Thankies to Fiery Diamond for all the reviews!

And yes, what I called the Helmarocs are actually Kargarocs. To those who read chapter twenty before I fixed that and thought, "This person needs to get their facts straight; they're Kargarocs, not Helmarocs!" I am now aware of that. But the principle is still the same: Helmaroc King is the leader of the Kargarocs. It's Nintendo's problem that the Helmaroc King and the Kargarocs are named two different names but they're obviously of the same species…granted, one of them is bigger. A lot bigger. But still the same species.

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It was amazing, Link thought, how long Reoh-Link could continue to spin these lies--some pretty believable blather about a witch who cast a curse on them that Link knew Reoh-Link was making up on the fly--just to keep Tetra and Kid-Link occupied. Good thing, too, because Midna was taking longer to cooperate than he'd like. But this was risky; after all, Reoh-Link didn't know that he was helping Link at the moment. "I know you can," he insisted.

"Why should I?" Midna smirked, leaning back in the air. Link dug through the magic pouches that she had conjured from Twilight, and finally closed his fingers around something he had barely touched in seven years: the Kokiri sword. He hated to part with it, but it would be easier for Link to use this than to fight the Bokoblin with hand-to-hand combat. If the kid even knew hand-to-hand combat.

"To rescue his sister. This is necessary."

"So I'll just be doing this out of the goodness of my heart, eh?" Midna giggled as she flipped somersaults. "Like hell I will."

"Listen!" Navi cried. "This is the kid's sister! Put yourself in his shoes! He doesn't want to kill any monsters, but he wants to rescue his sister. He's stuck. We need you to do this."

"Get Princess to kill it. Not my business."

"The kid is destined to fight many battles, and if he is not capable of spilling a little blood, then we will not get anywhere." Link tugged at his mask; it was getting too hot for his taste. "The world may be depending on this refusal of yours."

The lone red eye stared dryly at him, silently saying, "Does this face look like it gives a damn?"

"Have you never had a sister or something? Or a brother?" Navi demanded. "We have to help him through this! Do you not get how much siblings can mean to each other?"

Midna blinked, then looked away. It was almost like she was… Link didn't really know how to describe it. Regretful, maybe? After a pause, she spat, "You've got one hour. No more. I wouldn't be able to hold the spell longer than that, anyway."

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"We should go through this door," Emit-Link said bluntly, looking rather irritated. Link eyed him carefully. Something about him just didn't really seem the same, something about his attitude… Link couldn't really place it.

"I guess. We don't really know where we're going to begin with." Tetra turned the knob and opened the door, and it opened with only a slight creak. Inside, there was a wooden platform, with a swinging rope lantern in between a platform on the other side of the room and the one they stood on. To the right, there was a second door. "Oh geez. That'll take some leaping skills if we want to get across--"

"It's a treasure chest!" Kid-Link squealed, taking a running leap at the rope with the lantern to swing across the gap. Tetra twitched, realizing that there really was a treasure chest on the other side of the gap. "Treasure!"

"H-Hey! I call whatever's in there!" Tetra yelled, taking the jump too. "Treasure's mine, Link! Back off!" Link and Emit-Link merely stood there, watching with mildly interested expressions.

But Kid-Link had already opened the chest, bending down to pick up whatever was inside and nearly falling into the chest in the process, seeing as the lip came up to his waist. "Treasure! It's so cool!"

"…It's a piece of paper," Tetra said in a rather disappointed tone. "And it's not even a Treasure Chart…"

"Dungeon Map," Link muttered in a bored tone. Then he did a double-take. Dungeon Map?! This was a dungeon?!

So the Goddesses really did intend for Kid-Link to become the next Hero… As if Link needed more confirmation.

…But so far, this place was a rather pathetic dungeon, in Link's opinion.

"It's got a lot of squiggly lines on it. It looks like a map, but it's not a Sea Chart. What does it do?" Kid-Link asked, examining the map with squinted eyes.

"It's obviously a map of Forsaken Fortress," Tetra explained, swiping the map and holding it at arm's length, trying to figure it out too. That would have been a lot easier, Link noted, if they'd been holding it the right way up. "I can do this. I read Sea Charts all the time."

