IN MY HANDS
By Phantwo J Fou
(ooh, ahh... worship me)

Author's notes: Well, I really appreciate the reviews! Thank you, Hylian Aes Sadai, for your kind feedback. . . . I'm glad you've liked this so far! And you, Kota Magic, for your faithful reviews! All you guys keep me going! I love you! I love you all!

Chapter Six
A Regular Fairy Boy

Well, this was certainly a spectacle to behold!

The Hyrule Castle throne room was empty, save for a small figure sitting on the throne. But the figure was indistinct and faded, barely visible in the dim light.

Then the doors at the end of the hallway burst open, drowning the room with blinding light. Then the light dissipated as a crash sounded through the room, and a new figure appeared inside the doors. This figure was dark, tall, and bulky. It was logical to assume that this figure represented evil.

The figure took a step forward, into the light from one of the windows. His fiery hair was set against olive skin, his dark eyes were narrowed and his lips curved upward in a sinister smile; on his forehead was a jewel. No, a flower. No, a jewel . . . a sun?

Sun, jewel, or flower, he was still Ganondorf Dragmire. The Gerudo king. The one male Gerudo of a century. The one male—who hardly deserved to be king of his nation, who deserved the spit of the Hero of Time in his face. Sacred spit should do damage to the one man who stood for all the darkness in the world, should it not?

The figure on the throne shifted, but it was still all but invisible. By no stray move did it betray its own identity, unlike the King of Evil, who stepped boldly forth to face the figure on the throne. Drawing his sword, the King shouted, "Princess Zelda!"

It was her voice that replied to his brash voice . . . but her words denied that. "Forgive me, King—she is not here."

Ganondorf took another daunting step toward the throne. "Forgive me, fool—but you are a liar." His voice dripped of mockery of her words. "And I suppose now that you are no longer the princess, I need not afford you that respect. Come, before I force you to!"

Again, she repeated to him, "I'm sorry, sir—but she is not here."

"You lie!" he shouted, sounding more serious this time. "She is here, and she will obey me! I hold the Triforce of Power in my hand, and she shall obey me or submit to its power instead!"

Suddenly a light flashed onto the throne, dousing the figure sitting upon it. Slowly the figure came into view as the light dimmed, and it spoke again.

"I tell you the truth," said Sheik, "she is not here." Then he lifted a hand toward the door. "Now, go, sir, before I'm coerced into making you regret disobeying my words."

Ganondorf jumped back, terrified, and backed toward the door.

He was not afraid of the form on the throne, though—Sheik was not exactly an imposing figure to Ganondorf, after all.

No, it was the symbol of the Triforce that had suddenly appeared on the wall behind the the throne, with two of the golden triangles glowing—the bottom two pieces. Why would only two of them be lit up?

"I offer you one last chance," said Sheik, his voice resonating powerfully, almost divinely, throughout the room even though he'd uttered the words quite softly. And yet, strangely enough, his voice still was not . . . his. In her voice, he finished with his finger pointed at the door. "Leave, King of Evil, before the Light vanquishes you forever."

Ganondorf did not hesitate to comply.

I suddenly had the most awkward notion that there was more to Sheik than met the eye. . . .

I cried out to Sheik, but my voice was lost in the throne room and found in a chamber totally unfamiliar to me. Looking ahead, I searched for him, but the throne that had been before me moments before had disappeared, leaving nothing in its place. The golden Triforce emblem had disappeared as well, and all I saw was a plain stone wall.

Calm, Hero, I berated myself. Don't forget yourself because of a dream. And it was just a dream.

Then I began to wonder how I had come to be sleeping. . . .

My aching head and dried blood on my temple reminded me shortly as I sat up. Every joint in my body seemed to be sore, crying out—whether they were asking for more sleep or screaming out at me for staying in the same position for hours, I was uncertain.

Hours. How many had it been? What day was it . . . what time was it . . . how dark was it outside? How many days had I been in this temple, fighting for a cause I wasn't sure if I could trust, fighting a battle I didn't know if I could win? How many more was I destined to spend in here, running blindly, completely alone save for Navi?

