Out of all the chapters thus far, this was the one I struggled with the most. It was another poorly outlined chapter. I actually forgot to correct the outline in the structural edit so imagine my surprise when I was reading it over and saw that Fi's dowsing ability was the key to everything. And I didn't research how water treatment plants worked until I actually started drafting...

Anyways, if you like listening to music as you read, might I recommend the Great Bay Temple theme?

The Magic Awakens

Chapter 31

Filter the Poison

Three pairs of flippers trudged up the blackened mud, led by the bubbling stream's flow. Sidon's feet were covered by protective bags, which made his gait as awkward as that of the Harkinian twins, who wore short rubber flippers with their full-body wetsuits. Goggles with attached flashlights circled their foreheads. The ensemble reminded Link of his Ravio getup.

Toothy stone jaws drank the polluted water into darkness. Dungeons never gave a damn about lighting, did they? Hopefully there wouldn't be any creatures lurking in the water to ambush them.

"One more thing," Sidon said. He flipped open his satchel and drew out two circular devices with a mouthpiece attached. "Dr Mizumi and I dug through his old inventions and found these prototypes. They're lightweight breathing devices." Link and Zelda took one each, observing the buttons and digital readings. "At full capacity, they allow for ten minutes of air. To refill, simply press this button here." A simple finger pointed at said button would've been enough, but Sidon, the oblivious flirt he was, actually took Link's hand in his own to demonstrate. Zelda choked back a chuckle at her brother's flushed face. "Do you understand?" It took Link a moment to nod.

"I'm afraid not," said Zelda, unsure if she was genuinely confused or wanted the dashing Zora to hold her hand as well, which he did. Dammit, if her crush had to get possessed by some bloodthirsty spirit, she might as well savour what she could.

"There," said Sidon. "I suppose I've done all I can for you."

"You've done plenty," said Zelda. "Thank-you."

"My pleasure. Good luck, Zelda. You too, Link." He flashed the twins that signature grin. Link was loyal to Midna without question, but that did nothing to shield him from the elation Sidon made him feel. Damn smile. That smile deserved the clean lake of his childhood.

The twins trekked through darkness and dirty water. Their torches offered little light, but from the entrance behind them, Sidon's echo made everything a little brighter. "You can do it. I believe in you!" With that, the twins stood a little straighter, puffed their chests out a little further, and their resolve grew a little stronger.

Torchlight examined the carvings of the stone tunnel. Serpents, dragons, giant fish, and more. Zelda tried to name each one. The first dragon looked to be Faron, guardian deity of the lake during an era in which the forest surrounded it. The second was a large, portly fish known as Jabu-Jabu, who was revered and served by the Zora. The serpent, however, was what drew Zelda's eye the most.

The water reached their ankles, covering them in a filmy texture, but that was not the most concerning thing anymore. They had been following the current, and in that time, it had gradually changed until they were actively resisting it.

It rose to their shins, then their knees, and by the time it was halfway up their thighs, there was a spot of light ahead. They had to claw their way along the carvings just to reach the source of their highly resistant, waist-deep water.

The roof of frosted glass, covered in a thin layer of twigs and leaves, filtered sunlight down a huge drop towards the dark pool. The walls, right up to the twins' vantage point, were caked in the same filth, though it was washed away by the thin sheets of water tricking down the walls. From the pool at the bottom, two large pipes emerged. One was shaped like a serpent disappearing into the left wall, while the other was encased in a long ribcage, worming into the right.

Link stared down as he clung to the corner. Whatever this place was meant for, he didn't know, but as far as he was concerned, there was no way forward.

Zelda, on the other hand, had a pretty good guess as to what the room was, but trying not be spat out of the cistern and into the lake meant carrying a conversation was out of the question. "We need to get on that pipe," she huffed, jerking her head to the serpentine one.

"How?" The walls were too slippery for even Link's excellent climbing skills, and Zelda couldn't hover them across without letting go or-

"I'm going to jump," she said, "and catch myself."

Link's eyes almost popped. "If you even touch that water-"

"Only way." If she could save herself from lava, surely this would work as well.

