A/N: in which Vaati invents hammerspace, and doesn't follow the buddy system.

My hours at work have been cut, so what better way to spend my free time than to give this story the attention it's been missing?

Welcome to ThreePilots, EchoedHowl, and Caray86!


Chapter 43

Link's hunch had been right, and she was almost hopping with excitement as she and Vaati prepped for their trip to their first destination: the Lost Woods.

"Flashlights, gloves, water, snacks..." Vaati muttered, going down the list and tapping each item spread out on his bed as he named them. "Do we really have to take all this? I can just conjure up anything we might need."

All of his carefully arranged items nearly tumbled off the edge as Link plopped herself on the bed. "Never hurts to be prepared! Like Zelda said, we have no idea what we might run into."

Their blonde friend had called them just the next day after their meeting. Impa was anxious to not waste any time, so they were to investigate the first location Zelda came up with.

"There's not much to go off of..." she'd told Link. "Almost a dozen people go missing there every year but we haven't been able to find anything about what causes it, or anything about it in mythology beyond the name. I can't really say what you might find, Link. So be careful?"

"Of course! I'll make sure Vaati doesn't get lost." That had elicited an eye roll from the mage.

Now he was just scowling at her, using his wind to pick up his scattered supplies. Vaati continued with his list, summoning whatever he needed and eventually packing it all into a backpack, while Link hummed to herself and watched him out of the corner of her eye. He caught her staring, though. "What?"

"Nothing!" she chirped. She totally wasn't admiring his pretty ruby-red eyes or the endearing way he always squinted when he was thinking or anything weird like that. Things felt so normal between them that she often forgot that a few things were off-limits. Like random hand-holding. Not smooth, Link, not smooth.

She slid off the bed. "Are you almost done yet? Gosh, you'd think you'd be ready in an instant with your magic!"

"Says the one who insisted we be super-prepared," the violet-haired mage retorted. He tossed her a backpack. "And yes, I am done."

The simple black bag was oddly light. Link shook it, making something inside jingle faintly. Vaati was watching her with a smirk. "You didn't give me all my stuff...?" she frowned, but she trailed off as she opened a front pocket and stuck her hand in. Her hand went down and down, in all the way up to her elbow. Link looked up. "Magic?"

"Magic," Vaati affirmed.

"Sweeeeeet."

If she didn't know any better, her friend looked quite pleased with himself. He picked up his own backpack, testing the weight. "Theoretically, it should be able to carry anything, and it won't change how much it weighs. Whatever you need will come to your hand when you reach in." Vaati demonstrated by dropping a water bottle in the pocket, then reaching in and pulling it out of a different pocket.

"Where'd you come up with this?" asked Link, honestly awed and fascinated.

He shrugged calmly and zipped the pockets closed. "The idea just came to me." When Link didn't reply, just kept looking at him with a grin, his calm expression faltered. "Why do you keep staring at me today?"

"Cuz you're super coooool," she replied. "You might even be cooler than Sheik. No, wait—definitely cooler than Sheik."

The Mage sputtered some sort of protest and the way he walked away to unsuccessfully hide his reddening face made Link giggle a bit too much. Some things may be off-limits, but she just couldn't resist his flustered reactions.


The Lost Woods were surrounded by a tall chain-link fence, barbed wire strung along the top. It hadn't snowed as much in this part of Hyrule, but the woods were still white within, its mysterious fog creeping through the fence at parts. There wasn't a gate, at least not at the end of the trail that wound through the regular section of forest that preceded the deep woods. Just signs affixed at regular intervals: NO TRESPASSING.

"Yes, trespassing!" Link grinned. She hooked her fingers into the chain links and hoisted herself up swiftly, expertly climbing over the barbed wires and dropping with a soft thud to the other side. She waved to Vaati triumphantly.

He just vanished in a swirl of wind and reappeared next to her without so much as an eyebrow lifted. The fog danced around him for a moment before settling heavily around his feet.

The two of them turned and took a long look at the Lost Woods. Barren trees hid within the mist, scattered rather thinly, the fog making up the bulk of the density of the woods. Link shined her flashlight experimentally into the whiteness; it was absorbed just a few feet away.