Navi.

Never mind . . . I was completely alone.

Gently rolling over—for I was now treating my muscles with care in the hopes that they'd serve me well through the rest of the temple—I tried to stand up without hurting myself at all. No such luck. Immediately when my feet hit the temple floor, all my muscles protested painfully and threatened to take revenge on me for abusing them at my precarious attempt to inch forward. For a moment I began to think I couldn't remember being in so much pain before, but then I quickly recalled a few experiences in past temples that made this awakening seem almost pleasant. Though I shuddered mentally at that recollection, my mind suddenly flooded with even more memories of times I'd awakened from a miserable sleep and found myself in sheer agony.

So perhaps this wasn't so terrible. My limbs seemed to draw strength at those memories, allowing me to step forward with more confidence. My left leg was still thoroughly asleep, but the tingling sensation had started to dissipate in my right, at least. But after a moment of testing my strength, I noticed the peculiar absence of a heavy weight on my shoulders and back. Curiously I took a gander around the room.

Ah, there they were. The Master Sword and my Hylian shield. However could I have forgotten the items which had protected me from a quite undesirable demise so often? The aura of the sword was absent as well, which I really should have noticed upon waking. Although I didn't trust myself to run, the items were simply too important to leave unattended; therefore I wanted to hurry.

Kneeling down beside the Sacred Sword and the not-so-sacred shield reverently, I reached out for them with a shaking hand. First I held out my right and retrieved the shield; next I began to reach for the sword with my left hand.

Then I was rudely interrupted by a crash. With my hand still extended before me, groping for the sword, I was suddenly thrown forward as something smashed into my back unexpectedly.

I learned something today! Though many thought it impossible, Hylians can fly! All it takes is an angry floor master, lots of open space, and an absent-minded Hero of Time, and voila! A Hylian is airborne!

As I launched forward, I really tried my hardest to enjoy the sights from the sky and not think about the impending impact awaiting me at the next hidden stone wall, but I only had about five seconds in the air to think about it. Then my flight was abruptly halted as my nose became quite well-acquainted with the nearest wall. Unfortunately, I had no handy utensils to peel my face from the invisible bricks, so my hands had to suffice.

Speaking of hands, the floor master sat on the—guess where?—floor, gloating about what it must have thought was its victory. But a flattened Hero is not a dead hero, and a flattened but not discouraged Hero of Time managed to successfully rip his face off while peeling his body off a wall to face his foe. Ah, well, I didn't need my face anyway, I decided; I'd come back for it later. With the rest of myself intact, I turned to glare at the enemy.

It was assuming assault position, contracting its fingers and emitting an odd whistle of sorts. The abhorrent fiend's even more abhorrent flesh began to glow olive green. I grimaced. Then I settled down patiently and waited like a good little boy for it to take a murderous leap at me.

The floor master wasted no time in that endeavour, and it promptly jumped, aimed about halfway through jumping, and attempted to flatten me again. I too promptly jumped, stepping to the side without ceremony, allowing the floor master to meet the same fate as I had suffered just seconds ago. Then I laughed as it fell to the ground with what sounded like a whimper. At least, I laughed until I started wondering exactly what the whimper had come out of. Floor masters had no mouths.

I hurried to retrieve my sword and shield, dashing back to where I'd been sitting before the floor master had attacked—back to where my tools awaited me. With one what I'd like to call 'fluid' motion, I reached down and snatched them both. Then with another so-called smooth but actually rather jerky movement, I twisted about, readying myself for the battle awaiting me.

My nose wrinkled in disgust. Beholding my challenger proved to be more of an effort than I'd remembered; floor masters were simply the living epitome of sheer hideousness. With a deep breath and a mental assurance that I wouldn't die of horror and disgust, I tested my feet in a step towards it. Then I stepped back, for it lunged.

Without hesitation, I too lunged and slashed at the monster, thrusting the Master Sword through its back as hard as I could. The jarring sensation of the blade cutting through the bones of its gaunt fingers almost had me gagging for a moment. However, when the floor master tore into mini masters, I really did start gagging. But I pushed it down and chased after the closest one, holding my sword in both hands.

