Thanks for your reviews you guys! And I'm happy that you liked the Maple/Dark Maple thing. I figured that if there wasn't a Dark Maple involved, Maple would be just sitting there watching, which gets boring after awhile XD

I've got a lighter workload now. Now I only have class from 8-2 with no breaks, instead of 8-4 XD Two hours really does make a difference :)

The room had faded back to its original appearance: a rectangular room with two inch deep water. The tree was gone, as was the strange mist. They walked through the now open door and once inside, Link realized that the room was empty except for a treasure chest suspended on a large platform. Link didn't even open it. Instead, he turned and leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Maple asked him as he leaned his head back against the cool tile.

Link sighed and closed his eyes. "Nothing... Just tired," he mumbled.

He heard Maple sigh as she walked over and sat next to him.

He was still mad at her, even though he was trying his best to get over it. He understood: what she had said just slipped. He had done it many times. But for some reason it was different, being on the receiving end of one of those slips. He couldn't get over what she had said...

He slipped into sleep, and his dream wasn't exactly a dream. It was just like he was recalling the fight they had just been through, the fight that had went on for hours...

He remembered how he kept looking over his shoulder at Maple, still worried about her even though he was mad. How whenever he looked over his shoulder he was punished by the sharp end of his shadow's blade, him taking the opportunity of Link's inattention. How every time he looked he realized just how powerful Maple was. It made him glad that he had to fight himself: he doubted that he would have lasted three seconds against Maple...

When Link woke the room was completely unchanged, and Maple's head was resting on his thigh. He looked down at her, her mouth slightly open, breathing deeply. At how pieces of her hair had fallen from her bun...

He wanted to touch her cheek, kiss her lips...but he couldn't. No matter how he thought about it, her words would drift back into his mind, driving away any need he had to touch her...

He faded in and out until he felt Maple stir. When she sat up and he truly woke, he had a feeling that they had been there for quite a long time: at least a good twelve hours.

Link stood and stretched, ignoring the vicious growling of his stomach. At that moment Maple threw him an entire loaf of bread.

"What about you?" He asked.

She just shook her head, and he couldn't help but notice that she was abnormally pale. "No... I'm not really hungry..."

Link's heart sank slightly, but only just. He had a feeling that her lack of appetite was due to their fight...which Link knew wasn't quite over yet.

Link ate quickly, after which he went to the chest in the middle of the room and retrieved the Longshot. It was the same as the Hookshot, but the chain was longer, which enabled them to cross greater distances. Behind the chest, embedded in the floor, was a Time Block, which Link moved by playing the Song of Time. He then grabbed Maple around the waist and dropped down the revealed hole.

They fell into a ledge overlooking what looked like an underground river. There was a waterfall to their left, and the river snaked around to their right. There was also a whirlpool right under the waterfall.

"Link!" Navi yelled, "Be careful! Don't get swallowed by the vortexes!"

"Come on," Link said, lightly grabbing hold of Maple's elbow. As he approached the edge of the water, he heard Maple snap behind him, and he instantly felt the weight of the Iron Boots pull down his legs. He then stepped over the edge, Maple holding tight to him.

Link began to stomp his way down the river, avoiding the whirlpools in the way. Whenever he would be caught in the pull of the whirlpool, Maple would quickly use her magic to pull him out, and then he would continue down. They had to shoot an eye switch up on the wall to open the door at the end, on the other side of which was a key.

They carefully made their way back to the main room, where they swam to the room where they had met Ruto. Maple followed close behind him as he swam up to the top, where the Triforce symbol was at...and where they had originally fought. Link ignored the burning in his stomach as he played the lullaby, and then turned and jumped back down the hole. Maple slowed him this time and he was silently glad: the last time he had jump from that high had really hurt his knees and legs.

Link and Maple walked back out into the main room, the sand under their feet extremely soggy. He then walked through the door in the very center of the room, which led to a room inside of the giant pillar. Once inside, Link grabbed onto Maple as he used his Longshot to propel them up to the ledge where there was another Triforce symbol, one he had found by himself. He quickly played the song again and the water rose to the second level. They then walked through the nearby door, leading out to the ledge on the second floor.

The corridor to the south was barred off, and Link quickly shot an eye switch embedded in the ledge below it. Link knew that this didn't keep the corridor open for long: he had tried before. He quickly grabbed Maple and aimed his Longshot, hitting the target embedded in the wall on the other side. Just as they crossed the threshold, the bars dropped down.

Link walked down the corridor and pushed a block out of the way, a block he had moved earlier. It revealed a small room, where he collected another key.

