Immediately in front of them was another switch above a barred door that lead into a structure in the middle of the area– it seemed pretty obvious to them. So Link shot the switch, and they moved into the room with little thought.
The door slammed closed behind them, something they'd gotten used to at that point. But the sound of bars coming down just as hard as the door got them both to turn back, and obviously struck a bit of panic into them.
If it wasn't for this shambling sound, Tya would have gone to try and pull the bars up. But the sound drew her attention back to the middle of the room where they both witnessed a pile of armored bones rise and construct.
It felt like her breath was just ripped from her chest as she watched this. After fully building itself up, the sockets where its eyes would have been lit up as a bright pink, and its jaw fell open to emit a horrid hissing sound.
Link hurried to detach his shield and draw his blade but Tya...
She just stood there.
Completely useless and paralyzed with fear.
This was the kind of thing she had nightmares about.
Where were the spiders, why couldn't there have been more spiders? A larger spider? She would have been find with that. Disgusted, but fine.
This…
This was too much.
It started to approach, two blades raised to block any hits the two may throw, not that Tya was trying. She stumbled back until the barred door stopped her.
Link stepped forward though, shield at the ready and his blue eyes locked on it, watching for any sign that it was about to strike. It gave none, and before it could Link got a nice blow in on its ribs– a spot it had left unshielded. It stumbled back with another hiss, but didn't fall. Its blades crossed, and Link hurried to move back when he realized what it was about to do.
The blades swept outward and just barely missed Link.
The thing seemed to take a second to gather itself, and in that second Link jumped forward, drawing his sword down hard to strike it. Effective hit, but not enough to kill it still.
It held its swords up again to block, and started toward Link again. This time, it didn't give a sign it was going to strike, but it did.
A sweep across Link's shoulder, slicing open his tunic, but luckily the chain-mail underneath prevented anything more than blunt force. It knocked him to the side a little and got a bit of a pained gasp out of him, but he kept himself up and didn't even think to back down.
It was at that point, Tya started to regain control of herself. A shaking hand lifted to slip off the pack, and she let it quietly set to the ground.
She didn't have time for mental preparation, she just pushed. Didn't think much, just stepped forward and let her hands ignite. Unarmored which was bad, but silent in her steps as always. Link held its attention well, but to prevent any chance of hitting Link, she had risk being seen by it…
She needed to be to its side, being behind it while Link was in front of it was too risky. Being in front of it but behind Link was too.
Slashes continued to echo through the structure, and her panic only allowed her to focus on one thing– a focus which she set on her steps and where she was.
The fire charged more with each step, and she struggled to keep herself focused enough to move where she needed to be. With them constantly moving and her being slow, it made it difficult, but the second she found herself where she needed to be, an unruly shot of fire was cast at it. Bones cracked and shattered with the force of her flames, but not completely. Not enough for it to fall. But enough for it to turn its attention to her.
Its eyes locked on her, and the second they did all the bravery she'd worked up disappeared. All control she had of her body drained, and she backed against the wall in a way that shown submission.
It had made a mistake though. It had taken its attention off Link, and before it could even get close to her, he used all his force to shatter what kept it standing. The bones dispersed and fell to the ground, and both of them stood completely still and watched it. They both seemed to just be waiting. Wondering if it was going to get back up. But it didn't…
Hesitantly, Link sheathed his blade, but kept his shield out. He moved to step toward Tya, but instead flinched at a ringing sound. He threw a hand black to the hilt of his sword, but a light in the middle of the room started to take the form of a treasure chest and he calmed. His attention flickered from it to Tya, then back to it.
She hadn't moved from her spot. She actually didn't know if she could. She wanted out but she knew she couldn't get out. Unable to voice this concern through the panic, she just kept her attention on that pile of bones. It had come up once and it might do it again. The air around them seemed calmer though…
She started to let herself breathe again. Having held her breath more than she should have, it was coming out labored. With her attention on the bones, she didn't notice Link coming near her, and when a hand set on her shoulder she flinched, nearly falling as she tried to get away from it. It was him. Just him. Calm down.
A little uneasy whimper was all that left her as she tried to think of an excuse, or even utter an apology for reacting like she did to a simple, friendly touch. She thought it was that thing. Could she say that? Would it make her sound stupid?