"Buddy system?" she offered Vaati, holding out a hand. She was denied with a scoff.

"So what are we looking for, exactly?" queried the mage. Their footsteps were eerily muffled, even when Link stepped on a particularly crunchy twig.

She swept her flashlight in a wide arc. "I dunno. Creepy statues? Sacrificial altars? Giant tree monster?" The beam of light caught on a boulder with the roots of a long-dead tree wrapped around it; it quickly disappeared as they walked past it.

"What about looking for the very center of the woods? Whatever's causing the woods to be like this would probably be hiding as deep as possible. Let's just keep going in a straight line."

"Yessir!"

They kept a careful pace, never more than a foot apart, scanning what little landmarks they could see as the fog parted and then closed around the trees. One tree they passed was very wide at the base and hollow, creating a tree-cave of sorts. There was a pair of slender ones that twined together in a spiral from base to crown. They passed a gray pond, not a single ripple disturbing its surface.

"Hold on," Vaati caught Link's sleeve, bringing her to a halt and pointing into the mist. "Didn't we already pass that?"

She turned to where he was pointing. It was a big mossy boulder, wrapped in dead root tendrils. "Aw man!" moaned Link. "Don't tell me we're back to where we started!"

"Looks like it. So a straight line isn't going to work, then. Plan B..."

"Can you just teleport us there?"

Vaati squinted into the fog, then shook his head with a frown. "No, I... There's definitely some other magic at work here, I can sense it. I just get the feeling we'll end up right back here again."

Haunted, indeed. Link couldn't imagine what kind of force could be preventing even Vaati from getting through the woods. But there had to be some sort of trick or gap in the fog's defenses. There always was...

"If you were a creepy forest spirit keeping people out, who would you want to let through?" Link mused. Her flashlight lingered on the tangled boulder as they stood brainstorming. "Wait... there's something on that rock."

They trotted over, peering at the boulder's rough, mossy surface. It was hard to see under the moss and roots and years of erosion, but they could make out a vague arrow etched into the stone's face. Link looked over at Vaati. "Should we follow the suspicious arrow?"

"Don't have any other leads," he shrugged.

So they turned right instead of forward, still keeping their careful pace and distance, eyes wide for any other hidden clues. Link became aware of just how quiet the forest was; only their footsteps broke the silence. Did no animals live here? It was also drenched in perpetual twilight, though it was only the early afternoon.

A huge skeleton of a tree loomed up out of the fog in front of them. Craning her head back, Link couldn't even begin to guess how tall it was; the branches were hidden in the mist. At the tree's base was another, smaller boulder, this one's arrow much clearer: forward. The two exchanged a glance and a nod and continued forward.

The arrows led them to two more markers. At the fourth one, Link nudged Vaati. "What do you think we're gonna find?" she asked, using the stone marker as a seat.

He found a fallen tree and sat down as well, keeping his gaze on the fog around them. "I don't know. It could be one of the ancient temples, and the woods were put here to protect it."

"That would be pretty cool! We'd probably be the first to see it in, like, a thousand years! As long as I don't have to fight a giant spider or something again, though." She pulled out the food she'd packed from her backpack and held it out for Vaati to see. "My sandwich didn't even get squished! Coolest bag ever!"

Their casual chatter was cut short by a sudden snapping of a twig. They both froze, Link's sandwich half unwrapped. Somewhere, hidden in the fog, some unknown figure could be heard walking, its footsteps punctuated by the crunching of dead leaves and an odd jangling. Link silently slid her bag to the ground and put her hand at the ready on the Master Sword.

Out of the mist emerged a tall figure, still vaguely blending into its surroundings with its stark white body. In one hand it gripped a wide sword, while a shield was strapped to the other arm. Glowing yellow eyes met Link's, and the creature chattered its teeth and rattled its body.

"Stalfos," muttered Vaati, confirming Link's suspicions. The jangling sound continued as the undead creature shifted and its ribs clacked together.

She didn't have time to wonder how something like that was just wandering around the Lost Woods. The Stalfos raised its sword and charged.