Okay. Zelda was going to freefall. On her own terms, but it was still terrifying, and if she hit that toxic water? She shuddered. For Hyrule, she reminded herself as she inched further and further, until she had two hands and one foot pushing against the corner, while her other leg balanced on the edge, resisting the river. Push.

She ripped from the water and gravity claimed her. Air rushed past her soaked form as the polluted water rushed up to meet her. A golden glow came to the rescue, and she was shooting upwards, relishing in her improvement. She was flying, and she was in control, and she was-

Dodging. Clumps of something burped from the slush and shot at her like cannonballs. She swerved and swerved again. They shattered against stone and plopped back into the water. A larger, clumsier piece flew at her. It would be easy enough to dodge by its shadow alone, and she was almost at the top of the pipe.

"Look out!" Link called. As if she wasn't looking. She swerved. Something shattered the clump. A fraction of it, at least. The arrow rebounded from stone just as Zelda landed on the pipe, and she turned to see it fall into the poison. To her horror, Link was clinging to the corner with one hand, armed with his crossbow, while the current had a hold of his legs. All while he fought to keep his head above water.

Zelda thrust out her hand. Her golden light dragged him coughing and sputtering through the air. More clumps shot upwards, but Zelda's magic wove him around, until she set him between the spine's spikes, facing her. "What in Din's name were you doing?" she snapped.

He spat out the ugly water and stored the crossbow. "That thing was gonna crush you."

"No, it wasn't. I saw it coming."

"Didn't look it."

"I saw the shadow! And frankly, your little stunt didn't help."

"You were in danger, okay? I had to do something."

Zelda massaged her temples as she groaned. Now was not the time for arguments. "Do you know where we are?"

"A cistern or something?"

"Precisely. Which part of the cistern are we in?" Link shrugged. Zelda summoned a rather thick binder and rifled through it with her magic. All the yellowed pages were laminated. He quirked a brow. "It's Dr Mizumi's copy of The Self-Service Cistern," she explained. "Being around Zoras all the time, he's had to take extreme waterproofing measures." She stopped on a page with a hand-drawn blueprint and pointed. "Aha! This is the coagulation room. Well, that's the closest word we have to describe it in modern Hylian. It's not that accurate."

Link's expression begged her to elaborate. "Remember the excursion to the water treatment plant back in Grade 7?" He nodded. "And how they explained that coagulants are chemicals that cause the sediments in dirty water to clump together and sink?" He nervously shook his head, praying that Zelda wouldn't remember how he and Ganondorf ditched the tour group to see the big tanks up close. So close that if they got any closer, they might've caused a city-wide contamination crisis.

Zelda did remember, but she only conveyed it through a brief glare before moving on. "It's difficult to decipher the handwriting here," which had been water damaged prior to lamination, "but I believe this was the cistern that our modern plants are based on. It was far ahead of its time because magic was able to do the things we had to figure out on our own." She circled the 3D sketch of the structure. "The water itself was a living caretaker for the land, and as an act of reverence, the Zora built this cistern to help the spirit cleanse itself of any impurities. In return, the spirit provided provided the purest water."

She flipped to a similar sketch of the room they were in and tapped on the clumps floating in the water. "Rather than using chemicals and machinery like we do, the water would clump the sediments together on its own."

"Who's the spirit?" Link asked. Zelda paged through again, passing generations of water deities. "It's hard to know for sure. Seems like there were different generations. The Demon King would often slay them to choke Hyrule of its resources. I believe the latest one is Lanayru." She stopped on a drawing of a long serpent made of light itself. Rather than being formed from lines, the negative space was filled in. "No one knows what happened to them after the magic was sealed away. Did they perish?"

"Seems like it," said Link, thinking back to what Midna had told him about the Twilight Realm. "There's no one around to protect the water. Ghirahim and… allies must have seen it for the taking."

Zelda pursed her lips as she thought. "You think they're trying to purify it for their own means?"

"Makes sense."

"No, I'm not sure it does." She stored the binder, leaned down, and pressed her ear against the pipe they were perched on. Water gurgled. "You wouldn't happen to know how we could cut a hole in this?"

Link pinched at the spandex on the back of his neck until an idea struck him. He shimmied his way backwards, over the ridges of the serpent, until his back pressed against the stone wall, and summoned a fire arrow. Zelda cocked her head. "Do you think it will work?" He smiled at her and dug the hot tip into the metal. The heat was enough to create an indent one centimetre deep and 15 long, but fire arrows were disposable ammo not known for their structural integrity.