"I-It's okay… Really, I think its d-dead. It is-isn't coming back." He said gently, holding both hands up as if to surrender to her.
"S oy– Saa– ." The words hitched in her throat and her mouth moved involuntarily and wrong. The sounds that escaped her cracked slightly until she managed to pause and get enough control. "Sorry…"
Link offered a little smile before stepping away. She thought she heard him say hang on, but she wasn't concentrated enough to confirm. She didn't want him to go near it again, but again couldn't voice it. She wanted out, away from that room. Far from it. But she couldn't escape and that wasn't helping.
The chest that had formed in the middle of the room contained a strange contraption with some brief instructions on how to use it. He tilted his head at the object at first, tried it out, but when he didn't get the hang of it immediately he stopped for a moment and moved to Tya again. As he got closer, she could hear that he was breathing a bit heavier than normal.
"Are you a-alright?" A quiet cough left him after he spoke.
She nodded a bit in response, looking at what he held, then at the gash in his tunic. Push it away, be calm
. "Are you?" She should have asked sooner. How selfish…
A hand reached out to lightly touch the torn fabric, and as she did Link looked at it.
"Y-yeah… it'll probably bruise u-up but its f-fine for now." He seemed a bit more bothered than he was letting on, but she expected it. He was hit hard, if he wasn't aching at least a little, there was a problem.
"I'm sorry I didn't help more." Her hand rested against his shoulder flat for a moment longer before drawing back.
"We killed it, d-didn't we? You helped e-enough, especially for so-someone that was scared." He paused to offer a smile before continuing "Want to help me figure th-this thi-thing out?" He held the new tool up. It was shaped like a beetle, wings and everything, with a cuff that it sat on. "It s-says it'll fly around and I c-can control it."
It took them a moment, but they managed to figure it out. With it, he was able to fly it through a broken piece of the wall and around to hit the switch again. The doors opened and Tya immediately grabbed their things and rushed back into the large, open room. Link followed, resting a hand on her shoulder as if to offer quiet reassurance when he was near enough. She absently set her own over his, giving a light squeeze to it before they both released.
"Where to next?" Exasperated, ready to move on. She wanted to continue and hoped that thing was the only one they'd encounter. All the doors within view, save for the one they'd just walked out of and the room's entrance, were blocked off, so it was obvious there was another switch of sorts somewhere.
After standing around, studying the rooms ceiling (and the amount of skulltulas about it) Link held up his arm where he still had the new tool attached. He released it, leading it in the direction of these holes in the walls– ones that differed from the one that let them escape the structure. These were built there, so Link must have thought something interesting was in them. And he was correct.
They collected a surprising amount of rupees before finding a switch that opened their way into a new room.
The new room opened to a narrow hall- uncomfortable, really. More of those luminescent mushrooms lit the way until they found a ledge.
"More water." It was clear the fire mage was less than pleased to see it.
"But its sha-shallow." Link stepped over the edge and fell the short drop into the water below. It barely reached above his ankles.
"Hopefully it stays that way..." Tya soon followed.
When she landed she scanned the area thoroughly before calming.
The sounds that thing made were embedded in her head, and she listened for the sound of rattling or hissing with every step. It felt stupid to still be so paranoid, but she was. Another of them could pop up anywhere and get them. The air still seemed calm though. There wasn't any strange feelings of absolute dread, not to mention Link was there. She'd realized the further they went into this place the safer his presence felt.
A short walk through a crumbling hall led them to a new door. They pulled it open and stepped inside– Tya much more hesitantly this time than last. She followed in and the door closed. She calmed for a second but it spiked incredibly at the sound of the bars slamming down too. Link quickly drew his blade, turning back to look at the bars, then Tya.
That was it, another of those things was coming, calm down, SHUT UP, prepare or its going to kill you, going to kill Link.
Again her breathing hitched and she shook her head a little as she stepped back against the bars. Nothing was happening, nothing was attacking, where was it? Did it know? Was it enjoying the fear? It must have been, why wasn't it attacking?
Link looked from the room, back to her, and when he felt like there was nothing coming so long as they remained where they were, he went to Tya. He pulled the new tool off his arm so he could replace it with his shield, and after setting it on the ground next to Tya he stood straight and smiled at her as a silent attempt to console.