Link swiftly unsheathed the Master Sword and parried the skeleton's heavy but clumsy strike. She shoved it back, just enough to slide to the side and slash at its torso. But only the tip of her sword grazed its spine; there wasn't the usual mass of flesh there. It chattered at her angrily. She responded with another attack, an uppercut through its ribs. Several of the bones snapped and fell to the ground.

Wholly focused on the Stalfos, she jumped back to avoid its heavy swings, mentally adjusting her attacks to account for its lack of solid mass. A stab to the gut would do nothing, obviously, so she focused on its arms, legs, collarbones, neck. But its bones were unnaturally resilient; they cracked under her blows but did not break.

Suddenly the skeleton was knocked back. Wind whistled by Link's head, bowling the Stalfos over and forcing it to the ground. It struggled to stand, but it was pinned. Link glanced back to see Vaati with his hand held towards them.

"Quick question," she said as she stood over the chattering Stalfos. "How do I kill a skeleton?"

"No cl—look out!" shouted Vaati, right as a wooden club swung out of the fog at Link.

She ducked but stumbled. In Vaati's surprise, he'd let go of his hold on the Stalfos, and it surged up, further stumbling Link as she scrambled to get a safe distance between her and the now two skeletons in front of her. The new one was dragging a club nearly as big as her.

She shot a glance at Vaati. "You wanna take the club guy?"

He shifted his stance and snapped his fingers, a Darknut appearing behind him. Link took that as a yes.

Darknut and Hero raised their swords and charged at their skeletal opponents, footsteps thudding. Link dashed past the sword-wielding Stalfos; its reaction time was slow, and she was behind it before it really realized the fact. The Master Sword slammed into its back, every single bone rattling as the blow reverberated through its body, the Stalfos buckling to its knees. That blow was followed up by another, but the Stalfos chattered and rose to its feet again.

It was a good foot taller than her and definitely stronger despite lacking any actual muscles. The sword it wielded was a two-handed type, broad and heavy, yet it swung it around in one hand with ease. Link narrowly avoided being sliced in half, the blade plunging several inches into the frozen ground right in front of her.

She quickly countered and slashed at the joints of its arm. It shrieked as it pulled back, arm severed at the elbow.

Keen to finish the fight quickly, she followed up with another strike, this time at its neck. "Stay— dead—!" she shouted.

Her sword met the vertebrae of its neck with a sickening crack, completely dislodging and flinging the section of bone somewhere into the fog. Its skull toppled to the ground. A second after, the rest of its frame collapsed into a pile.

"Hey, Vaati, I—" she started to call out, but she broke off, staring at the Stalfos' skull. The strange glow had not faded from its eye sockets, despite its lifeless detached body. She took a cautious step towards it; its gaze was unblinking, unnerving.

She went to tap it with the Master Sword, and it shook to life, chattering at her and making her yelp in surprise. To her distress, it began to move, shaking back and forth, and then lifting off the ground. Link looked back at its bones to find they, too, were rising in the air, reforming limb by limb.

"I don't think so!" She grabbed its skull in one hand, ignoring its threatening chatters. But its body continued its process, until a headless skeleton loomed in front of her. Link gripped her sword tighter. How was she supposed to kill something that was undead?!

The headless Stalfos raised its sword to strike, and she lifted her arms defensively. It paused, and the head in her hand quieted. She glanced back and forth between the two. Experimentally, she shifted as though to throw its skull, and its body tensed in response and its chatters became quick and insistent.

"Oh, I see now!" Link panted. "Alright! Stay dead, part two!"

She pivoted and hurled the Stalfos skull at a nearby rock with enough force that a crack split through its crown. Before its shuddering body could run to its rescue, Link plunged her sword into it temple, splitting it in half.

The light in its eyes flashed and vanished, and its body crumbled once more. Fog quickly crept over it.

Link stared at the Stalfos skull at her feet. Without the otherworldly light in its eyes, it looked just like a human skull. She shuddered and turned to see how Vaati was faring...

...Only to be met with blank fog, empty trees, and silence around her.