I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did the games would tie in together better and there would be a few different ones added in.

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Chapter Thirty-Six: Labyrinth--The Poe and the Darkness

Link:14 Romani:14

??? to break curse

Time seemed to have no meaning as Romani wandered in the underground maze. Without the sun, it was impossible to tell the passing of time, and she never got hungry, thirsty, or sleepy. She might have been down there for mere moments, or maybe even several days or weeks. In that time, she had run into some skultulas, flying skulls, a couple of stalfos, and plenty of Redeads. There also were some normal skeletons, some in one piece but most weren't, scattered around randomly. Most likely previous victims who didn't have her advantages. Tael was nervous and he was getting a little claustrophobic, but there was nothing to do except look for the way out.

The worse part was that there were no identifying features in the maze. Sure there were some heiroglyphics, but none were readable to either of them and there were no paintings on the walls either. All the discarded skeletons looked alike and hallways just kept turning at right angles.

"Maybe there is no way out of here. We're trapped forever. We're going to die!" Tael said, coming close to having a panic attack.

"Calm down." Romani told the fairy as she pulled him in for a comforting hug, something Cremia used to do for her when she had nightmares as a young kid. "We will get out of here, even if I have to kick those half-bone guy's asses for it." Tael didn't respond, but he at least stopped shivering so much and hyperventilating.

"How can you not be afraid?" Tael asked.

"Who said Romani isn't?" Romani responded, surprising her companion. "Romani's not naive. I know we're in danger and things don't look good for us. But panicking won't do us any good. Besides, do you think Link was never afraid in his travels?"

Tael was momentarily speechless. "That boy... afraid? The guy who as a 10 year-old fought to stop the moon and evil mask? What could he possibly be afraid of?"

Romani continued walking as they discussed this, following whatever path her instincts told her to. "Lonliness, for one. Oh, and don't tell anyone else this, but Link's afraid of... well..." She motioned for the fairy to come closer, then she whispered something in his ear.

Tael jolted back in surprise. "Really?" Romani nodded. "Wow. Who would have thought? And how would you know that?"

Romani smiled warmly. "No one knows Link better than Romani. No one."

They kept walking until they entered a large room that had a river flowing thru the center of it. Romani saw it was deep and the current was swift. So she got near the head of it, put on her deku mask, and hopped across before the water carried her to the other wall where it disappeared under the stones. Romani didn't think it would flow anywhere she wanted to go. She removed the mask and kept wandering the halls. After a few more twists and turns, and some skulltula ambushes, she entered another room that had a way ot near the top of the wall. Much too high to reach by herself and she had no hookshot. Tael pointed out several stone pillars of various heights and Romani got out her goron mask. Using a goron's strength, she positioned all the pillars strategically so they formed a staircase to the exit. She removed the mask and climbed up, even though it was still difficult, and made it out and onto the second level up of the underground labyrinth.

Eventually, Romani and Tael came across a room that was completely flooded with water, and the exit was halfway underwater. Wishing for a zora mask, Romani had to settle for swimming towards the opening in her normal form, grateful for all the swimming lessns Link gave her years ago. Romani failed to notice the underwater hand until it had already grabbed her and thrown her away from the exit. After she recovered, she used an ice arrow to give her a place to stand, and then a regular arrow to shoot the hand, which promptly died. Then she took a deep breath, got back in the water, and swam out.

Romani's lungs burned before she got the chance to take another breath. Luckily the hallway opened up in a dry room, where she got out of the water and dried off. Sitting down to take a breath, Romani saw something move in the shadows. She got defensive and her hand on her sword. The newcomer revealed itself to be a young man about Kafei's age, wearing ragged earth-toned clothes and looking unwell. He had dark rings under his eyes and walked with a hunched posture.

"Who... 'cough'... who are you?" The sickly man asked her drearily.

Romani took her hand off her sword. "I'm just a girl who was trying to find someone and I got brought here by some ghouls. What about you?"