"Come here, you worthless rodent!" I grumbled, diving at the creature with a grunt. Thankfully, I finished off this piece of the floor master quickly; my sword hit home and sliced it in two. There were still more, however, to my dismay; two more, racing away trying to protect their lives at full speed. It was all too likely that I could never catch up to them if I simply began running. I decided my bow would be the most useful for dealing with them. And, unlike my sword and shield, I'd actually kept that with me after my not-so-intelligent run-in with the wall earlier.

Thrusting the Master Sword back into its scabbard, I yanked the bow off my back and pulled an arrow from the quiver, knocking it in my bow quickly and efficiently . . . eh . . . and taking aim. "Come on, little monster, step a little closer . . . I've got something for you . . . come on. . . ." Thwak! The bowstring shook violently, as did my arm, the arrow traveling at top speed through the air, sailing straight for the retreating pieces of the floor master.

Squelch!

What a wonderful sound effect you floor masters make, I thought sarcastically, my face twisting with disgust. Simply beeeee-a-uuuutiful!

The arrow ran through the tiny hand's finger and forced the beast to the floor with a groan. If it was not dead, it'd be immobile long enough for me to kill the other one and then come back to it. Without further delay, I scanned the area for the last piece and found it at another corner of the room, running frantically to get away from me. Curse that dead hand! I swear, as soon as I'm within a mile of you, I'm going to murder you! Yes, you hear that? Murder you! Die!

I am such a violent Hero of Time! Sometimes I wonder if Rauru knew how truly sadistic I was at heart before he told me who I was. . . .

Drawing an arrow from the quiver, I threw it onto the bowstring messily, then pulled back and aimed. Then I decided my aim was bad and stopped running long enough to perfect my shot. Only at that time did I release the arrow.

Curses! I still missed!

Perhaps I'm a violent hero, but I am not a stupid hero. At least, not a completely stupid hero. The moment I noticed my arrow barely grazed the floor master, I followed its lead and began running like a madman toward it, determined to defeat it before it regenerated. Again I groped for an arrow and went through the mundane procedures required to launch it. This time, however, I kept up my frantic pace even as I aimed, for I was gaining on it and if I were close enough, it'd be nearly impossible to miss. Closer . . . just a little closer. . . . That's it. . . .

The arrow injured me as it initiated its flight, as I'd not had the foresight to release it safely and the bow shot back agressively when I took my hands off the arrow. In spite of the clumsiness of my shot, the scream of pain from my target was evidence enough that the mistake didn't matter. Sure enough, it dropped to the ground weakly, twitched for a moment, then went limp. A tiny pool of blood started to form beneath it, which made me turn away, repulsed.

The sudden silence was defeaning. I was the victor, yes, but I felt no sense of reassuring peace. Slowly I panned my gaze over the room, but I saw nothing else awaiting me. No, there was nothing left waiting for me—nothing good, nothing bad. Nothing dangerous, nothing safe. Nothing is very neutral; it's neither for you, nor against you. No matter what, it's simply—nothing. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes comforting . . . either way, it's still merely nothing. It never was anything, and it never will be anything. It always was and always will be nothing.

For some reason, I had the urge to laugh at that philosophical simplicity. . . . And then I thought of Navi, and the urge dissipated as quickly as it had come. Navi. Disappearing wretch! Why did she have to vanish on me? I simply wanted out of here. I did not want to play find-the-fairy in the Shadow Temple. I wanted to play go-back-home-and-sleep-for-ten-hours. Oh, I just wanted to get out!

Where could she have gone? I was her charge, her duty, her responsibility, whose side she was never supposed to leave! I was her reason to live! Perhaps that was a life sentence she hadn't anticipated or desired when she received it, and perhaps I aggravated it beyond belief (as she implied so often), but it was still her sentence. Therefore, if she still wished to honour the dearly beloved deity that had crafted her, she was to follow me and keep me out of trouble. As I recalled, however, her job description did not include abandoning her ward when he most needed her in the Shadow Temple! Besides, she didn't have anywhere to go! Even with wings and small size, she didn't know her way out of here; and even if she did, she couldn't go far. The two of us had no secret haven to retreat to. Even the Lost Woods was no longer a refuge, for either of us.

