Thanks for the awesome reviews you guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday... Didn't get a chance to write until after midnight O_o...
Hope you enjoy :)
Riding a horse was much easier than Link had expected. And it was oddly comfortable, the motion of the horse soothing. He also was reveling in the fact that Maple...or Leah...had her arms tightly wrapped around his waist.
His heart sank as he remembered their conversation the night before. He felt oddly...betrayed. Why hadn't she trusted him with her secret earlier? Given, he knew that if she had told him when they were younger, he wouldn't have believed. But, after hearing it from her now, he knew that she was telling the truth. He had known for a long time now that there was something different about her.
To think, she was hundreds of years old! So old that she couldn't even really tell him! But yet...
He looked over his shoulder at her. She smiled up at him and snuggled up to his back. She didn't look a day over sixteen. Yes, her body was nineteen, but she looked much younger than that. But beautiful at the same time...
He smirked back at her, turning around to concentrate back on the path they were trotting on.
It was now dark, the sun long gone, and he knew that they were still pretty far from Kakariko. Epona was also refusing to go faster than a trot, clearly tired.
Link gently pulled back on the rains, and Epona responded by slowing down to a walk. She then stopped completely.
"What's wrong?" Maple asked him.
"We're stopping."
"Oh."
He felt her hands slip away as she jumped down. Link followed her and then guided Epona over to a tree, where Maple set up a place to tie her up. After she was settled, Link turned around to find that Maple had already set up part of the camp: the bed rolls were set out and some wood had been gathered. He had a feeling that most of it had been hidden in her pouch the entire time, 'cause he had only had his back turned for a minute, maybe two.
The thought made his head spin... The amount of things her small pouch could hold... And it was only the size of a large grapefruit! His could do the same, thanks to her magic, but his was twice the size of hers...
Link readied the fire as Maple pulled out some berries that they had packed earlier. They then sat next to the fire and ate in silence. And while they ate, Link couldn't help but think about their kiss...
He hadn't planned it. Actually, he hadn't really realized that he had kissed her until after he had pulled away. And yet, it had been wonderful...
"What're you thinking about?" Maple suddenly asked him, pulling him from his thoughts.
He smirked. "You. Maybe." He heard her giggle but she didn't say anything else.
When they finished, Link grabbed his bed roll and pulled it close to the fire before crawling inside. Maple did as well, not close to him but not far, either. After a few minutes, he turned around and looked at her.
Sound asleep.
He scooted his roll over closer to hers. When he was settled, her eyes fluttered open. She then smiled and scooted closer as well, wrapping her arm around him. His heart soared.
Complete bliss.
The sun peaking over the horizon is what woke him. That, and Maple yelling his name.
"Link!" She yelled. He opened his eyes to see her sitting over him, Navi flying around her head.
"Good m - "
"LINK!"
He looked up, the tone of her voice startling him. That's when he realized that there were monsters surrounding them. And not just any monsters.
ReDeads.
His heart stopped.
He stood up, reaching for his sword, which was still on the ground. When his fingers were inches from the hilt, one of them screamed.
It was like ice suddenly flooded his veins. He couldn't move, couldn't breath. He could still see and feel, could hear them slowly walking forward. For just a moment he wondered if this was how he was going to die; paralyzed and eaten alive. It was how he was going to die, how Maple -
Maple!
It was like fire spread through him, melting the ice that had frozen him. His hand closed around the hilt of his sword and he turned and swung, slicing through the ReDead that was so close to him that his arm brushed against it as he swung. As the creature fell, it revealed that one creature had jumped on Maple and was just about to bite at her neck, her eyes wide with fear.
He lunged forward, running his sword through the creature that was on top of her. He turned, spinning his sword around as he did, cutting down more of them.
It was absolute carnage, and by the time they were all dead there was blood everywhere, none of it being theirs. He then turned around, where Maple was still laying on the ground, digging through her pouch. He walked over to her, smirking, and kneeled down.
"You...okay...?" That's when he realized that there was something funny about how she was kneeling over, her face pointed down. She was shaking all over, the fingers that were fumbling with her pouch unable to even untie the string. They were also covered in blood...