It didn't work. Not as much as he probably would have liked. It just didn't– she was locked in the room with another of those things and it was teasing her. It was taking its time in showing itself to further her agony.
Shield at the ready, Link started out into the middle of the room. The ledge overhead had created a bit of shade, and when he stepped out of its protection, that was when it attracted the attention of the enemy.
Her breathing stopped then, just completely ripped from her lungs as she knew it was coming, knew it was going to get Link and she was paralyzed there just wanting to run.
But then…
A skulltula fell from above dropping right in front of him.
That was it.
An unbelievable amount relief washed over her and what actually seemed like a breathless laugh escaped her.
Was… was that it?
She was able to regain control quickly. When she did, she fired at the skulltula, knocking it away quite dramatically to the point it fell on its back. From there, Link lunged forward, thrusting his sword down into the weak spot with perfect precision. Just like that, the bars were released, as if they somehow knew the spider was dead.
Tya looked at the door, then shook her head, grabbed the beetle and went to join Link. She was still shaken up, but this feeling of comfort and even warmth took her over. Like from there the worst they'd have to deal with were the spiders.
Another chest behind bars awaited them. Three of those uncomfortable eye switches needed to be triggered. Two would open, but the third above the door didn't seem to want to give them their attention. Link turned to the ledge over the door and looked it over from where they stood.
"I feel like it's too high and far." Tya said after taking a moment to do the same.
"W-worth a try." He motioned toward a section of vines he could climb to get up. He climbed up, but even at the very edge he was unable to get the attention from any of the switches.
He had almost given up when he noticed a large block that almost seemed out of place. The grooves in the floor suggested otherwise though; that it was meant to be there.
He pushed it over the edge, hoping it would hold itself together through the fall, and when it did he jumped down again. He was out of breath, but went to keep pushing the block. When she heard his labored breathing, she moved to help as well after strapping the beetle to a part of the pack. They moved the metal cube to the center of the room, and Link pulled himself on top of it.
It worked, finally, and they opened the cage then the chest. He was rewarded with another key and they started back out to the room they'd come from.
"So you were just too short to open it? " Tya teased, smiling up to Link who passed a playful glare back to her.
"You're one t-to talk. You're sma-smaller than me."
"Not by a lot! Only like two inches." She drew back and huffed dramatically in a way that suggested it was meant as a joke. Link simply laughed in return.
Much to Tya's dismay, there was more water. Up to her waist, and she had to hold the pack and Link's sword and shield over her head until Link got on dry ground. She tossed them over to him, then had to swim as well. This time they were both completely drenched in cold water. He didn't seem to mind besides the shivering, but Tya was incredibly unhappy. She tried to hide it, but the continuous attempts to ignite despite being soaked made her discomfort clear. She couldn't help but worry they'd end up face to face with another enemy, particularly one of those things and she'd be even more useless. Completely unable to protect herself even when she had the control to do so.
In the main room again, they found the door the key went to. Across a gap with those plants dangling from the ceiling... Link was smart though, he used the beetle to cut each down and then they crossed with little problem.
A long hall with the door and bars slamming behind them. The fear in Tya spiked again, but this time so did doubt. It could be another of those terrifying undead, but it could be something simple...
They moved warily around the corner, and found that someone had built up a wall of wooden planks to keep the creature in. Through them though, they could see a large reptilian beast with three heads. She was... surprisingly relieved to see that and not a Stalfos.
"...I can't fight." Tya showed her hands up to Link who paused. He seemed to think a second before grabbing her hands and putting them on his head- the only dry part of him.
"H-hats dry!" He said quietly yet happily.
Tya froze for a second before stifling a laugh. "You could have handed it to me." Her words remained laced with a laugh.
"Oh, y-yeah, I could h-have. This way made y-you laugh though!" He spoke as if that was a bright side before releasing her hands and pulling off his hat. As she used it to dry her hands, he reached over to tug at her sleeves. He squeezed one, wringing it out before starting to roll it up out of the way for her.
"Not co-comfortable, but better th-than getting hurt..." He went to draw his hands back, but paused as he looked at her arms.