Link had seen those Sea Charts of hers, and they were nothing like Dungeon Maps. "Get back over here, and I'll show you how to use it," Link offered.

"No! I'll figure it out myself!" both kids insisted at the same time, peering at it with determined expressions. Link sighed. They might be here a long time… Better nip it at the bud. "Really, we'll be able to move through this a lot faster if you'd just give it to me. Faster we figure out the map, the faster we rescue the kid's sister and get out. Which means less chance of dying somewhere along the way." Okay, maybe Link was exaggerating when he said they had a chance of dying, but what had to be done had to be done.

Tetra held it in her teeth as she swung over with practiced ease, then swung it back over for Kid-Link to grab. She glared at the stubborn Dungeon Map, then Link, then back to the map as Kid-Link joined them with a slight stumble as he landed. Finally, she held it out in defeat, eyes narrowed begrudgingly. "I suppose I'm not getting anywhere with it—"

"I'll figure it out!" Kid-Link swiped it just as Tetra was handing it to Link. "I can do it!" Without even looking at the map, he pointed determinedly at the second door by the pots and declared, "We go that way!"

"Dandy. Let's go, troops." Emit-Link wrenched the door open and held it there for the rest. Beyond the doorway, there was an empty corridor similar to the one they'd just left.

"Shouldn't we check the map?" Link asked.

"No. Now go."

From what Link had seen from Emit-Link's memories, once Emit-Link got his hands on a Dungeon Map, he wouldn't go through a single door without checking where he was. This wasn't just a little oddity, and there was nothing to cause it, either. Kid-Link sprinted headlong through the door, and Tetra followed at a jog, but Link paused in the doorway and said, "Are you going to tell me what's going on here?"

"No. Now go." Emit-Link paused, then his eyes above the mask smiled with more than just a wicked tinge to it. "It'll get explained eventually. And unfortunately, whether you like it or not, the kid will have to grow up. You can't stop it. You're fighting a battle that's been already lost."

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." Link rolled his eyes, then walked through the door into the next corridor…and stopped dead in his tracks.

"See what I mean?" Emit-Link's voice whispered from behind. And now that Link was listening for it, he could definitely hear the telltale lilting of the pitch, mockingly hinting at a private joke at your expense… It gave him the creeps to hear Emit-Link's deep vocals talking like that. Ughh…

Link didn't turn around, and stared at Kid-Link's back, which was stiff from surprise. Link was sure his own was just as tense, but he smirked anyway, just to taunt back. "I thought you were ignoring me."

"Don't make me slap you again. I am ignoring you."

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Link stared at Ishek with wide, wary eyes, and Ishek stared right back with a much calmer expression. Ishek stood in the middle of the corridor, barring the way just like last time, but this time with no sword and his hands behind his back, almost like a soldier.

The last time they had met, it had not been a pleasant experience for Link, and he had no wish to repeat the experience. But now…he didn't have a sword anyway! And neither did Ishek! He didn't have to fight! He barely restrained a grin. The only question was: what was Ishek doing here?

"We meet again." Ishek's blue skin looked even darker in the dim torchlight, and his eyes almost lamp-like. "You are walking the correct path. To reach the entrance to the tower your sister waits in—"

"Hold it, Blue Mystery-Man!" Tetra interrupted, shouldering Link to the side and stalking up to Ishek, who didn't move or even so much as blink. "Or is it Blue Fish-Man? Or should I have said, what are you, instead? Either way, who are you?" Tetra crossed her arms and scanned Ishek from head to foot. "Are you trying to imitate Link or something with the whole tunic and hat thing? You got the colors wrong."

Ishek stared emotionlessly at Tetra, then turned back to Link. "To reach the entrance to the tower your sister waits in, you must remain on the second level. The first level won't get you anywhere. I give this information only because it is preferred you settle this trivial matter quickly, and move onto the more urgent matters. Do not rely on my help in the future."

Tetra's face twisted up in rage, and it looked like she was ready to murder Ishek for ignoring her, but Link cut in with, "What urgent matters?" Link's face was completely serious, with not a trace of humor on it. It felt weird, because most of the time he'd been energetic and smiling for the past month.

Ishek didn't answer for a moment, his deep blue eyes locked onto Link's, completely unwavering in it's gaze. "I cannot say. These urgent matters will reveal themselves to you in due time."

