice! I know how to heal people! But for whatever reason, Samus can't be healed! I don't know why her body reacts like it does, but I just can't heal her!"

"Then perhaps it wasn't the dark energy of this 'Ganon' that infected her."

Rarely one to lose her temper, Zelda clenched her fists as she felt her own magic radiating from them, trying to restrain herself from casting Din's fire right into the moth's face. "Dammit, you stupid bug! I sawhim cast the dark magic that hit Samus! It was supposed to hit me but she jumped in front of it like an idiot and protected me!"

U-Mos's ear feathers twitched, but his face was otherwise as blank as it had been this whole time. "I have no doubt you saw him cast the magic. But was it his own magic? You said you've healed people before and you're familiar with his energy. But you think the problem is the Savior's body being unresponsive to your attempts. I very much doubt that's the issue. Tell me, Bearer of the Triforce, which of the Seven Wonders have you collected?"

Zelda bit her tongue to hold back from spitting venom at him for trying to change the subject. "Why do you want to know?"

"It's a simple question that can't hurt the situation. It may even illuminate some things. Which of the Wonders are accounted for?"

She sighed. She obviously wasn't getting anywhere with him in regard to Samus. She doubted anyone from this planet would even know how Hylian magic worked. "We have the Wonders of Light, Forest, and Water. And of course, my Triforce. Ganon and Ridley got the Wonder of Fire. That was the battle where they defeated Samus and she sustained the wounds she has now."

U-Mos nodded. "So then the Wonders of Shadow and Spirit are unaccounted for?"

"Correct. Although with as long as we've been down, it's possible Ganon and Ridley got to them already."

Again the moth nodded. "May I suggest an alternative scenario?"

"Why ask? You're going to do it regardless of what I say."

"Perhaps Ridley and Ganon did not obtain the other Wonders afterour Savior was struck down in battle. Perhaps the reason you cannot heal our Savior is that it is not Ganon's magic alone. If they had previously acquired the Wonder of Shadow, they could have used its power to enhance their own."

Zelda blinked a couple of times as she stared up at the Luminoth. The rage that had built up in her was quickly giving way to confusion. "They can do that?"

It was U-Mos's turn to stare in confusion. "You have four of the Wonders and didn't know of their powers?"

Zelda slowly shook her head. "I guess I… just assumed you had to combine all seven of them and then… something would happen?"

The sighing sound came once more from the moth. "You really haven't encountered anyone who understands these things? It's no wonder our Savior was defeated in battle. Neither of you thought to utilize any of the powers at your disposal. Neither of you knew what they were. And if I know our Savior… she probably didn't let you lift a finger in battle."

"We've had the Wonders all this time," Zelda said. "The only thing we've seen them do is show us a hologram… but you know about the Wonders. And when I listed to you the ones we had, you knew which ones were missing. And that would mean we were right and the Triforce is one of the Wonders."

U-Mos nodded. "The most important of the Wonders. Only those who bear the Triforce can activate the powers of the other six. If my theory is correct, Ganon used the Wonder of Shadow to enhance his own strength and presumably Ridley's as well. But you did nothing to enhance the Savior's or your own power."

Zelda's first response was to get defensive because it sounded like the alien was blaming her for Samus getting hurt, but she wasn't sure that was his intention. From what she could tell just by having been around Samus as long as she had, species in this part of the galaxy were not necessarily in tuned to things of that nature and tended to be much more likely to lay out the facts in a detached manner.

"I didn't use any of the Wonders," Zelda replied. "I just didn't know I could…"

U-Mos nodded. "And now you do know. And you know why your powers alone were inadequate for healing Samus. So you know what you must do."

Zelda was silent for a while, but then she nodded once she thought it over. "I need to get back to the ship."

"By all means." U-Mos gestured toward the entrance through which she had entered the temple. "We both want to see the Savior recover. I'm only glad I was able to be of help in providing you with the information you needed."

"Thank you, U-Mos," Zelda said before turning and hurrying out of the temple. She knew there wasn't any reason to run, but she couldn't help herself as she raced back toward the ship. She knew what she had to do. There was hope. And there was a chance she could heal Samus.

Ignoring the crumbling and desolate landscape of the eerie planet, Zelda made it back to the ship more quickly than she had realized was possible on foot, and once she got there, she summoned Farore's Wind and entered the ship.

Pikachu jumped about five feet off of the couch and into the air as she suddenly appeared in a burst of wind and green light. Without wasting any time, the princess ran over to their containment tank and snatched the yellow Wonder of Light before the very confused Pokémon even knew what was happening. And then she was gone with another burst of green light and lingering whirlwind.

