Part Three - Vah Rudania

Link desperately braced his back against the solid wall of granite behind him, throwing his legs up to push with whatever force he could against the opposing wall of stone that was collapsing in on him and Revali, the blistering heat of the gigantic vent blowing ever furious against his skin as the pressure around them mounted. They were to be crushed between the two walls, Link knew, but he wasn't about to simply give up.

"This is precisely how I always knew I would perish," Revali complained bracing himself in the same manner as Link, "Stolen away from the eyes of the sky, trapped in some abominable tunnel of disgusting earth and silt!"

Link grumbled beneath the pressure rushing through his muscles as he pushed against the wall with as much force as he could muster, "Shut up and help me push!"

"Pah!" Revali shouted in complaint, though he did as he was told, his voice weakening behind a loud groan of frustration weighing upon him, "This… stupid… plot! I'll kill… that Goron… in… the nex-… -t life!"

Link shut his eyes, intensity welling up inside him as his legs helplessly pressed toward his chest beneath the weight of the stone rock sinking toward them. He gritted his teeth defiantly, despite knowing there was no use in doing so. Still, he knew better than to go down without a fight.

An echoing voice broke through some space in the solid wall at his back- Urbosa's. A slam rang out that caught Link's attention as he tried to catch the words through the mercilessly loud churning of rock bursting through rock.

"DAMN IT!" Urbosa cried as she punched the wall once more, turning to face Mipha and Zelda, both with weapons at hand, "Well, ladies- Looks like we fight. How's that lantern holding up?"

Zelda's nerves too rattled to reply, Mipha reached a hand over to light up the rattling cage of lamplight, turning her head to peek out the cloudy visor of her helmet, "Oil's nearly gone."

"Well, in the darkness, we're-" she paused, her saddening eyes falling upon Zelda, who was on the verge of dropping her sword from the nerves of tremored terror coursing through her body.

Urbosa stepped toward her before pulling her into an embrace, forcing Zelda to speak through tearful innocence, "U- Ur-bosa… I- I don't-"

"Don't you say it," the Gerudo Queen commanded, "Don't even think it. Not until you're unable to entirely."

Mipha's upturned glance caught Urbosa's attention, the Zora noting, "There's one of those vents within the ceiling."

Turning a desperate stare to Urbosa, she ordered, "Take Zelda and head up there. You can climb sheer rock faces, correct?"

"Not when it requires leaving a friend behind, no," Urbosa retorted, her attention stripped from the women as a ear-piercing shriek echoed from down the hallway that now trapped them, blood-red eyes faintly appearing in the distance, covering each corner of their exit in a sick mass of defiled squeals and squirms.

A wavering knock broke through the other side of the stone wall at their backs, Revali's voice only faintly breaking through, "Gah!"

"Revali?!" Zelda cried, spinning around, "Are you there?!"

"Only for a moment!" Link quipped in an aggravated shout, "Any chance you could chisel on through in half a minute?"

Urbosa frowned, her eyes tearing up at the thought of her surrogate daughter joined in the same fate as her, "That swarm has us trapped."

She muttered only to herself, "I'm afraid we haven't much time ourselves…"

A thick moment of tense silence fell upon the two groups, separated by this massive obsidian wall, before Link finally shouted, "-Shut Up! Get Zelda out of here!"

Mipha whipped her head back toward Urbosa," See?! Zelda's the one of us that must get out of here! Just get her and-!"

"No…" Zelda spoke with a shaking voice, her head drawn toward her chest as she slowly turned back to face the oncoming threat.

Her voice broke in between tears, "I brought you all here. I don't deserve to flee when nobody else is able."

Mipha's eyes caught Urbosa's fir a brief moment before she replied, "Zelda, the fate of Hyrule- It's larger than any of us. but not you. If you don't leave- Hyrule may not have a future."

Zelda tilted her head upward, tears rolling down her face, turning the soot upon her face into smoky strands of tar that lined her cheeks, "Mipha, I-"

"KWAAARW!"

Urbosa readied her Sword, gritting her teeth, "Make your choice quick, child! Here they come!"

The roaring rumbles of the ceiling collapsing onto Link and Revali now met the angered cries of swarming ferocity coming to meet them, leaving Zelda firmly in place as she raised her hand gingerly, stepping back against the wall with her sword prepared to greet them in turn. Mipha sadly joined the two, worriedly biting her teeth as she threw her shoulders up to better adjust the suit that held tight against her body, readying her trident with wary eyes.