"Cannot say, or will not say?" Link asked suspiciously.

"…Cannot. I admit that I do not know these matters myself, only that they will become clear with time."

"Oi, Ishek." Link whipped around to see Reoh glaring at a nearby torch, as if he had a personal vendetta against it. And just as Link did, something clicked. Emit, Reoh, and Ishek all looked similar, but Ishek having blue skin and all that. Really, the only way Link was telling Emit and Reoh apart was the slight height difference and the different clothes they wore. "The kid doesn't have to do anything if he doesn't want to. If he wants, he can grab his sister, turn, and hightail outta here."

"He cannot. It was not my decision to choose him, either. He has no say in the matter."

"So what? You're just going to resign yourself to the pre-set script?" Reoh almost, almost looked Ishek in the eye, but his gaze seemed to glance off and land somewhere on the floor instead. Was Reoh scared of Ishek? Behind Reoh, Emit snorted and shook his head. "If you don't have a chance, it doesn't mean you can just give up."

"…I would agree with that statement if I had any idea what in the name of Nayru you were all talking about," Tetra interjected. "Explanation. Now."

"In due time," Ishek assured.

"And how come you guys know each other?" Link demanded, whipping back and forth between Reoh and Ishek.

Reoh shook his head. "Try that again when we're not on an expedition to save your sister."

"I'll remember that," Link muttered.

"You should hurry," Ishek said quietly. "Some things in this fortress are not right."

"Like what?" Tetra snapped, still angry.

"The entire place is run by monsters. The leader of this fortress, supposedly, it a huge bird. Is it really possible for the fortress to be this organized? For such tight security to be set up? Do you really think that mere Bokoblins and Moblins could set up three searchlight stations under the instruction of a bird who shouldn't even have control over them?" Ishek paused. "Not to mention that this fortress is in the northwestern corner of the map… Reoh, you should understand what is also in the northwestern corner."

"Snowpeak?" Reoh said sarcastically.

"…That's not incorrect, but not the answer I was looking for." Ishek pointed to Link's left. "There's a Bokoblin running the searchlight up the ladder."

"Bokoblin? What's that?" Link scoured his memory for any mention of a "Bokoblin," in Sturgeon's books, but to no avail.

"I suggest you see for yourself." Ishek backed away slightly, using the same hand to wave Link through the arch on the left. Link kept a careful eye on Ishek as he went through, then grabbed the rungs and hauled himself up. The wood creaked ominously, threatening to break under his weight, but he made it to the top rather quickly anyway. He poked his head up…and ducked his head back down. So that was a Bokoblin. He merely hadn't been able to connect the name to the creature in the forest. He let go of the rungs, and landed with a grunt.

Link said immediately, "I don't have a sword. Sorry, Mr. Ishek. I can't fight it."

"'Course you can," Tetra scoffed. "You fought the ones in the forest, right? Yeah, you had a sword, but I've got a cutlass and a knife. We can fight it together!"

"What he means," Ishek corrected softly, "is that he can't kill it. Or rather, he won't kill it."

"Yeah, I won't!" Link replied angrily, gazing out to the dark sea instead of facing Ishek. "I'll just knock it out like last time!" He listened hard for the faint lapping of the waves against the fortress walls for a moment before Ishek spoke again.

"Bokoblins will not stay unconscious for longer than ten minutes. I doubt you can get to the tower and back within ten minutes. Moreover, I can guarantee that this will not be the last time you will see Bokoblins, and I can guarantee that you will eventually be required to kill it."

"I won't kill it!" Link repeated.

"So he won't." Reoh set a supportive hand on Link's shoulder. "We'll find some other way to get rid of it. Maybe we'll tie it up, so it can't run the searchlight."

Ishek blinked with a trace of dry amusement. "Are you going to tie up every single Bokoblin Link encounters from now on?"

"If that's what it takes."

"Ever been in a room that won't let you out until all the enemies in said room are dead?"

Reoh's hand tightened abruptly. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Seeing that as of now, Link has his sister's safety as motivation, so there couldn't be a better time to overcome this obstacle. It would be easier to cross the bridge if there were some sort of other…driving force."