I suddenly felt very lonely. . . .

And cold. The chill hit me unexpectedly, like the pangs of emptiness that wrenched my heart in my chest mercilessly. For a moment the cold was terrifyingly intense, and I allowed myself to shiver. Freezing in here—positively freezing. I think I could freeze down here. Wow, Link, you're observant! It's freezing—you might freeze! Wow, whoever would have thought? Aren't you just—

I halted the thought and my shivering then, deciding I needed Navi to keep my sanity, or else my mind would assume her role for her and I'd become as nutty as a deku tree.

With a start I observed how dark it was. The only light in the room came from torches on the walls, torches that were too far away to offer any respite from the cold or much assistance in seeing. Why hadn't I noticed the dark before? Why hadn't I noticed the frigidity before? Why was it so biting, so abruptly?

Once I began to think about it, I remembered dimly that Navi always seemed to have a certain warmth about her, from her heated temper if for nothing else, that had dulled the cold and made it so much more tolerable on every venture we'd been on together. Perhaps that was the reason I had never noticed the bone-chilling air in this temple which entirely lacked the warming touch of sunlight. But now that comforting glow was gone.

For the first time since my summoning to the Deku Tree seven years ago, I felt completely alone . . . and I was cold.

The weight of my sword and shield seemed heavier than usual once I strapped them to my back. The burden that I carried on my shoulders, too, felt heavier. My heart beat heavily in my chest; it also felt heavy. I sighed, heavily, wearily, tiredly, and shuffled forward a foot or two. But by then, the truths I'd been trying to hide had proven inescapable—without Navi, I was useless. A completely useless, inefficient hero detached from his lifeline. Navi, a lifeline . . . what an absolutely ridiculous idea! I swear, had I not been in this situation, I would have scoffed at the idea. Would have. Then, when this actually happened to me, I would have sorely regretted it.

"Navi," I sighed unhappily, "where are you?" There was no offered response—not that I had expected one—but I continued blathering on in spite of that. "I need you. If I appeal to your insatiable vanity, will you show yourself? Please? I'll beg. I'll get on my knees and say you're the best fairy I ever had! I'll . . . I'll talk to myself! See, Navi, you're driving me into acting like a fool! If that doesn't work, then what am I supposed to do? You can't open doors! Where did you go? Where in Farore's name did you go?"

I missed her. No need to lie to myself anymore. I, the self-sufficient and omnipotent Saviour of Hyrule, missed a fairy.

Pathetic.

Turning around sluggishly, I paused to close my eyes—and discovered with shock that they were stinging with tears. Yes, yes, Link, that's it! Cry because you're missing your fairy! You know, there was a reason Mido used to mock you. Oh yes, a very good reason. So please, shed a few tears and prove to the world what a weakling you are! Prove it!

I decided that crying could wait until after I was finished here. I blinked back the wetness in my eyes and began to trod steadily to the closest door, reaching for the Lens of Truth so I would not have any more unpleasant encounters with walls. The effort required to use the mystical Lens was more draining than usual right now . . . the sensation of being sapped of my magical abilities was more acute and more intolerable than it should have been. The relief that hit me when my hand was around the knob of the nearest door and I could lower the Lens, too, was more acute than it should have been, but in this case, I didn't mind.

Thank Farore, this was the proper door!—that rhymes! Ahead, to the left, lay the sea of misty emptiness, and to the right, strewn across another black pit, lay the bridge crafted by the pillar whose foundation had been blasted hours earlier. Again I was overwhelmed with relief as I crossed over the threshold—relief that I hadn't walked into the wrong chamber and been strangled by another angry floor master. And I almost surely would have been murdered had I been encountered with that, since I simply felt too weakened to fight anymore.