It was something she paid little attention to anymore. They used to be prominent, embarrassing, something she'd hide from the view of everyone and panic when they saw. But... Now they were just scars. Dark, thin scars along her wrists, some even crossing over others.
It didn't even register in her head that they had gotten his attention- as stated, she rarely paid attention to them anymore. She moved to wring out and pull up the sleeve Link hadn't gotten to, and then she shook his hat a bit like that would dry it quicker.
"Do you want it back, or want me to put it away?"
"...J-Just water!" He seemed distracted at first, but quickly regained his normal optimistic demeanor as he took it back and put it on. "See if y-you can do the th-thing." After it was adjusted how he liked it, and his hair was relatively fixed, he held his hands out, mimicking the way she normally did it when she used her magic.
It took a second, but she got a weak flame and the longer she kept it lit the brighter it became. Extinguish, ignite, extinguish, ignite- and then it worked again. Well enough to fight anyway.
The pack was set down, and she moved back while Link prepared to deal with the boards that blocked the way. Even with their talking, they luckily hadn't gotten the attention of the beast on the other side. At least not up until Link cut and bashed through the boards.
The beast went to charge them, but Link charged right back. He sliced off one of the heads, and the other two went to attack but his shield blocked them. Thinking he'd gotten one down, he turned his attention to the others but paused as it leaned back and allowed the head he'd cut off to regrow.
Tya and Link both wanted to freeze up and be shocked, but there wasn't time for that.
Tya cast out an unruly and weak flame, hitting the beast's side and causing it to stumble a step or two, but other than that, it had no real affect. Its skin was too thick to burn with such a weak flame. A quiet curse left her as its attention turned on her, and as it started toward her, another ball was charged up. Her attention split, flickering from Link to the beast, and waiting to see when Link was going to strike.
It kept toward her and with it distracted, Link readied a horizontal blow that easily decapitated two of the heads. Before the third could allow them to regrow, the fire Tya had been charging incinerated it, and the beast fell on the ground, defeated.
They hadn't noticed it with their attention on the fight but a door was blocked off and waiting for the creature to fall. When it did, the door opened up for them.
Tya grabbed the pack again, looking down at the creature's corpse as she passed it. She paused and kicked aside one of the severed necks to expose a belt like piece it wore. Embedded in it were three bright red and slightly bloody rupees. She was reluctant, but she talked herself into pulling them out. The more they had, the better- maybe they could all three go out to eat after this, when they got Zelda home.
"What did it have?" Link motioned to her hands as she reluctantly wiped the creature's blood off on her pants.
"Just some rupees. Here." She held them out, scowling at the blood left on her hand.
A little sound of disgust left the male, but it seemed as if it was only a joke as his repulsed expression was mixed with a smile. He took them and tucked them into the wallet on his belt- the one he'd allowed to get just as wet as everything else he wore.
And then they continued through the door they'd just opened up by defeating the beast.
They were met with another of those green creatures but it was quickly dispatched, along with a skulltula that had unfortunately made its home over a gap. Unfortunate for it, that was, not for them, as Link simply cut it down with the beetle and let it fall down to wherever was beneath.
Another of those ideas Tya was completely uncomfortable with, was jumping across said gap, but this time it appeared she had little choice. Link, himself, barely made it across, clinging to the edge and pulling himself up. Needless to say that made her so much more uncomfortable. She didn't know if she'd even be able to hang on or catch herself like she did.
The pack was thrown over to him and set down, and then, though reluctant, the mage jumped across. If it weren't for Link's help, she would have suffered a fate similar to that of the skulltula.
Another red switch triggered, opening the way back into the large room with the structure in the middle, but Link didn't take that way. There was more to the current room to uncover, particularly a large beautiful door across yet another chasm. Judging by the jagged edges, there was, at some point, a bridge, but it wasn't there anymore.
Instead, a thin rope was strung across it, and one of those green monsters waiting on the other side. One that Tya set a blaze so they didn't have to risk being hurt by it as they struggled to keep their balance anyways.
Link crossed first, and Tya waited until he was safely on the other side. She had to take the pack across this time, so she secured everything then started across while continuously repeating the words 'don't look down' in her head. Luckily, they both made it safely.