The nails bit into Link's shoulder, then relaxed and slipped away. Link twisted around, and it seemed from Reoh's face that Reoh couldn't come up with a counter to that, and wasn't too happy about it, either.

Ishek brought a small sword Link's size from behind his back. Ishek warned with a steely edge in his foggy voice, "Break it, damage it, dent, chip, or so much as scratch it, and…I have no idea what I'll do. Treat it with care." When Ishek wasn't being his usual distant self and he was even slightly irritated, Ishek absolutely terrified Link…but Link still wasn't going down without a fight, even if it was against a very, very, very scary fish-man.

"I'm not going to kill it!" Link crossed his arms, refusing to take the offered sword. "I'll tie it up like Reoh said! So there!"

Ishek planted himself in the middle of the corridor. "So then. Kill it, or I don't move. I don't move, and you never rescue your sister. The only way you'll get past me now is if you kill me, too."

Link shot back, "You can't make me kill it! I'll stay here forever until you move!"

"I can make you."

Link snorted. "How?"

"Let me put it in simple terms. Since I'm not moving, it becomes either the Bokoblin or your sister."

While Link looked away, struck by the truth of the statement, Tetra huffed, "Goddesses, I'll just do it! You're such a wuss, Link." She drew her cutlass and marched towards the ladder. Link glanced at her, then snatched the sword from Ishek's hand and followed her up the ladder, meeting her at the top. Tetra glared angrily at the Bokoblin, who was oblivious to their existence, and continued to spin the wheel, thus running the searchlight. "I'll just kill it myself." Link just stood there, torn and unable to come to a decision. Reoh came up as well, slouching against a wall a little ways off, appearing to resolve to remain silent but still obviously surly.

Tetra gave one last eye-roll to Link, then slunk forward. As she neared it, the Bokoblin perked up and let go of the wheel, causing the streams of light to point towards the sky. Armed with only a stick, the Bokoblin advanced towards Tetra, hopping in erratic patterns.

"Should I elaborate on the existence of a Bokoblin? Of any monster?" Ishek's voice said, and Link spun around to see…nothing. There wasn't anything there! "Down here," the voice said dryly. Ishek's head watching from the top of the ladder, below Link's eye level, and Link mentally smacked himself for his stupidity.

"Er…sure."

"A Bokoblin," Ishek began, "is an enslaved creature. In my spare time, I collaborated with a professor, who lives near a lake where I come from, and it became clear that Bokoblins are simply another creature whose minds have been altered through dark magic. He became interested in the species, and began to hire people to take missions into secluded areas to find these creatures. He found that normally, Bokoblins, Moblins, and most other beasts are extremely shy of humans, and are rarely ever seen if they are not under some sort of control. They do fight amongst each other, but give humans their space. Which would be the most intriguing "off" fact about this place."

"Then that's even more reason to let it live!" Link cried, as Tetra batted away it's stick and it landed with a scraping clatter a few feet away from the Bokoblin. "It doesn't mean to attack people!"

"I then consulted with a few friends of mine who were magic specialists," Ishek continued, ignoring Link's outburst. "One knew more of dark magic than the other, so I especially talked with her. And from what she has told me, there is only one way to break the enslavement on the beast."

"What?" Link asked quickly. If he could get out of killing it…

"Death. Unless it dies, the curse on it will never be broken."

So much for that idea.

"And now we're back to square one: the Bokoblin, or your sister."

Link stared at the little sword he held, then at the Bokoblin, who crumpled to the floor as the flat edge of Tetra's cutlass collided with its head.

"The way I see it, you'd be doing the Bokoblin a favor," Ishek said softly. "You'd be saving it."

Reoh sighed almost mournfully, surprising Link. Link had almost forgotten that he'd been there, Reoh had been so quiet. "The color of the Hero is always so often covered with it's opposite… After all, the opposite of the color green is red. It's just so…odd, for the lack of a better word."

"Maybe the point," Ishek murmured, "was that the opposite of red is green."

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That had been way too easy. Tetra held her cutlass to the Bokoblin's throat, and it thrashed underneath her. All she had to do would be to press down.