The final key was now in my possession. It was in my power to be released from the miserable hell known as the Shadow Temple. I held the key to freedom . . . but I was not using it. Not yet.

All because Navi was missing.

"Curse you, Navi," I mumbled under my breath, slowly running toward the bridge. "A thousand curses upon you!"

I was in no hurry to cross the vast expanse of darkness, even though at the other side of it were the doors that would lead me to the temple's keeper—the keeper of my freedom. I'm not sure I had the energy required to run across, and even if I did, my coordination probably would have failed me and I'd have tumbled off into the nothingness below. So, instead of running or even briskly walking, I took my pretty time and sauntered over. In fact I did everything I could to drag out my trip. But alas, all good things must come to an end, and the other side of the bridge was upon me far before I expected it. Exhaling sadly, I stepped onto the other side of the bridge.

No horrible fate had befallen me yet. . . . I supposed vaguely that that might be a good omen.

Dejectedly I walked nearer and nearer to the door. Although I knew that I was certainly too fatigued to do battle with the master of this domain, for some unexplained reason I could not bring myself to stop approaching its chamber. Inexorably I pressed onward, refusing to stop—even though I wanted to—but stubbornly refusing to move faster. My steps were slow and heavy, but they were consistent and continuous. I did not speed up, nor did I slow down; I did not want to go . . . nor did I want to stop.

You make so much sense, Link. And don't you have it all? Not only are you a stupid and incompetent hero, you are also a completely incomprehensible hero. Congratulations, Sir Hero!

Again I spoke to my absent fairy. "Navi, if you don't show up soon, my mind is going to take on your role and I'm going to go raving mad. I'm starting to sound like you. And that's not a good thing. Oh, Navi, why'd you have to do this to me? And why am I talking to you, if you're nowhere to be seen? Why am I such a fool?"

Mentally berating myself, I wondered why I kept talking to her as if she were there, while asking why she wasn't there. Yes, a completely incomprehensible hero indeed! It seems to me that I have acquired an unhealthy taste for paradox.

Then it hit me, both literally and figuratively. Since I was lost in thought, I managed to smash facefirst into a door; then it dawned upon me what this door was . . . that beyond this door, there was only one more.

One more door. One more, chained and locked with the slightly malformed, definitely oversized gold padlock that would yield only to the ostentatious gold key in my quiver. Once I crossed that threshold, I had crossed into what was either my success or my undoing—the final battle before I awakened the Sage of Shadow and got out!

Awaken the Sage of Shadow? But isn't she already . . . awake? After all, Sheik had told me that Impa was the Sage of Shadow. And he would know; he was, after all, her nephew. . . . Wasn't he?

With one hand I opened the door, all the while surmising about the dream I'd had earlier, in which Sheik sat upon the throne of Hyrule and spoke with the voice of the Princess. That had been an odd dream for sure. How could it possibly be significant? If there even was a meaning to that dream, it probably was not that Sheik would wrest the crown away from Zelda and somehow become female! But the dream left no other clues pertaining to its meaning—other than that Sheik would triumph over Ganondorf by . . . the Triforce. Sheik was one of the ringleaders in the war against Ganondorf, and I knew that eventually, with the Six Sages' and my help, we would be victorious. That was no surprise. But the Triforce? To my recollection, Ganondorf had taken the Triforce when I'd opened the Door of Time seven years ago, and Sheik hadn't stolen that away from him. But the Triforce emblem had been missing one piece in the dream—only two of them were illuminated. The top piece was merely a faded gold outline. Why on earth was that? I thought, glancing across the room when I noticed something that made me grimace.

Raspberries!

There was the lock, across a considerable distance of emptiness—a distance long enough to prevent a jump. I could also see nothing that would be a reliable target for my hookshot. Suddenly realisation washed over me, and it left me drenched with intense dread—the Lens of Truth would have to come into play again. I took a moment to curse madly and kick the wall. Only afterwards did I collect myself and pull out the magical magnifying glass.