It took about twenty fire arrows, almost the combined supply of both Link and Zelda, to create the outline of a circle. Link, having little regard for the fragility of his mortal form, tried to smash it in with his clasped hands. His face contorted as he shook out the pain.

Zelda pinched her nose. "You know, just because you have accelerated healing, it doesn't mean you can afford to punch things whenever the urge strikes you."

The pain was already dissipating, so Link wasn't too bothered. "Worth a shot."

"It was not. I think we need to set a boundary here. No bone-headed bone-breaking without consulting me!"

"Right. I'll be sure to do that in the heat of the moment," Link sarcased.

Again, Zelda shot him a glare but shelved her agenda. Her mind was better focused on solutions that wouldn't shatter fists. She thought back to her training with Impa. How was she doing in hospital? Focus!

She snapped up and summoned three things: a knife, a marker, and one of her very last fire arrows. She had Link hold up the arrow as she copied the runes onto her blade. "From fire to ember, ember to flame, may burning desire guide my aim." With a hiss, the blade ignited.

Zelda handed the unaffected hilt to Link and he began the "painstaking" process of sawing through the shallow circle. It was only painstaking because Zelda said, "Not too fast, or you'll bend the knife out of shape." Whatever. If there was ever a moment to be patient, it wouldn't be when they were sitting on a pipe above toxic, aggressive water.

With the circle complete, Link popped it in, and the gushing current sent it clanging down the pipe. The water was still murky with dyes, chemicals, and Din knows what else.

Link clamped down hard on the breathing device as he lowered himself in. The current pressed his upper torso against his hands gripping the circle rim. He tilted his head back and pushed away from his hold, shooting towards the next room.

Thirty seconds later, he was spat onto a flat surface of fine gravel. He stood and brushed it off his legs and behind as he investigated the room with the torch on his goggles. A few seconds later, something splashed from the pipe with a squeak and scrambled towards him. Zelda clutched his arm as she coughed. "Gods, that was terrible."

Link smirked. "Terrible? It's like being on a water slide."

"Water slides don't submerge you in highly pressurised, toxic water!" She shuddered. "This kind of place isn't meant for humans like us."

"All the more fun to explore."

Zelda frowned and plodded towards the wall. She slid down into a sit, shifting uncomfortably on the gravel. They had only reached the second room and she was already fed up with this place.

"Where do we go from here?" Link asked, unable to spy an exit pipe anywhere. "The water has to go somewhere."

She summoned the binder and flicked through again. "This is the filtration room. A lot of the micro debris are removed here." He sat beside her as her finger trailed down a diagram of three layers. "The sand here gets progressively thinner, filtering out smaller impurities, until the water is collected by this pipe," she tapped the pipe in question, "to the next room."

"So, you're saying we dig for it?" Zelda nodded. "How deep?"

She squinted at the hand-scrawled measurements. "Three metres, it seems." She groaned at the work ahead. Sure was a shame that she didn't know a spell to make it easier.

They dug and dug until they reached the second layer. Coarse sand. By then, Zelda was already breathless, but Link had stamina to spare. Still, they stopped for a quick break. Actually, it didn't even qualify as such, because they had nothing to distract them from their new reality. Ganondorf, gone. Impa, dying. Possibly dead already. The twins had left their slates at Lulu and Mikau's, because they knew they would be obsessively checking for texts from the hospital or news updates on Ganon no matter how high the risk of water damage was.

Link's fidgeting went from tapping his finger to bouncing the knee, then switching positions five times, until he couldn't sit any longer. He started digging through the second layer, where the hole was now sloshing with water. Zelda sighed, but would again still her tongue until they were free of this place. If Link wanted to avoid his feelings through excessive productivity (like usual), then she would tolerate it. For now.

Link combed through finer grains. The final layer? It was impossible to know with all the sediments swirling through the water. Water that, even when Link paused to catch his breath, was creeping from his elbows to his armpits. There was also a missing sloshing noise, replaced by drops pattering onto gravel.

"Uh, Link? The pipe just stopped pouring."