She suddenly fell over and he realized that her skin was pale white, her lips blue. His eyes then fell down to her neck, where there was a gaping wound that was oozing so much blood that he was shocked he hadn't noticed earlier.
"Oh no!" Navi whispered.
"MAPLE!" He screamed, instantly reaching down and pressing down on the wound, hoping that the blood would stop. She gestured to her pouch, her fingers shaking so bad now that she could barely point.
"Po - po - tion," she said, her voice gurgling slightly, the sound of it almost sending him into a panic. He quickly grabbed her pouch, which was still tied around her waist, and dumped it upside down. The amount of things that fell out amazed him, and he started throwing them around, looking for anything that looked like a potion to him...
There!
He grabbed a bottle full of a strange red liquid and uncorked the top. He then turned to Maple, whose own hand was holding her neck, and looked at her, puzzled. He had never used a potion before and he wasn't quite sure what to do. Was she supposed to drink it? Or was he supposed to pour it on the wound?
Maple's shaking hand gestured to her mouth, and he noticed that the hand that was holding her neck was drenched in blood. It was oozing out from between her fingers like a fountain of the red potion he now held...
"Make her drink it!" Navi yelled. "Hurry!"
Her head was already tilted back when he leaned forward with the bottle. He noticed that her shaking had suddenly stopped, and her eyes were strangely unfocused. His heart pounded loudly in his stomach as he realized that she was dying, right in front of his eyes.
It took a moment for Maple to swallow the potion, but it eventually went down. He then just stared down at her and talked to her, trying to keep her coherent.
"And remember, that time - Hey, don't close your eyes! Look at me, sweet: look at me!" He said, when her eyes started to flutter closed. "Maple, please! Look at me! Love, please!"
Her eyes fluttered back open, unfocused, but she was there. She was smiling, even if it was small and weak. The hand holding her neck dropped, and for a moment he thought she had died. But he realized that the wound on her neck was slowly healing, her skin returning to a normal color. She breathed a sigh of relief as the potion began to take effect, healing her, even if it was slow.
Link sighed as well, reaching down and placing his arm behind her head, like a pillow. Even Navi's ringing sigh surrounded them as she realized the worst had passed. Link then leaned down, kissing her forehead and nose. All he cared about was that she was alive. He didn't know what he would do if she had died.
Link finally let her sleep after about an hour, after he was sure that she was going to be fine. He didn't dare move her, however, and instead made sure she was as comfortable as possible. He then checked on Epona, who surprisingly was unscathed. Apparently, ReDeads weren't as interested in horses as they were in people. He was even more aware of their surroundings, making sure that no other monsters tried to sneak up on them.
He paced, back and forth, until Maple finally woke up. He hurried to her as she sat up, the movement draining some of the color from her face. But overall she seemed fine, her neck wound almost completely healed, a small pink line being the only thing left. He instantly knelt next to her and she smiled up at him, her smile looking more like it usually did.
"Hello," she said, her voice small and weak.
"I'm glad to see you're doing okay."
"Me too," she giggled. She then tried to stand, but she fell over almost immediately. "How long have we been out here?" She asked, breathing heavily from the pain.
"A few hours." He glanced up at the slowly darkening sky.
"Then we should get going. I need to rest...properly. So I can be in shape for the next temple."
Link didn't answer her.
"What?" She asked, after a few seconds of silence.
"Well...after what happened... I was thinking..."
She glared at him. "You're not leaving me behind." He opened his mouth to answer, but she held up her hand. "I don't have the energy to argue with you right now. All I need is a good rest and some food, okay? And you won't be able to trick me."
He sighed and nodded. "Alright. Then we'd better head out."
Link stood up and gathered everything they needed, packing them away. It took him a lot longer to pack up Maple's pouch then he expected, considering the amount of things that had been dumped out. Maple wasn't able to help and instead waited until he was done. Link then led Epona over to where she was sitting and helped her up, her face going stark white as he did. He then hopped up with her and they rode.
They arrived at Kakariko around eleven that night. Link led Epona into the village, riding straight to Maple's house, where he tied the horse up. He then helped Maple down and they walked in together.