She knew the Company was to fail. to die down in these darkest depths of Eldin Mountain. She only wished that Zelda weren't among them.

If only she knew what Zelda had come to know.

"We take a right, here," Zelda nodded with an authoritative tone as she raised her head from the map spread from one hand to the other.

After leaving Zora's Domain, the troupe of Champions left Zorana as a whole, passing the Inogo Bridge and making their way northward along the teetering edge of Trilby Valley, the massive gorge of a footprint at the bottom of the mighty Eldin Mountains. Without much of a discussion, it was simply understood that Vah Rudania would be their next venture, however, strolling along the back end of Upland Zorana, Zelda had suddenly halted their advance.

Daruk s scrunched his forehead in confusion, pointing a sizable number of degrees away from the Princess' direction, "Uh, Zelda? Eldin is that way."

Nodding, Zelda assured, "I know. But if we're to ascend that mountain in the first place, there is, yet, something for us to do."

The Company as a whole turned their stares to Mipha, how quivered nervously beneath the purely debilitating number of eyes upon her, "Eh- Umm-…"

"Mipha is the only one among us with cold blood," Zelda explained in a scholarly voice that betrayed her knowledge when she honed so dangerously close toward her ability to randomly toss out odd diction.

Bringing a hand to her chin, she explained, "I read a book once about Zora physiology and the like. Ramaro and Kiloo, Zora and Rito scientists, respectfully, along with an unwitting Hylian manservant who they maybe, sort of forced to translate their findings- it's not concrete, but different historians point to various reasons from forced imprisonment indentured servitude for the Hylian's inclu-"

"Zelda," Urbosa coughed in a forced effort to reorient the young woman's attention.

"Right!" Zelda piped up, "They did a ton of research involving which climates Zora could adapt to beyond their 'static' environment that is, obviously, rather temperate. As we saw in Gerudo Desert, much of the Zora's biomechanisms rely upon their skin remaining moist so that they can better regulate themselves. That's why that gekari gel works so magnificently."

As if to bring up in note, Mipha dug through her pack to find the jar that Revali had bought her back in Kara Kara Bazaar, studying it herself, "Even in the desert, with this stuff on me, I never felt all that hot."

"Which is exceptionally good," Zelda nodded, "Were a Zora to get too hot, Ramaro and Kiloo found, their body would undergo severely negative changes. Their natural enzymes would begin to break apart- their righting responses, which is their body's attempts to maintain its natural balance, begin to fail, eventually leading to an onset of spasms when the body is simply trying anything to return to a habitable zone to survive."

Zelda nodded with interest, eyes gleaming, "The body literally ignores the brain! The spinal cord more or less enters a primal state of survival; much like how Hylians- when we drown, our brains literally fail to function, and our bodies simply flail about, seeking any source of survival! Fascinating, right?!"

Covering a cough of his own, Link looked away, "In a manner of speaking, I suppose…"

"Briefly, please," Urbosa asked impatiently.

Zelda sighed, "Mipha will die if we aren't prepared to ascend Eldin Mountain properly."

"Could you not have mentioned that without all the puffing up your knowledge?" Revali complained with a frown.

With a frown of her own, Zelda's lips scrunched up distastefully, "I'm simply trying to cover all of our bases. From the start, I wanted us all to be apart of each leg of this journey. That was the point."

Furrowing worriedly, Zelda brow fell as she turned toward Mipha, "That said, the last thing I want is to impart even further danger upon any of you."

Mipha watched her blankly, though with a look that implied deep thought before replying with a smile, "I would not allow anybody to claim the Zora as ill-participants because I failed to accompany you the entire way. So long as there's a way to-"

"Oh, there's a way!" Zelda exclaimed suddenly, rushing toward Mipha and hugging her tightly in thanks, "One of my mother's good friends, Purah- she deals with experimental mechanisms and phenomenon mostly, however-"

She pointed down the path leading toward Akkala, "She always said that if I needed anything for this time and place, I should visit Doctor Robbie. He's an old student of hers; I thought if anybody had any ideas of getting a Zora up a volcano, it'd be him!"

"Robbie?" Link suddenly spoke up incredulously, "Doesn't he largely deal with Guardian technology?"

Zelda agreed, "He does, yes, but he delves into many engineering matters."