"Water's getting higher."

"What?" Zelda crawled to the edge of the hole. "Oh my!" Link had stood up and it was around his waist. "What do we do? We haven't even reached the netting yet!" she shrieked. "But if we don't get out soon," the water was at Link's neck, "then we'll be trapped in this room," he summoned his breathing device as he treaded water, "and we'll run out of air," the water spilled over the hole, licking Zelda's feet, "and we'll drown, and Hyrule will be ruined, and-"

"Get your capsule and get to work!"

"Uh, right!" She adjusted her goggles, put the breathing device in her mouth, and slipped into the water. She dove, barely able to see through the murkiness and the sediments. The twins tore through the sand, only for it to settle back down. Zelda squeezed Link's arm and tugged him upwards. Together they kicked, until they broke the surface of a room with only a few metres of air.

Zelda's shaking thumb struggled to refill her capsule, so Link pressed the button himself. "Got a plan?"

"A plan? Why do you always expect me to come up with a plan?"

"You're the smart one."

"Oh wow. Just let me use my magical wisdom to fix this. Of course I can always be expected to think of some plan on the precipice of death!"

He seized her shoulders. "Now isn't the time! Breathe."

"We won't be able to breathe much- Right. Think of a plan. Think of a plan." What tools did they have to make it through this? Elemental arrows? Pocket voids? A sword and shield? Her levitation powers? Sheikah runes? Was there a single Sheikah rune she knew to get through this?

Short distance teleportation. A favourite of the Yiga. She only hoped the hole they had dug made the layer thin enough to pass through.

Zelda swam to the nearest wall and summoned a marker and the binder. She clicked open the rings at a terrible angle, and almost all the pages fell into the water. "Oh no!"

"Focus."

With a nod, she took one of the remaining pages, stored the binder, and slapped the plastic against the wall. Summon the permanent marker. Scrawl the runes. Wait, were they the right runes? It didn't look quite right. "You need a stroke here," Link pointed. Yeah. That sounded right. "And a dot here." Their heads tapped the ceiling.

"Have I got it?" The water claimed their mouths before he could answer. Breathing device in. Kick down to the hole. Link's hands secure around Zelda's bicep. She removed the capsule, stored it, and held the plastic between her teeth. The water resisted her hands as she signed the motions. First attempt was too clumsy, as was the second. Her lungs were screaming. Third attempt. A puff of smoke bubbles. To release her breath right now was tempting, but they were still submerged. Her conscience was slipping. Unable to summon her capsule.

One was shoved into her mouth. She drew a sweet breath of stale air. It was Link's. Good thinking. Wait. His puffed cheeks. His pursed lips. She summoned her own device and shoved it at him.

The torchlight of their goggles panned over a ceiling of cloth pressed against a sturdy grating of stainless steel. Neither material showed a hint of decay despite having been in place for thousands of years. Perhaps magic could enhance durability. For example, stainless steel was an ancient wonder that took the invention of non-magical electricity to rediscover.

A tug on her arm broke Zelda away from the mental tangent. Link pointed to the pipe at the centre of a cone like floor. He led the dive, Zelda's hand firmly in his. She expected the water to do something. Either the current would flow to the next room or it would push upwards to trap them. This water was still. Eerily still, like it was waiting in silent rage for whatever audacious method of progression the twins would try next.

Even without uncanny, supernatural interference, the physical qualities of the water itself provided resistance. Buoyancy pushed against them and pressure bore down on them, aching their ears. Furthermore, they were short on breath and sucking air through what felt like a narrow straw. If not for Link's stronger swimming, Zelda would've resigned herself to a watery grave by now. Their air supply was thinning. What if there was nowhere to resurface?! Okay, stay calm, Zelda thought. Don't go wasting what little you have on stress.

The pipe opened into a square room with hundreds of identical pipes leading into darkness. Natural light draped in translucent curtains from a tentatively still surface. They kicked harder, faster, chasing the air they craved, until they broke the surface and took heaping gulps.

They paddled over to one of the many pipes that just grazed the water, hauled themselves up, and sat opposite each other as they caught their breath.