The skin was rather dry, it's feel warm and gritty under her fingers. The Bokoblin glared at her with empty eyes, struggling to get back on its feet, and she roughly shoved it back down. She could feel the Bokoblin's throat gulping, as if it knew exactly what danger it was in. She hoped it didn't, that it wasn't capable of thought, that it was just another bug to squish. But it still felt…alive…

In all her years she'd spent as a pirate, she'd never killed anything more than a fish. Her victims that she stole and cheated from were always left with mere bruises, maybe a scratch. Back then, she'd always thought that people who couldn't handle killing a monster were just overreacting, because honestly, how bad could it be? They weren't even real animals, and dangerous to boot!

Of course, she'd never been face to face with an overpowered Bokoblin before with a mission to kill it.

Press down, damnit! Tetra snapped at herself, gripping the cutlass handle tighter. Just do it!

The blade bit a little into the bony neck, and a black, thick liquid oozed out around the metal, covering it's clean silver.

Right. Now press harder.

But her body didn't move. That was as far as she would get. It was like she had hit a mental wall, a psychological barrier. The Bokoblin continued to squirm under her grip, but years of hard sailing came into play, and she held it down. Of course, years of hard sailing wouldn't give her the ability to slit one monster's throat.

"It's okay, Tetra," Link's voice told her from behind, almost cheerfully. "I've got it."

Tetra glanced back over her shoulder to see Link drawing the sword that Ishek had given him, and Ishek's head watching from the ladder. "My mission here is done," Ishek whispered, then dropped straight down. Tetra sheathed her cutlass and abandoned the Bokoblin with a sense of relief she would never admit out loud, running for the ladder. Ishek wasn't there at the bottom. Figures.

The Bokoblin leapt to it's feet, seizing it's dropped stick and spinning around to snarl at Link, who merely unlatched his shield from his back and stared back, expression calm and determined. The Bokoblin raised it's weapon and with a wild cry, slammed it down towards Link, but Link blocked it with his shield and almost careless ease. The sword whipped cleanly through the stick, half of it clattering to the floor. The Bokoblin gaped in surprise, lowering its already shabby defense.

And without hesitation, Link sunk the sword up to its hilt in the Bokoblin's bony chest. The Bokoblin's eyes rolled up in its head, and it slid off the sword with a horrible, slippery, squelching sound. It was dead before it hit the ground.

Link didn't turn around, and Tetra watched his back as he stared down at the body, the sword in his hand. There was only a smear of the blackish blood substance. "…I think I felt its ribs rubbing against the blade," was all he said. "The ribs…were very fragile."

"Oh," was all she could reply with.

He turned around, his eyes bright with clear resolve. A few flecks of the black were sprayed in thin lines on his cheeks, little holes of no color in the dark night. There were a few more speckled across his tunic. "Are you…alright?" Tetra asked uncertainly, not caring how timid she sounded right then.

And he smiled a pleasant, cheerful little grin, sweet and innocent… But there was still something she couldn't quite place, something hidden behind the smile… Tetra didn't even recognize him for a moment. He looked nothing, absolutely nothing like the Link she knew.

"Of course. This is for Aryll, anyway, and I can't be selfish."

The black dots were drying now, and Tetra was shocked to see that the black had turned to red. Somewhere in her memory, she remembered Gonzo talking about how monster's blood was always black…when it was fresh. And once it dried, it was no different from human blood, except that it's stain would only come out after hours of hard scrubbing. Link smiled again, this time slightly apologetically, then faced the Bokoblin, bowing his head and closing his eyes as if he was praying for the dead Bokoblin. The dried flecks obnoxiously glared at her from their positions on Link's cheeks, just as red as Gonzo had said they would be.

As she watched, Tetra heard Reoh mutter darkly to himself, "…That damn creepy brat…"

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Leave it to OoT Link to be so goal-oriented and straight-forward in achieving it. Even if achieving it means being a total jerk. Well, that's just my opinion.

Leave it to TP Link to try and fail spectacularly to fight destiny, then try and fight destiny for somebody else…and fail again. I'll leave him to suffer like that for a while, then I'll get somebody to fish him out of the giant black pit of angst. If I feel like it, of course. I've got nothing against downer endings.

And finally, leave it to WW Link to weird everybody out with his creepishness. Seriously, smiling after you kill something? What the hell is wrong with you, WW Link?