"My name... is Chigg. I was... 'cough cough'... part of an archaeologist team trying... to find artifacts in the Ikana area. 'Cough'. We found an old ghost town with a large... sundial, and then a poe ambushed us and... next thing... 'cough'... I was here. Two skeletons told me I'd find my crewmates here and the way out." The man then slumped down, looking out of breath and stamina. "I don't know how long I've been here. 'Cough cough cough'."

"You really need a doctor." Tael said.

Chigg just looked back. "Something about this place doesn't agree with me. If... 'cough'... if I could just get some fresh air, sunlight, and maybe medicine, I'd be fine."

Romani pulled out a bottle with a healing fairy inside. "Will this work?"

Tael shook his head. "No. Those only heal injuries and recover energy to a point. They won't cure ailments or diseases." With that Romani pocketed the jar.

Romani then put on the goron mask and picked up Chigg and placed him on her back. He tried telling her to not bother, just leave him, but she said that went against everything Link had taught her. Romani was glad to have that mask, as it would have been much harder to do this in her normal form. As she walked, she remembered when Link told her he had to carry a zora princess on his head to get her out of trouble, and giggled at the similarity here. She wondered if Chigg wasn't bothered by her transformation into a goron or he was too out of it to really notice. Eitherway, he just slept thru her carrying him around.

Romani kept wandering the maze for what could have been days, all without ever getting hungry or sleepy. She did get tired often and Tael was really starting to get claustrophobic. Sometimes they had to backtrack because they reached a dead end or a way they couldn't carry Chigg thru. Occasionally the sickly man woke, but he didn't wander off on his own and he barely said anything. Usually he just coughed and slept, requiring Romani to keep her goron mask on to move him.

After destroying a beamos sometime later, a door opened and they all went inside. They entered a room with a higher roof then the rest of the maze, with lit torches on the walls but no doorways out. As soon as they were inside, the door they used to enter closed and Tael sensed something was amiss. Romani placed Chigg down, took off her mask, and got ready to fight.

Some smoke formed in the air, and a poe appeared from within it. Romani recognized it as the one that brought her here in the first place. The poe spun it's lantern around, and all the fire from the torches was pulled towards it like a magnet. The poe absorbed the flames and grew into a big poe, and the room darkened to where Romani could barely see. The big poe laughed diabolically and vanished. Romani pulled out her sword and shield, trying to sense in all directions. Tael hung close by, his glow being her only light source.

The big poe reappeared and attacked Romani, who was unable to see it in time. She took the hit, it laughed, and disappeared again, making any counterattack pointless. "Tael, can you point out the torches?" The ranch girl whispered. "If I could relight them then I could fight back."

"But what if it just takes the fire and gets bigger?" The fairy countered.

Romani quietly cursed at that. She heard the big poe chuckle and prepare for another ambush. She turned towards where she heard the noise and saw a soft glow that wasn't Tael. She figured that had to be the ghost's lantern. When it got close enough, she swung her sword at it. She felt it make a connection, but it didn't respond as hurt as she had hoped. It vanished, and she waited for it to return.

"Don't aim directly for the glow." Tael whispered to her. "That's just the lantern. Aim for the area around the glow to hit the enemy." Romani nodded.

The big poe reappeared and reattacked. Romani was glad that poes were so open when they did such things instead of doing it subtly like a smart ambusher. Each time she would listen for the laugh or spin then look for the lantern, and then strike just right of the glow, hitting her target each time. With it being a big poe, it took more hits then most to die completely, but Romani won and it did die and it's remains escaped from her. Not that she had any interest in capturing a ghost.

The room didn't immediately relight, so she used fire arrows to illuminate the room. Once she did, she saw there was a platform that moved up and down one wall and would take someone to the next level up. She went to grab Chigg and take him with her, but when she looked where she had left the sickly man, she was shocked to find he had disappeared.

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