He didn't sleep at all that night. Every time he would close his eyes, he would have a vision of waking up and finding Maple dead in the bed. So he just spent the night pacing, going over to her pantry to find a snack every couple of hours. Then he would sit and eat, and then go back to pacing, peaking at her sleeping face every few seconds just to make sure that she was still alive.
And he also thought more about the things Maple had told him about herself. About how she had met is mother...
He didn't realize that it was morning until Maple sat up, stretching and yawning. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that she seemed completely fine now. There wasn't even a mark on her neck. His legs refused to be still, however, and he still paced.
"Good morning," she said, her face beaming up at him from on the bed. "How'd you sleep."
"Didn't..." His voice cracked from lack of use and sleep.
She giggled. "I figured. You look terrible." She threw her legs over the side of the bed, but continued to sit. "What did you do all night?"
"Worried... And thought about...things."
"What things?"
He paused in his pacing, pulling the chair by the fire up to where she was sitting.
"Well," he mumbled as he sat down. "You met my mother, right?"
She started. "Yes..."
"Can you...tell me about her? What she was like?"
She thought for a long moment. "I...didn't know her for long, you know. But, for how long I knew her, she seemed extremely kind and gentle... A lot like you."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Now, are you hungry?" She stood up. "If you are, we should eat before we head up the mountain."
"Um... I actually kinda cleaned out all your snacks last night..."
She laughed. "Pig! I'm going to go change." She looked down at her dress and sighed. "I think this dress has probably had it..."
He silently agreed; the white dress was covered in dried blood, especially around the neck. Even the embroidered Triforce on the chest was unseen under the blood. He looked down at his own tunic, covered in blood as well. Too bad there wasn't a stream nearby...
"Got anywhere I can clean this?" He asked.
She poked her head out from behind a dressing screen, set up near her dresser, and pointed toward a large water trough in the corner. He nodded and took off his soiled clothes, going over to the trough. The water in it was clean, and the washboard made cleaning much easier. He made a mental note to ask her where to get one...
When he was done he hung up the tunic above a clothes line, hanging above the trough so the water dripping from it didn't soak the floor. He pulled on his still wet pants and then turned to find that Maple was done. She was wearing a red, feminine tunic tied with a simple black sash, with creme tights and black boots. The red was striking against her skin...
"I'm going to eat something really quick, and then we can go, okay?" She asked, her hair waving down in front of her face since she had taken the braid out.
"Okay."
He watched her as she ate, and after she was done she refilled their food and water supply. She then started for the door, before he cleared his throat.
"Um..." He pointed to his tunic and shirt, which were still hanging from the clothes line, dripping.
"Oh! Sorry!"
She grabbed them and whirled them around above her head. The wind that blew through the room as she did was warm, and he had a feeling that she was drying them magically. She then held them out to him, nice and dry. He dressed quickly and strapped on his equipment before they set out. Maple quickly filled a small trough that was in front of her with water and set out some hay. They then patted her on the nose and set off.
The hike up the mountain was much easier this time around. It also helped that Maple was now dressed for the hike and wasn't screaming in pain from the rocks stabbing her feet.
When they crossed in front of Dodongo's Cavern, after about an hour, the path turned, and it became apparent that something was wrong. There were boulders rolling down the path, and it took quite a bit of effort to dodge them. Link also couldn't help but notice that the once peaceful clouds surrounding the summit of Death Mountain were bright red, like fire floating in the air. How he hadn't noticed it before, considering how bright the clouds were, amazed him.
They reached Goron City and found it almost completely deserted, except for only one Goron, rolling around on the tier below them.
"What do you think happened?" He asked. Maple shrugged and led the way down to the tier where the lone Goron was rolling.
It took a lot of coaxing to get the Goron to finally stop, but when he finally did, they realized that he was crying.
"How could you do this to me?" He screamed, still rolled up in a ball but no longer rolling around crazily. "You, you're Ganondorf's servant!" He yelled, his voice high from panic. "Hear my name and tremble! I am Link! Hero of the Gorons!"
Link and Maple looked at each other.
"You're name is Link?" Link asked. The Goron looked up at them. "My name is Link as well."