"Engineering?" Daruk suddenly wondered.

Covering her face, Urbosa sighed, "I see where her mind has taken her. She did bring up Mipha's skin a moment ago…"

"A suit, exactly!" Zelda broke out in exclamation, "Look! Mipha is cold-blooded, but that's a misnomer- she's simply less heated as the rest of us, albeit to an extreme degree, literally. If Robbie could construct a suit that aids her skin in regulating her body temperature-"

"PFFT HA HA!" Revali released a boisterous laugh as his body thrashed about in elation.

Zelda crossed her arms with a huff, "What?! I'm serious!"

Revali failed to contain his laughter, but managed nonetheless between the bouts of humor, "But-! But you're-! Bwah ha ha! You're content with- PFFT!- making her a goldfish!"

His frame fell over as he held is waist as his laughter carried on, even catching Daruk with a series of his own chuckling. Zelda frowned at the spectacle, though it was Mipha who stepped forward to command attention.

"Zelda," she spoke up, ignoring the two nearby, "If you believe this as a means to accomplish this mission- I'm more than happy to try it out."

Now smiling, Zelda nodded toward her, "I'm not sure, but- If Robbie can come up with something, it may very well be possible."

"And if not," Link suddenly interjected, catch both Mipha and Zelda's attention, "Regardless of narratives, it would be best if she did not ascend herself."

Mipha's eyes narrowed uncertainly while Zelda questioned, "I agree, but-"

"She's already proven far more than any one of us would have hoped at the outset of this journey," Link confirmed, "Nobody would fault her for not treading so close to that line between life and death."

Zelda's eyes remained puzzled only until she recognized why Link was being incessant, though Urbosa's voice broke past her shoulder, catching her off guard, "Speaking for a Zora Princess now, boy?"

Shrugging, Link answered professionally enough, "I'm a soldier. There's no reason to threaten the life of a single soldier when, often enough, one soldier is the only thing between the success and failure of a unit."

Hoping to resolve the rising tension, Mipha spoke up, the last thing she wanted being Urbosa prying out unneeded answered about she and Link, "Ur- Urbosa, I can assure you that Link isn't speaking for me. I'm not stupid enough to trudge up a volcano unless we're certain of anything. At this point, I'm simply curious in Zelda's idea."

"As you should be!" Zelda spoke up proudly, "Robbie has provided Hyrule Kingdom with many brilliant accouchements that, while rather unnotable, were interesting nonetheless!"

Revali broke the tension with his diminishing laughter, "Yes! Yes! We must see his work! I would be awestruck to witness him constructing a cage for me!"

Urbosa eyed Daruk with a wry expression, "I've heard of children carrying around rocks as pets, as well, you know."

"A cage for the Goron too, then!" Revali cackled, shaking his head and sending tears flying from his face, "BAH HA HA!"

Link noted quietly, "This is the first time Robbie's work has caused laughter. It usually results in glazed-over stares by how strange it all is."

"To be sure, for strange problems, strange solutions may yet be best," Zelda reasoned, "In any case, before heading toward Eldin, we shall make a slight detour to the east, up toward Deep Akkala. Any objections?"

"Question!" Daruk spoke up with a raised finger, "There are stories about Akkala- that it's mostly plains."

Link smirked, "The gourmet might not be the best for you, no."

Throwing a fist through the air with a disenchanted swing, Daruk frowned, "Drat…"

Giggling silently to herself, Zelda readied her backpack with a hop into the air, "Alright, let's head on out! It shouldn't take us more than a day or two to reach the cape at the edge of Akkala. Now would be an excellent time for a story!"

"About Akkala, or-?" Urbosa wondered quizzically.

"Sure!" Zelda sprung lightly, "Link, didn't your father spend much of his time patrolling these lands?"

He nodded, "He did, yes."

"So? Regale us!" she insisted, "I wasn't able to go through your family's records entirely, and once we started getting along, I figured it was a moot point. I've been wondering what makes a Royal Knight, to be honest."

Her expression fell, "I know the history of this place has been rather…unfortunate as of late."

"I suppose I would know that more than anybody," Link admitted easily enough, "My father died out here."

Shock painted Zelda's face, "I-! …sorry."

With an assured voice, Link tilted his head to signal his own indifference, "No need to be. He died in the line of duty. Far worse fates await many, but not him."