The room was a square prism. It was a tad narrower than the first and a few storeys taller, though it didn't seem so due to the higher water level. Though the afternoon light was dim and the water deep, it was so clear that tracing the edges of the bottom required no squinting. The water trickled up divots that lead into the pipes.

"Why are all the pipes being used?" Link asked. "Doesn't seem practical."

"If I'm remembering the binder correctly, it's because we're here." She vaguely gestured. "It's a maze of dead ends meant to protect interlopers from the purest water."

"Why?"

"Haven't you noticed in history class? It's because whenever the Demon King attacked Hyrule, he'd target the water supply. Usually, he'd freeze the source of Zora River. Sometimes he'd poison it. It makes Hyrule weaker. Being able to treat it or withhold it from the enemy is a huge advantage."

"But we don't depend on this water anymore. Why is the enemy targeting it?"

Ever since they had entered the first room of the cistern, Zelda's subconscious had been forming a theory, and now she was almost convinced that she had unravelled the mystery of who was draining the lake. The moment she opened her mouth, something glinted in her periphery.

The opposite pipe spat ice darts. Zelda flicked out her palms, a gold shield forming, when Link hurled into her. The shield shattered as she bumped against the wall of the pipe. Link grunted as the shards dug into his arm and slashed his back.

When the ice shattered against the curve of the pipe, Zelda shoved Link away. "I was about to shield us!"

Link grimaced as he tried to pull the shards from his arm, but they were too slippery. "This would've been you."

"No, it-" Another glint. Zelda threw up a shield as a never-ceasing barrage of ice shattered against it. "Get around the bend."

"But you'll-"

"Now!" Link stumbled to his feet and limped around the corner. Zelda backed away while maintaining the shield until she too was around the corner. Only then did the barrage stop.

Zelda whipped towards Link. "I am so fed up with you!" She summoned a first aid box and dropped beside him. "First, you almost got swept away trying to use your bloody crossbow." Golden light yanked an icicle from Link's arm with a wet pop. Zelda staunched the blood with a cotton wad. "Then you overworked yourself on that damn hole." Another pop. "And now you just decided that your body made a better shield than my magic!" The final pop.

"I was trying to protect you."

Zelda scoffed as she unzipped the back of Link's wetsuit and helped him peel the top part off. "Of course you were. You're the brave hero and I'm just some helpless princess. Farore forbid I do the saving!"

Link pursed his lips as Zelda patted his skin dry with a cloth and mopped up more blood. How could she understand how he felt? It was his duty to be the shield, to take the beatings, to protect her from the harms he was exposed to. He knew her and her abilities well enough, and while she was capable in her own right, her place was not on the front lines. Even she admitted it before.

The most frustrating thing was that Zelda had done all the saving. She saved him in the coagulation room, the filtration room, and this one too. Not once, in this damned cistern, had Link done anything "heroic".

"I'm useless here," he admitted. "Your powers actually help us. Feels like I'm tagging along."

Zelda taped up the final slash on his back. "Quit cradling your ego. You cut that hole into the pipe," with your enchanted knife, "you did most of the digging," which achieved nothing, "and I would've drowned if you hadn't given me your capsule." That sparked reassurance. "Not to mention your excellent swimming got us here."

Link smiled a little. "Are we good then?"

"Oh, no. I'm still mad at you." She zipped up his wetsuit and he scooted around. "You still haven't apologised for being an idiot daredemon."

"But I thought you needed help."

"You don't do that for Ganon or Midna. You just trust each other. Why am I any different?"

She had a point. Why was he treating her differently? He had known his sister to show weakness, to cry for help, and grateful when he offered it. "I thought you'd want it."

Zelda sighed and settled against the pipe. "I know I can be fragile, and I do like being protected, but only on my own terms, okay? I don't want you to assume I'm helpless."

"But what if I hold back and you're hurt anyway?" Link asked. "I…" His heart was begging for permission to be vulnerable, but part of him said no. Lock it away. Stay strong. Stay strong. Stay… The foundations of strength were shaking under the pressure. Some of it had to be released. The smallest amount. "With Impa gone, you're the only family I have left. If something happens to you, I'm doomed."

"She's not gone yet, and neither am I," Zelda assured him. "I think without Ganon, we're out of sync. Let's slow down, okay?"