Before me a series of stone platforms materialised, but that didn't make me feel much better. They were narrow and far enough away to require a long jump, a jump onto a platform I didn't know if I could steadily land on, a jump onto a surface I didn't know if I could trust to hold me. I took a deep breath and analysed the structures to determine the quickest, safest path. I made a quick judgement and then jumped onto the nearest platform.

When I did not feel the platform beneath me, I couldn't help it; I panicked.

But the soft sound my boots emitted as they finally stopped being capable of supporting me in the air managed to effectively keep my heartbeat within a reasonable speed. My reasonable, rational side began to quarrel with my illogical and thoughtful side, saying that I should have known better than to fear the end when I was donning hover boots! I fell the short distance to the surface, bracing myself for the landing, and smiled at the sensation of the ground underneath my feet. My heart swelled with a sudden confidence; a mistake did not mean the end! My boots would sustain me long enough to find my way back to the safety of a platform. Abruptly all my feelings of apprehension abandoned me and left a sense of peace.

Peace. . . .

It did not take me long to finish crossing the room. A smile had begun to form across my face before I'd even reached the other side, but once my feet touched the floor, it broadened until it nearly spread from ear to ear. Here at last. At last! I drew the key and placed it in the lock, hardly daring to believe that I honestly was here, at last.

I twisted the key and felt the lock jar a little as it opened. The chains fell limp when the lock that had been holding them taut was undone, and within seconds the entire lock structure was reduced to a worthless heap at my feet. I gave it a kick to throw it out of the way and opened the door.

The first thing that caught my attention was an all-too-familiar blue glow atop some sort of raised platform in front of me. In shock I stumbled forward in disbelief. Then I broke into a clumsy but astonishingly fast run toward the structure.

I jumped up and barely touched the sides of the five-foot-high . . . thing . . . as I hoisted myself up and dashed toward what I had seen.

"Navi!" I screamed, laughing like a fool and racing toward her like a madman . . . but I didn't care. It had been too long, in too much dark, with too much solitude. "Navi!"

"Link!" she screamed back, proving that my eyes weren't deceiving me. "There you are!"

"Navi," I panted, coming to a screeching halt in front of her, "I swear, I am so sorry for all the stupid things I've said and done, and I am never letting you out of my sight for even a moment after this! I—"

Boooooooooooooong!

The ground beneath me started to quake without warning, throwing me off my feet and to the rumbling floor violently. The deafening roar of what sounded like a drum echoed dimly in my ears, but I was simply too disoriented to tell. However, Navi's voice was clear as daylight now, after a few hours of not hearing it. As I opened my eyes, I heard her cry:

"Link, behind you—oh, in the name of Din and all her divine fire, Link, turn around!"

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No! The rain is drying up! No! Evil sun! Go back behind the clouds! Eeeeeevil sun! Grr! Anyway, now that I'm done whining about the rain drying up, I'm going to comment on my chapter. So how did you all like it? It's really long! Most of my chapters are about three to six pages, but this one was at least nine in 12-point Garamond! A whole five thousand words! I'm shocked!

Oh yes, and after initially posting this on the 15th, I went back over it and noticed a few sloppy sentences and a few typos! Considering the past few chapters are pretty much error-free, I was stunned at my clumsiness! Now I've gone back and fixed all the ones I could find, but if you noticed any, leave a review and tell me so I can go back and fix it.

Sorry I took so long with this one, but as mentioned earlier, it was longer than the others. I took about a week writing this and a week taking a break and thinking about it; I'm sorry for the delay. Of course, I was reading Alex Foster's truly wonderful masterpieces Darkness Rising and Path of Sins in the time being as well, so no one can blame me for taking a while! Now, it's your duty as a reader to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Leave a review and tell me if you liked it or hated it and how I can make it better! I do read my reviews and appreciate them, so any comments are welcome. I also take seriously any and all criticism, so if there's something that you think could be improved with feedback, let me know! I might start crying if it's harsh, but I'll try to do my best to pay attention to it and remedy the problem. So, with that in mind, it's time for you to write a review! Thanks!