They Longshotted up to the third floor, going back into the main room. They then jumped into the water and swam down. He felt Maple wrap her arms around his neck, and then he felt his shoes become heavy, dragging them down. He then walked them through the corridor to the north, where he used his Longshot to pull them into a room above them. The ledge to the other side of the room was blocked off by spikes, which, after Maple switched his shoes, were easily bypassed by using the Longshot. They then walked through the locked door.

Half of the room they walked into was submerged in water, and there were two whirlpools in the pool. There were also boulders rolling around under the water, disappearing into the whirlpools before another came down and replaced it.

They took a moment to take out the Blue Tektites that were standing on the water in front of them. They then swam across the pool of water, which was much more difficult than he expected since there was a strong current pulling them toward the whirlpools. But they made it and walked through the door on the other side.

The ledge they walked onto was suspended over another pool of water, and surrounding the water were small platforms. Link also noticed that there were more of those Stingers floating around in the water. Link quickly pulled out his bow and shot down four before Maple took out the rest. They then jumped down into the water.

When they surfaced, Link noticed that there were two sections of the wall that looked old and decayed. They were on the same wall, but on opposite sides. Link nodded and then pulled himself up onto the nearest platform while Maple pulled herself up on a different one. Link then tossed her a bomb, not lighting it, and took out one for himself. They then lit their separate bombs at the same time, jumping into the water once they were in place.

Link didn't look at her as they floated next to each other. He stared off into the distance, to where his bomb lay, getting ready to explode. He felt her gaze on him the entire time, and he swore he heard a sob. When there was a flash of light, Link surfaced, seeing that they had revealed a U-shaped corridor. In the very middle was a block.

"There's a switch right here, under the water," Maple said, her voice slightly shaky. Link looked and immediately understood what to do.

He pushed the block, moving back and forward around it to get it to go where he wanted. It finally dropped into the water, on top of the switch. Once it was tripped, the water in the room rose until it was level with the ledge from which they had jumped into the room. That's when Link saw that there was another corridor. They swam to it and climbed up the large stairs up to the door.

There was a pit in the middle of the room, and a switch on the floor in front of them. There were two Tektites on the other side of the room, in front of the door, which were easily taken down with a couple of arrows. Link then looked down into the pit and saw that there were three jets of water hovering above the tiles.

The switch unlocked the door at the other end and extended the jets of water. Link knew what to do: he had done this before. He grabbed Maple by the hand and guided her across the room, using the jets of water as platforms. The door led to a corridor, where boulders kept falling from a hole in the ceiling and floating down with the water. Link knew that these boulders were going back into the room with the whirlpools they had swam through just a little while ago.

Link looked over where the boulders were falling, and saw that there was a cavern below the small waterfall. He waited until another boulder fell before jumping into the water and pushing himself down into the hole. Maple wasn't behind him, but he knew that she was watching because he felt his body become heavy as the Iron Boots appeared on his feet again.

Link dropped down into a corridor, where there was one of those snapping clams waiting for him. He quickly used the Longshot, hitting the vulnerable muscle inside of its mouth. The thing fell apart and Link walked farther down the corridor...only to find that the only way to go was up. And since Maple was still waiting for him back by the door, he was forced to take the boots off himself, which took quite a bit of time. Once they were off, his body kept trying to float up and he struggled to get his boots back in his pouch.

There was a locked door at the top of the corridor, which Link quickly walked through. Inside was one of those elaborate chests and he pulled out the key to the room where the monster was hiding and put it in his pouch. He then made his way back to Maple, being careful to make sure that there were no boulders rolling down the corridor before he surfaced and pulled himself up. They then followed the water, following right behind a boulder that fell, and Link's hunch was proven right; they were in that room with the whirlpools.

They went back out the door and used the Longshot to pull themselves over the spikes blocking their way. They then made their way back to the main room. Link already knew where to go: it was the only door he hadn't gone through yet, but they had to make their way up to the last Triforce symbol, to raise the water to the third floor. After it was raised, they then swam over so they were standing in front of a corridor with a dragon statue, which had another Hookshot target on it. They pulled themselves across and walked through the door.

There was a sharp incline in front of them and three metal blades slid back and forth along the incline. They would have to time this just right...

Link stood next to the wall, waiting until the closest blade hit the wall and turned away. He then started to run, Maple close behind him. It was hard; his boots were wet and didn't stick very well. He had to use his hands to keep from falling backwards or sliding. Reaching the top was difficult, but once they were there they both let out a sigh of relief. Directly in front of them was a large door, with an elaborate chain.

"This is it," Maple said.

Link nodded and reached up, using the key he had obtained earlier to unlock it. The lock and chain fell to the floor and Link reached up and pushed the door aside.

The room they walked into was strange; it was completely square, and in the middle of the room was a pool of water, and four platforms stood stationary in the middle of the pool. Link couldn't help but notice that the water was a strange, bright blue.

"Link! Look out! That water isn't normal over there!" Navi said, floating out from his hat and flying in front of his face.