When she was safely on the ground again, Link turned to the door. It was larger than both of them, though that wasn't a hard feat, given they were both quite small. The designs on it gave Tya this nature-like feel. In the middle was a large golden thing with a strange shape in the middle. A spot that appeared to be missing whatever went there.
They both just silently assumed that must be what opened the door.
Link looked right to left as he stepped back. There was a door on either side, and swayed a bit before looking at Tya.
"Want to t-take one side and I-I'll take the oth-other?"
"Sure. Which would you like?"
"I'll go right. I al-always go right when I c-can't decide so-something. That way I'm al-always right. Get it?" He laughed at himself before starting off through the right archway. Tya stood there for a second, sighing heavily at the joke before slipping off the pack and heading left. On her side, all there was was a small chest, in which was another red rupee, which she was glad to find. And glad didn't have blood on it. After finding it, she returned to the door and sat down next to the pack. He was taking a bit longer, but she assumed she'd be able to hear it if there was anything going on. This place was large and open, any sounds echoed. Still, there was a bit of worry in her...
Resting her muscles felt nice. She hadn't really realized just how much her legs ached until she took her weight off them. She searched the pack and pulled out a flask of water, realizing that neither of them had properly cared for themselves the entire time they'd been in there. How long had it been? It had to have been hours. She kind of wondered if they'd leave and be out in the dark. If so, she was glad they bought the camping equipment- they couldn't return to skyloft after night fell. They'd have Zelda though, and they only had two bed rolls. She'd willingly give her own though, or just sleep with her friend. It wouldn't have been the first time, Zelda spent the night at Tya's plenty of times.
Where was Link? Why was he taking so long?
Just before she went to stand and go see what was on the other side, she saw a rope fling out from the structure to the right, and then Link run and jump, clinging onto it. Nearly gave her a heart attack because she thought he'd miss.
It was almost too much for her to watch as he swung and landed on a tree with a surprisingly flat edge. As if that didn't nearly kill her enough, she watched him as he found two more of those thick, sturdy vines, and swung from them as well, until he landed on the opposite side of the chasm in an open part that couldn't be reached any other way due to it being blocked off.
She calmed when he seemed to be on solid ground again, but he went out of her sight then. She knew he could handle himself, but Goddess he was pushing it...
Suddenly, the male landed again on the opposite side, and started to cross the rope again. Tucked beneath his arm was a strange golden piece. Tya relaxed against the wall, watching him closely to be sure he crossed safely. Not that she'd be able to really help if he fell.
When he returned to her, he plopped down next to her and took the flask from her hands, taking a long sip from it while he held out the odd piece he'd retrieved.
She scoffed like she was offended that he took the water from her, but it was only meant to be playful. She was actually about to offer it to him anyways. She took the piece though, and started to look it over before leaning forward and looking at the door next to them.
"Is this the key?"
When he was finished drinking, he lowered the flask to his lap and looked at the door, then to the piece. He took a deep breath, one which she could actually hear a bit of wheezing behind and then replied with "i-it was in a fancy treasure che-chest so, I'm g-going to guess it is."
"Are you alright?" She set it aside, moving on to her knees to better look at him. His breathing seemed to pick up significantly when he'd move around more, and she knew he was much more in shape than she was. But this time, it seemed much worse.
"Yeah, j-just..." He paused to take in a long inhale. "Got a bit o-of a br-breathing thing."
"A breathing thing?"
"Yeah, I-I'm fine th-though, don't w-worry." Another of those smiles was given to her, and she returned it as she shook her head.
"If you insist. Oh- you're going to end up killing one of us doing that shit." She shifted back into her spot next to him and against the wall before motioning to the vines she'd watched him swing from.
He laughed a little in a way that seemed like he felt accomplished before taking another long drink from the flask. Pulling it away though, his breathing became worse, and Tya bit the inside of her lip. He wasn't panicking, he said he was alright, but she still worried.
"...Are you sure you're alright?" One last question, if he replied positively, she'd drop it.
And he did, he nodded his head, taking in a deep breath and then releasing it... And then coughing for a second before inhaling again.
She still didn't like it, but either way, she nodded and accepted it. He would know better than she would, so she needed to trust what he said. Quit worrying. "When you catch your breath, we can figure out how to open the door."