"Okay. I'm sorry for being an idiot daredemon."

Zelda giggled. "You're welcome to be a responsible daredemon. Don't let me spoil your fun."

After Link had some time to rest and heal, they continued down the pipe, rounding a few turns and climbing a few inclines that led them to the same room, only now they were at a higher level.

"Did the map show the way?" Link asked.

Zelda shook her head. "It only eliminated some options, and I don't remember what they are."

Link was a little daunted by the task ahead, but he accepted it with a curt nod. "I'll keep track of where we've been." Hopefully it wouldn't take days.

They worked from top to bottom, as they wanted to keep their distance from the vengeful water. Zelda kept the front, ready to conjure a light shield at a moment's notice, but no more ice assaulted them. Every pipe either led to a dead end where the water flowed down a drain, or back to the main room. Then Zelda would float them to the next pipe and they'd investigate it only to have their growing pessimism vindicated. Surely there was a more efficient way of doing this?

"The Hero of the Sky had it so easy," Zelda grumbled. They had stopped for a break in a pipe halfway down to the surface. "Apparently he had the help of a spirit who could sense the aura of whatever he was looking for."

"The one that lived in the Master Sword, right?" Link asked. Zelda nodded. "Maybe she's still in there? If there's malice around, she could sense it."

Zelda shrugged. "I suppose it's worth a shot." Her tone was far from optimistic, but Link figured it was weariness. He summoned the sword, thought on the malice, and panned the tip over the pipes they had not explored yet. Nothing.

Zelda sighed. "Figures. There's no malice here."

"How do you know?" Link stored the blade. "Could be out of range."

"Because I don't think Ghirahim is behind this at all," she said. "The only one capable of doing this is-"

A wave of water crashed around the corner, flushing them out of the pipe. Zelda screamed as they fell towards a whirlpool, but Link seized her wrist just before they splashed. The violent spinning threatened to rip them apart. He needed a hold. As they flew past a wall, Link summoned the Master Sword and dug it in. His arms were pulled taut. Her wrist was slipping away. She was slipping away. If he lost her, forget being cautious. Forget being responsible. He would let his emotions fuel him even if it meant becoming their slave.

The water tore her away. The bubbles and spinning obscured him as he screamed her name, but all that escaped was precious air.

The spiral slowed into nothing. Link yanked the sword free and kicked up to the surface. With his first breath, he peaked under the water again. She was gone. No, not this again. When the last dungeon stole his companion away, it almost destroyed her. Now Zelda had to face the wrath of the cistern without his protection. Would it torture her? Maim her? Drown her?

He summoned the capsule, bit into it, and dove. This pipe led nowhere, and that one looped around, but when he swam into a third, a strong current knocked him back. The water rushed past his ear with a booming whisper. "Leave."

No. Link wasn't going to leave. Not without Zelda. He swam towards the pipe again, and another current pushed against him. "I said leave!" He tried to fight it, adrenaline fuelling him, but he was smacked into a wall. "Have I not been generous with my warnings?"

Link shot the pipe a fierce glare and kicked towards the surface where he almost spat out his capsule. "I'm not leaving without my sister!"

"Insolent boy. You have cut through my veins, dug through my flesh, all because you want to pillage my heart."

"I don't give a damn about you! Hand over the Water Medallion and give my sister back."

"My patience is wearing thin. Leave this place, and you will be allowed to live."

"I DON'T LISTEN TO EVIL!" Link screamed.

First, the water stilled, and then it shook, it bubbled, it grew hot. "You dare call me evil?" the voice boomed. "After what your people have done to my waters, you dare to see me as just another villain to cut down?"

"You stole a lake," Link seethed, his anger challenging the water. "And you took my sister. That's evil!"

The water sucked him under, and he was shooting backwards, away from the surface, away from the light, twisting down this pipe and that. The water became darker, murkier. Link thrust his capsule to his mouth, but a current knocked it out of his hand.

"I now see I was a fool to give you as many chances as I did," the entity echoed, dragging him deep into black waters, "for you are the vilest poison to have besmirched my waters."

The thick toxins in the water soaked and burned his flesh, adding to the agony of his depraved lungs. Microplastics and mud clouded the last light Link saw as the sediments swallowed him whole.