25. Bryce

They were lost. As darkness fell, Link and Mako realised that they could no longer see the Monkey Temple. Finding a clearing under the pale moonlight, they settled down for the night, using fallen twigs and dry leaves for a makeshift fire. The flames weren't bright enough to attract the attention of any stray crew liked they'd hoped, and the dark smoke was swallowed quickly by the blackness of night.

Link sat with his back against a tree trunk as Mako gazed up into the sky. The forest teemed with hissing, croaking life all around them.

Mako took a small, shivery breath. "It still gives me, um, the creeps," he said.

Link glanced up. "The moon…?"

Mako hugged himself as a cool breeze blew. "Yeah. I still can't believe you and, um, Miss Tetra saved us all."

"It was mostly all Tetra," Link replied. "Try not to think about it, though."

Mako turned to him. "Why?" he said. "Because we're just, um, fictional characters…? That's how you, um, do the impossible?"

Link took a deep breath. "You heard that, hey?" he said. Link shook his head. "Don't take what the Meta Knight said to-"

"I'm not stupid," Mako cut in, his voice hot. He glared.

"No," said Link softly. "You're not. It even says so in your wiki." Silence hung between them before Link spoke again. "How do you feel about it?"

Mako looked down, then shrugged. "It is what it is." Another moment of silence passed. "Does Miss Tetra know…?"

"She…did." Link swallowed. "When she was connected to me in the Grand-S. But when the Grand went down, so did everything she learnt."

"Oh," said Mako. "Right." Another pause. "When you and the Knight were, um, changing the uh…"

"Narrative."

"Yeah. That. Didn't it occur to… to, um, either of you to just skip to the end…?"

"I guess because the narrative didn't give me the idea to do so."

Mako looked at him again. "So we're not really in control…?"

"I try not to think about it," said Link. A snake rattled somewhere nearby. "Get a headache. All I know is that I feel in control and feel like it's me making my choices."

"Because it, um, feels real…?"

Link shrugged. "What's real, anyway?" His voice turned wistful. "The people reading this. Are they really real? They think they are."

Mako looked out at the heavens in wonder. "Readers…" he breathed. The popping flames cast orange shadows on his face. "Do they like the…story?"

"All I know," said Link, "is that one of them likes chickens. And I think another's a changeling."

Mako pursed his lips in thought.

"I miss my sister," said Link suddenly. "I miss my Grandma. That feels real to me. I want…" The image of domestic bliss that he'd experienced under the Flame People's spell came back to him. Link shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I want."

A branch snapped in the distance. Mako and Link locked eyes.

"Looks like philosophy class is over," said Link quickly as he stood up. "And it's back to the action."

Mako's eyes darted as he searched their surroundings. "What is it?" he said. "Um. The Meta Knight…?"

They heard the sound of something shuffling their away.

"I don't think so," Link replied. "Think we won't be revisiting that." He began looking around as well. "Hmm. Night time. Tropical island." His voice dropped. "You thinking what I'm thinking, Mako?"

"It's dark and we're easy targets…?"

"No," said Link. "We're up against a T-Rex."

"A what?"

Link was distracted. "Must be a dinosaur theme park somewhere around here." He inhaled. "Mako."

"Yeah?"

"Do not, and I repeat, do not hide in an outdoor toilet." More twigs snapped as the thing drew closer. They felt a slight tremble beneath their boots. "Or maybe it's an Indominous. Do you know what that would mean? Do you have any idea?"

Mako's voice became a squeak. "What?"

"You'd be the Bryce Dallas Howard to my Chris Pratt."

"Um. I hear words coming out of your mouth," said Mako. "But my brain can't, um, comprehend them. At all."

The thing revealed itself, shuffling into view, pale face and arms dropping.

"Oh," said Link, blinking. "That's disappointing."

The thing drew back its head, roared, and revealed razor-sharp fangs. Claws sprang from its fingers.

"Well," said Link. "You look fun. But we really can't stay." He watched as the thing crouched, muscles under its flaking skin rippling. "It's a zombie. Move!"

They dived out of harm's way just as the snarling zombie leapt.

Link landed in a roll, drew himself up to one knee, retrieved his boomerang from his hat, and threw.

The spinning weapon clocked the zombie on the head before returning to Link's hand. The zombie slowly turned its head, and hissed.

"Um," said Mako. "Think it's angry now."

"Run!" cried Link. "Run! Run!"

Mako did, Link at his heels, the captain spinning every-so-often to keep track of the undead monster.

"When when, um, when I get scared," said Mako, huffing. "I ask, um, questions to distract myself."

"Nice to know, Mr Mako," Link replied.

"So, um, Captain? What is it you were going to say you really wanted…?"

"Right now?" said Link. "Jill Valentine."

Mako shook his head and pulled something from his pocket. "Compass."

Link craned to look as he ran. "Compass. Great. You can find the temple with that. Right?"

Mako chewed his lower lip.

"Right?"

Mako smiled. "Rela-"

They fell through a moss-covered false opening in the ground. Mako and Link struck a damp, rocky floor below. Water trickled somewhere unseen. It was a tunnel. One that was beginning to rumble.

"Now what?" cried Mako.

Link spotted what was coming in the distance. His eyes widened. "Raiders."

"Where?" said Mako, his head darting left-and-right. "Who are the –" His voice gurgled as he spotted it, too. "A…giant…rolling…boulder…?"

"Run."

And they did.

Mako glanced upward. "Can't…we…-" he huffed, "…find…a…way…um…back…up…? Like…just…jump…?"

Link shook his head. "Do we look like mushroom-addled Italian plumbers?"

The vine-strewn path curved upward and the tunnel trembled as the boulder followed. Link flung a glance behind him. The rock was so close now he could see the pockmarks on its grey, stony surface. He looked back ahead. A light peeked into view.

It was a doorway.

Link swiped his hat from his head, then pulled out his grappling hook. Closer and closer came the opening, and closer and closer chased the rock. Link threw the rope. He felt the hook catch – on the ceiling of the new room beyond, he hoped - and pulled the line tight.

They went through the doorway. The floor fell away. Mako screamed. Link grabbed him in mid-air. "Hold on," he growled.

The rope swung downward then back up. The boulder shot out of the opening behind them, plummeted, and bounced once, then twice before rolling away.

Link and Mako landed on a stone ledge. "Phew," said Link. "Close escape. And rescued the fair maiden, too."

"I'm, um, not a maiden."

"You're not?" gasped Link. "Who was it?"

"Um."

Link grinned. "Hey. Relax," he said, giving the little pirate a playful thump on the shoulder. "I'm only joking."

"I can never tell," said Mako quietly.

They both began to look around at their new surroundings. It was a large empty room with every inch of it plated in gold. Myriad open doorways lined the perimeter. Up above, the room curved up into the shape of a –

"Monkey head," said Link. "We did it. Well done, Bryce. Great job."

"So, um," said Mako. He scratched his nose. "We just came up through –"

"Simian bowels, yeah."

"And, um, that rock –"

"Gallstone." Without missing a beat, Link went on. "Let's go find our friends."