Link and Maple were careful, jumping out onto one of the platforms in the middle of the pool. At first, nothing seemed wrong. But then he felt Maple stiffen next to him.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.

"Something's here..."

It was quiet. Then, Link heard something...moving around in the water behind him. Link turned, and gasped when he realized that there was a large tentacle sticking out of the water behind them. In the middle of the tentacle was a small, red sphere, which moved up and down inside of the tentacle, as if it was controlling its movements.

The tentacle disappeared into the water as the red sphere sunk down to the bottom of the pool and disappeared from view.

Link and Maple quickly jumped back onto the ledge that surrounded the pool, being careful not to hit the spikes that were sticking out from the walls of the room. Link then turned, putting himself between it and Maple, and watched as the sphere spun around quickly in the water. As it spun, a tentacle slowly grew straight up from the water, and Link quickly backed away.

The tentacle suddenly sprang toward them, flailing around as it tried to grab one of them. Link pulled out his bow, trying to shoot at the sphere, but the arrow harmlessly bounced off of the sphere and fell into the water. Link pulled out his sword and swung at it as the sphere floated closer to them.

That was a mistake.

The tentacle grabbed him, wrapping itself around his middle and squeezing. He felt the air rush out of his lungs as it began to crush him, the sphere running through the tentacle and tightening the grip.

Link's body screamed, his vision fading in and out. The only thing he could see through the mist covering his eyes was a bright light, in the direction Maple was standing...

Suddenly, the creature screamed and threw him across the room. Link groaned when he felt his body hit the wall, flopping down to the floor with a 'thud'!

For a moment, he couldn't move. But then he felt a hand on his arm and suddenly the intense pain was gone. He opened his eyes and looked up, Maple standing above him.

"Get up! Hurry!" She said, pulling on his arm, her faced panicked. He quickly pushed himself up to his knees and then onto his feet. They dove out of the way as another tentacle flew at them, trying to wrap around him again. Link then pulled out the nearest instrument in his pouch and shot.

It was the Longshot, and the hook easily grabbed onto the floating sphere, pulling it out of the tentacle and dropping it at his feet. The moment the sphere was free from the tentacle, the tentacle shattered, sinking into the water.

Link pulled out his sword and slashed at the sphere, surprised when the sword didn't do much damage because of a protective bubble of water surrounding it. The sphere screamed and hopped away, dropping into the water and disappearing.

Link didn't turn his back on the pool of water. He waited until he heard the unmistakable sound of the sphere swimming in tight circles, creating another tentacle. But this time, two tentacles emerged from the water, only one of them containing the red sphere. Link pulled out his Longshot, aiming at the sphere that was swimming up and down the length of the tentacle. But when he shot, since the chain always moved in a straight line and the thing was moving, it glanced passed, missing it by inches.

Link and Maple backed away as the tentacles disappeared, getting ready to reform somewhere else. When Link saw where they were forming he carefully moved toward it, making sure to stay out of its reach. When the tentacles extended toward him, Link smirked to himself; the sphere was right in front of him, moving closer and farther away. He wouldn't miss this time.

His aim proved to be true, and the red sphere was yanked from the inside of the tentacle and was dropped down at his feet again. Link swung his sword, and it hopped away after being struck.

Now, the second tentacle was forming on its own, even when the sphere was still hopping over the surface of the water. The tentacle was too close for comfort and Link jumped away from it, pulling Maple with him.

It went on for what seemed hours. The sphere jumped around the room easily, always seeming to be able to avoid the hook of the Longshot. Link was soon frustrated, and even Maple. He soon found out what that bright light had been when he had been squeezed; she was able to control the tentacle when she tried hard enough, although not fully. She could stop it, or make it freeze in place for a moment. But then it would fight back, gaining control of its self once again. But it was always just enough...

When they both were soaked and exhausted, Link's sword finally cut through the sphere's protective bubble. The sphere screamed, floating up into the air. The sphere then exploded, splashing them with water.

Link and Maple straightened, looking down at the water as another one of those tentacles grew from the very center of the pool of water. It connected to the ceiling, swelling, and they watched as the water in the pool slowly drained away, leaving only moist cement underneath. The tentacle then detached from the floor, slowly disappearing up into the ceiling, dripping water as it did. It was only when a ring of blue light appeared that Link finally sighed, wiping his brow.

Link and Maple jumped down into the pit below and walked into the ring of light. A blue crystal surrounded them and everything around them disappeared. Link closed his eyes, glad for the moment of rest ahead of them.

Boy, writing this chapter was hard DX It's hard to write about people who are mad at each other... I also included the boss battle in this chapter because otherwise the chap was too short... That and I kinda wanted to get this over with. The next few chapters are too exciting to put off for much longer XD