Wonder of Light in tow, Zelda pressed it tight against her chest as she ran back to the temple. She didn't even take the time to acknowledge U-Mos as she ran past him and down the corridor through which she had seen Samus and the other Luminoth exit.

It didn't take her long to find the makeshift infirmary, a tiny room as dingy and dull as the rest of the planet. The were a couple of Luminoth standing around who she presumed were the healers, and there were a couple more in strange devices that looked almost like cocoons. But Zelda ignored them. There was a crude bed against the far wall, and she ran toward it, feeling her powers pulsating in the palms of her hands.

She could see Samus laying on the bed as a couple of the Luminoth stood over her. There were wires attached to some kind of sensors on the bounty hunter's body, and they had removed the bandages, presumably to get a look at the black wounds. Samus herself was neither fully asleep nor fully awake as she stared up at Zelda with languid disinterest. However, the princess felt relief wash over her when she realized that whatever they had given Samus must have eased whatever pain she was in. She actually had a peaceful look on her face and looked like she was truly getting some rest.

Zelda sat down beside her on the bed and removed her gloves, running her bare hand over Samus's forehead and down the side of her face. Her skin was hot. That couldn't have been a good sign. Suppressing her panic, Zelda tried to focus.

She held the Wonder of Light with both hands and closed her eyes, focusing her energy on looking "inside" of the Wonder with her mind's eye. At first it registered to her as nothing more than the mere glass ball it had felt like since she first saw it, but as she dove deeper, she began to feel its energy pulsating deep in its core, something she had never felt before.

If Ganon can make this work,she thought to herself as she took a deep breath,then so can I. I will make it work, and I will save Samus.

It was like an eruption of magical energy all of a sudden as she felt the very core of the sphere. She could feel it pouring out of the orb and rushing into her as every part of her body suddenly became electrified, the greatest concentration of power centering in her bare hands. It was a rush unlike any she had felt before.

As she opened her eyes, everything suddenly became clear to her, and somehow she could still see the energies with a vision that was normally restricted to her mind's eye. She saw Samus. She could see the life energy inside of Samus, and she could see it succumbing to the dark infection that had spread over far more of her body than the visible signs had suggested.

Without hesitation, Zelda reached down and effortlessly pulled the limp bounty hunter into her arms. Samus was clearly awake on some level but was far too drowsy to respond as Zelda wrapped her arms around her and firmly pressed her palms into the black craters on the hunter's back.

Without warning, the power began to flow from her naturally, and she could see it filling Samus's body and overwhelming the darkness. It was unlike any attempt she had made at healing her before. It took no energy at all, and barely five minutes had passed before Light energy overthrew the Shadow and the Malice completely. As Zelda moved her palms off of where the wounds had once been, she could no long see any trace of dark energy within Samus's body. And as the vision of the energies faded from her sight, she saw Samus's physical body no longer bore any signs that she had been injured at all. Even the swelling from her injured arm seemed healed by the princess's magic combined with the raw power of the Wonder.

Slowly, Zelda pulled back to look at Samus, and while it still seemed like the hunter's mind was a little foggy, she was looking back at Zelda fully aware of what had just happened. Samus was breathing heavily as Zelda reached up and wiped some sweat and matted blonde hair from the hunter's face.

Samus looked like she wanted to say something, but whatever the Luminoth had given her to help with her pain must have been very powerful because she ended up not saying anything and instead falling limp onto Zelda, her face landing on the princess's chest. Zelda was still for a moment, holding Samus close and taking some time to rest her cheek on the hunter's head as she closed her eyes and calmed her own breathing.

Samus was alive. Samus was alive, and she had healed her. Even if she was exhausted and needed to rest until the medication wore off, Samus was safe, and Ganon wouldn't be taking her from Zelda anytime soon.

Gently, the princess placed a kiss on top of the hunter's head before laying her back down in the bed. She tucked her in as best she could, realizing that Samus had actually fallen asleep somewhere between collapsing on Zelda and the princess laying her back down. That was good. She needed the rest.

Zelda, on the other hand, didn't. She could still feel the energy surge she had gotten from activating the power of the Wonder of Light, and she could see everything much more clearly now that her worries about Samus weren't clogging up her mind.

U-Mos knew about the Wonders, and he would be a valuable resource. But more importantly, she now possessed three Wonders in addition to her piece of the Triforce, and she was determined to learn how to use them all to bring down Ganondorf once and for all.