"Surely you feel something, Brother," Daruk wondered, "We Gorons tread lives that far outlast any of you, yet we still mourn."

Link shrugged, "I didn't know him much to begin with. He often worked double duty after I came about, making up for my mother, who remained home to raise me. When he did return home, it wasn't to explain how he was assaulting unruly citizens. That was the last thing he wanted to return home to."

He turned to the others, "For the histories between Hyrule Kingdom and the Zora, or even the Rito, we seem to have often saved the worst of them for our own people."

"Bah," Revali dismissed, striking the air with a slashing motion, "Would you care to explain away the culling of Rito in Southern Tabantha?"

Link shot him a glare, "I dismiss nothing. I'm not proud of everything my Kingdom has done; and while it doesn't make me less of a knight to say that, I can only hope to create a brighter future by my service."

An angry expression showing upon Revali's face, the Rito offered, "You speak so often of unfailing loyalty. So if your King were to ask you to kill a Rito child, you would do as he asked."

Zelda muttered softly, "He wouldn't-"

"You would do as he asked," Revali repeated to silence Zelda's retort.

Link's brow narrowed, though he hadn't much of an answer, simply replying with a weak, "It depends."

"Pshaw," Revali scoffed with unwavering distaste, "No wonder your father was content with, as you said, saving the most horrible histories for his own people. We Rito wouldn't dare do such a thing."

Rolling her eyes, Urbosa simply aimed to end Revali's hypocrisy, "Says the Rito so ostracized by his own kind."

"Only to better my existence," Revali shot back, "Leaving me be to strengthen myself was a far better fate than, as the Hylian put it, assaulting me."

"Okay!" Zelda cried out, throwing her arms out to halt the conversation, "I asked for stories, not arguments!"

"Hmph," Revali groaned as he brought his arms crossed into his chest, "I will submit, then; if only to entertain these tales of Hyrule Kingdom's denigration of its own people."

Zelda replied with a dishearted tone, "No. We will talk about something else. Daruk, maybe- Do you have any-"

"I don't mind continuing," Link shrugged, "Akkala was inhabited by Hylians hoping to largely escape the life beneath the reaches of the King. A tense confederation already, it would escalate during droughts or famine; there was always a disagreement between Hyrule and Akkala over just how responsible the King was over these people. They wanted little to do with Hyrule Kingdom, yet requested aid during tumultuous times. The Akkalans were always wary of the Kingdom taking advantage of them and ending their sovereignty of farmers and outliers."

Link continued, "It grew worse over time. Given its animosities toward Hyrule Kingdom, the Yiga managed to sprout up here, a conglomeration of Shiekah-led individuals who found all the membership they would ever need in the angered masses of Akkala. Eventually, the King withdrew aid altogether to send a message, only angering the Akkalans further. When aid returned, it came along with patrolling bands of soldiers, my father among them, to ensure that the Yiga weren't planning assaults upon our own Kingdom."

"Then, the tensions boiled over," Link explained, "A Hyrule soldier sought out shelter one night in the home of an Akkalan farmer. He must have been a kind fellow, as many Akkalans would've refused outright, but despite his generosity, something happened that night, and the soldier was killed. The Akkalans claimed he had assaulted the farmer's daughter, while Hyrule stroked their ability to bring up exemplary soldiers who wouldn't do such things. Angry riots broke out, aimed toward the clusters of Hyrule soldiers who were simply there to root out enemies. Not two weeks after the worst skirmishes began, my father's body was returned home."

Link offered simply, "I'm just explaining what happened. Despite what the bird suggests, I don't condone it one way or the other. Tension still remains, from what I know, but it's been largely quelled by King Rhoam. He seems to be more concerned with improved relations, whether that means a more dangerous Yiga threat."

Her lips turned in painful sadness, Zelda confirmed, "He believes a more unified confederation between Hyrule Kingdom and Akkala is a large enough force to keep the Yiga at bay."

Daruk scratched his head, "I apologize for not knowing, but Hyrule politics don't often reach the tops of Death mountain. Who are the Yiga?"

This time, it was Zelda who replied, "They are Sheikah who, unlike the kind inhabitants of Kakariko Village, wish to harm Hyrule Kingdom, or rather, the establishment as a whole. They see the world's shunning of ancient Sheikah technology to be a horrible disgrace to their ancestors, while the Sheikah who inhabit Kakariko chose to live peacefully among us today."