"What?" Goron Link said as he stood up. He was much shorter than them, obviously still very young. "Your name is also Link?"
"Yes."
"Then you must be the legendary Dodongo Buster and Hero, Link!"
"Dodongo...Buster?" Link asked, stunned.
"My dad is Darunia... Do you remember him?"
"Yes, of course..."
"Dad named me Link after you, because you're so brave!"
"Really? I'm, well, honored!" Link said, suddenly feeling very hot in the face.
"It's a cool name! I really like it! Link, you're a hero to us Gorons! I'm so glad to meet you!"
"Well, I'm glad to meet you, too," Link said, reaching up and scratching his head.
"Please give me your autograph! Sign it: 'To my friend, Link of the Gorons'!"
"Um, I don't think that this is a good time..." Maple whispered.
"Oh... I guess it's not a good time to ask you for this... Please help everyone!"
"What do you mean?"
"My dad, Darunia, went to the Fire Temple. A dragon is inside! If we don't hurry up, even my dad will be eaten by the dragon!" Goron Link then started crying, loudly.
"We should try to calm him down," Maple said. "Try talking to him, or asking a question."
Link then thought for a moment. He then decided to ask about this 'dragon' that Goron Link had mentioned. "So, what's this you said about a dragon?" Link asked.
Goron Link sniffed loudly. "A long time ago there was an evil dragon named Volvagia living in this mountain. That dragon was very scary! He ate Gorons!"
"I can't imagine why," Link muttered under his breath to Maple, eyeing the rocks protruding from the small Goron's head and back. He can't of imagined that they settled well in the stomach...
"Using a huge hammer," Goron Link said, not noticing his comment, "the hero of the Gorons... BOOOM!" He made a motion, as if hitting something over the head with something in his hands. "Destroyed it just like that. This is a myth from long ago, but it's true! I know, because my dad is a descendant of the hero!" He started crying again.
"What happened to the other Gorons?" Maple asked.
Again, the Goron sniffed. "Everybody was taken to the Fire Temple..."
"When?"
"While my dad was out... Ganondorf's followers came and took them all away! All of them will be eaten by Volvagia!"
"But, why would he let Volvagia eat them?" Link asked.
"Dad said that Ganondorf has revived Volvagia... As a warning to those who might oppose him, Ganondorf is going to feed them all to Volvagia! Dad went to the Fire temple all by himself to try to save everyone... Please help, Link! I'll give you this heat-resistant tunic!"
Link didn't know where he pulled it out from, but Goron Link was suddenly holding out a red tunic, very similar to the one Maple was now wearing, except... Well, it wasn't made to be worn by a girl.
"Wow! Thank you!"
"Dad told me not to let anybody follow him to the temple, but... Only you, Link, can save everyone! I'm sure that the shot owner, who is hiding somewhere right now, will also help you!"
"Thank you, so much!"
"Now, I'll tell you about the secret passage to the Fire Temple!" He said, clapping his hands together. "Try to move the statue inside Dad's room!" He then curled back up into a ball and began to roll around the tier again.
Link quickly took off his green tunic and put on the red one. It didn't feel any different, but he looked over at Maple, who was eyeing him.
"Looks good."
"What's it do?" He asked.
"There's an ancient magic in that tunic. It'll prevent you from burning up inside of the volcano. It'll also help if you need to walk across lava, but only for a few seconds."
"Really?" He asked, stunned. He couldn't believe that the tunic did all that.
"Yep. Wearing one myself!" She smiled as she gestured to the red tunic she was wearing. He imagined that he didn't look as good in it as she did.
"Nice."
"Now, let's go move that statue!"
So, I chose ReDeads earlier because they've always really freaked me out! Even now, I see one in the game and I scream and make Link run in the opposite direction! And every time I imagine that Link is yelling at me to just have him cut them down instead of making him run like a chicken, lol :) Hope it was good!
Oh, and what temple is your fav in the game? And which enemy do you think is the most difficult to beat? I, personally, have always like the Water Temple. As for an enemy... Dark Link usually almost kills me every time :) He's so hard to out maneuver O_o He definitely would have been a major B.A. boss...
Review and let us know :)