"Uhh," Daruk worrifully muttered in reply, "But aren't we handling ancient Sheikah technology..?"

Zelda smiled, "Only to better understand it. The Yiga are far more interested in using it to bring the world to an end, believing it to be necessary to bring their own god into opposition against Hylia and all the goddess stands for. I'd like to believe we're doing it for the right reasons."

"You'd like to," Urbosa noted, simply playing devil's advocate, "What do you truly believe?"

Grinning rather unconvincingly, Zelda impishly replied, "Well… That's why I have you all. If anything were to go wrong- Certainly Hyrule's Champions would be able to rise to the occasion."

"Fair enough," Daruk completed with a smirk, "Surely you know who all to rely upon when it comes to Hyrule's safety!"

Revali's eyes nearly burst from their sockets as Daruk threw an arm around his shoulders to pull him closer, "Even Revali-!"

"Unhand me!" the Rito shrieked at the top of his lungs, unable to escape the man's grasp.

"Even Revali has convinced me of his prowess in battle!" Daruk declared as Revali stewed under his arm, giving up after realizing there was no escape.

The Rito charged beneath a breath, "Allow me to demonstrate that now…"

The Champions reached the massive incline that rose above the pathway to Eldin, along the chalky-white cliffs of Zorana that loomed overhead. As the commotion amongst them died down, Zelda pressed on with an attempt to seek out conversation.

"I hadn't been here before Link and I came here a few months ago," she spoke up, "I suppose we still are here on business, but hopefully we may be able to better admire its offerings this time around."

Mipha spoke up with interest, "I've heard that it has some palatable finds as far as fishing goes. From atop Zorana Mountain, we often scope out schools as they migrate along the coastline."

"You think we might find some for more of that sushi we had back at the Domain?!" Daruk questioned passionately.

Smiling gleefully, Mipha replied, "I'd be happy to make some if we come across some. I suppose if we're planning a trip atop Death Mountain, we'll need to take food along, won't we?"

"Correct!" agreed Zelda dutifully, "Once we get to Robbie's Workshop, we'll discuss food, our water situation, since I'm sure it won't be a day-long endeavor. Anything we'll need, as well as a plan logistics-wise, which I hope Daruk will be exceptional with. Where to go for the most viable route to Vah Rudania."

Daruk nodded, "Understood, though that will prove to be rather difficult. Vah Rudania isn't stationary like Vah Ruta was; he skitters along the whole of Death Mountain, seemingly aware of the different geysers through which magma spills out from the mountain and covering them so that we are not in any harm."

"Bingo!" Zelda shouted, insistently poking Link's shoulder, "Write that down! As I suspected, the Divina Beasts are largely built for the peoples inhabiting their sphere of influence!"

Daruk furrowed his brow in thought, "I suppose so, though I haven't thought much about it. He can't be everywhere, so we still have the occasional spurts of magma rocks, but he's always there for the massive eruptions. That said, he travels around the anterior of the mountain, while also crawling into its most massive crater amongst the top of Eldin."

"I suppose we'll have to figure out how to tackle it from either direction, since I doubt it will wait for us," Urbosa sighed, shaking her head as her palm came to rest atop her forehead, "Halfway complete, and now the trek becomes troublesome…"

Zelda giggled at the Gerudo's implication that the journey hadn't yet been difficult, but understood her all the same. She knew that this leg of the journey would test the Champions, even more than it had these last few moments; but that was why she had chosen this assortment of Champions in the first place.

She knew that, whatever might come to challenge them, they would succeed.

Or so she hoped.

A/N: So, Zora biology is so far up in the air that anything would be considered head-canon. They have traits of, both, mammals and amphibians/reptiles; however, for my own purposes (as well as thematically speaking) I've chosen to make them more like amphibians- i.e. cold-blooded.

I actually consulted legitimate herpetologist Dr. Sara Ruane to direct me to proper documentation about amphibians and reptiles in extreme conditions, so Zelda's lecture on what would happen to Mipha atop Death Mountain is, largely, scientifically founded- or, at least, however much can be attributed to science in the world of Hyrule.

Add this to the list of topics I've come to understand QUITE well as a result of inclusion in fan-fiction. I also learned FAR more about ballet than I ever thought I would for 'Lacroix' xD

In any case, I hope you enjoy this penultimate part of the story! Two more to go :D