I do not own any characters in this chapter; they all belong to Nintendo with the exception of one character, which I'll mention at the end of the Fic.

Author's note: I know you probably thought that the next chapter would be about the Woodfall temple, but I decided I should delay it more with a bit of a delay. Link hasn't been able to explore much of the swamp anyway. Read and review what you think.

*Important Note*: I'm probably going to do the rest of my chapters in a part 1, part 2 split. Reason #1) More updates which means you wait less for the chapters #2) This way you can review how good the chapter is so far, and I can fix things in the chapter's update. And #3) More Cliffhangers BWAHAHAAA! SO from now on, when you're checking for an update, don't check how many chapters there are, just read the summary and I'll tell you if there's an update there. And now, the fic.

Chapter 5: The Swamp

"What a morning. Nosca was not easy to fight. I'll be glad I'm never coming back here again," Link sighed to the monkey as he walked away from the Deku palace.

Tatli was safe under Link's hat, resting till tomorrow morning, which Link promised she would be able to fly by then. Fairy's wings healed quickly as fairies possessed a tad bit of magic themselves.

He had his Deku mask safe in his tunic, all his supplies, his red potion, and most important: He had a guide. He still had two days to get to the temple and thought he had plenty of time.

"Unfortunately we have to come back," The monkey confessed to Link.

"WHAT?" Link shouted, suddenly stopping in his tracks.

"Well the reason I'm going to the temple is so I can save the princess. I saw her kidnapped by the monster, and then the temple sealed itself. I was about to go into the temple after her, when Nosca found me and took me back, and imprisoned me. They then put me on trial.

"Deaf to my pleas, they...well, you know the rest." Link fell silent, unable to respond.

He was going to have to break it to him sooner or later, but once he traveled back in time, he would have to rescue another giant, and there would be no one to rescue the poor monkey.

They trudged to Link's raft and climbed in.

"So how are we going to get to the temple?" Link asked the monkey, trying to start a conversation.

"Well, there's a friend I know who can take us up there. He took Nosca up as well after I went up."

"Is this friend of yours an owl?" Link said with a grin.

"How did you know that?" The monkey retorted in surprise.

"Oh I have my ways," Link said, his grin getting bigger. "Anyway, where is this friend?"

"Just down here. We should float there in about a half-hour." So they were forced to occupy themselves while they waited for the current to take them to their destination.

Link told stories to the Monkey. He told the monkey what was happening in Clock town, how he got there, about Skull kid, and about how he could travel through time.

The Monkey had no clue that Link would be going back tomorrow.

"Oh we're nearly there," The monkey chirped up. "He lives just around the bend."

"Good," Link responded, straightening up from his sitting position. "Then lets hitch a ride." Link took his pole and steered the boat to shore, slowly advancing the shore as he rounded the bend.

He hit shore at about the bend, and hopped out.

"So, what does this owl live in?" Link asked the monkey, trying to start a conversation.

"Oh, he lives in a giant tree of course."

"I shoulda known."

"He's and owl. What did you expect?"

"Hey I've gotta another que-WHAT THE." A giant spider came down on top of Link, pinning him down on his back. The monkey jumped back in fright, almost falling into the river.

Link however, wasn't in a position to do so.

The spider had a giant skull covering its hideous face, leaving its menacing, black eyes to glare at Link. Its legs had black and yellow stripes, emphasizing the monster's rippling muscles. Its one weakness was that its stomach was soft, and vulnerable.

What's a Skulltula doing in Termina? Link asked himself.

Dismissing his silent question, Link whipped out his sword, reached under the monster's underside and embedded his sword into the soft, fleshy belly of the spider.

The spider rolled off of Link in pain, whipping its arms violently in the air as black blood gushed out of the wound and onto Link's tunic. It pulled itself up quickly onto a string above Link that he had used to descend down to the ground and tackle Link.

Link let go of its sword, letting the spider carry it as a dead weight. He then whipped out his bow and let an arrow take flight.

THWI-SQUICH!

The arrow flew into the monster's eye. The giant spider pursued to squirm even more, but stopped climbing the string. A few seconds later, another arrow was protruding out of his other eye. Blind, and weakened greatly, the spider fell off the string, and on it's stomach.

The sword sunk further into the monster's belly as the ground slammed onto the sword. The weight of the spider wasn't helping. Link let out a sigh, but stopped midway when something happened.

Flames began to overtake the spider as it cringed. White flames. Even the creature's blood was bursting into white flames.

Not good, Link thought, as the creature, blood, and flames vanished, leaving no trace that a bloody battle had just taken place. Even the blood on Link's tunic had disappeared in a quick flare of white flames. Link stared at the spot where the Skulltula had just been, his eyes wide in surprise, and his mouth hanging open in a silent screen.

Tatli took a peak out of Link's hat and said, "What are you staring at? You just killed a giant spider, big deal."

"Th-That wasn't just any spider. That was a Skulltula. They only burst into white flames if-if-if."

"Well spit it out already."

"If it's sent by something evil to guard something. I'm certain because of the flames."

"Oh," the fairy uttered in shock.

The monkey then ran from his shocked state yelling, "Oh no, the owl." Link pursued the monkey after picking up his arrows and sword, trying to keep up with the speedy little fur ball, but the monkey was a little faster then Link.

When they rounded the bend, pure horror struck Link. A giant owl was trapped in a spider's web, all tangled up. Blood oozed out of the owl's beak. His body limp, and his eyes were closed.

Link feared the worst had happened to the poor owl, but sighed with relief as he saw the owl's beak moving slowly up and down with each ragged breath the owl took. Bald spots from his feathers being plucked were scattered among his body. Blood matted the remaining feathers. His wing was bent in an odd direction.

The webbing that held the owl prisoner was attached to a giant willow tree. The low hanging bows of the tree made a perfect spot to spin a web. In the center of the trunk of the willow, a giant hole was carved in for what looked like the owl's home.

The tree was rotted from the river, giving the feeling it was going to fall of any minute. The bare branches of the willow whipped around in the breeze.

Link ran up to the owl, hoping he could reach the poor fellow, but the owl was just too high up for Link to reach.

The monkey was way ahead of Link.

The monkey climbed up the trunk of the tree, and over to the branch that the web was attached to. The monkey leaped off the branch, and clung onto the owl's feathers. Then he began slapping the owl's face.

Nothing happened.

"He's knocked out cold," the monkey shouted down to Link.

"Great! How's he gonna-," Link stopped in mid-sentence, and looked down at his feet. A large group of shadows was hobbling around Link's feet.

Link slowly drew his sword silently out of his sheath. He reached back and put his shield on his right arm, ready for whatever was above him. He then slowly lifted his head to look at what the shadows represented.

Three Skulltulas quickly descended, surrounding Link. They all stared icily at him through there sunken in eyes. Link quickly held his sword to his side, his arm straight out. He then began to summon an old magic spell, which he hadn't used since he defeated Ganadorf. The Skulltulas advanced on Link, inching towards Link ever so slightly.

They however, suddenly tried to back up as they cringed at the sight that would end them in seconds: a bright orange ring of pure magic energy surrounded Link's sword. The energy looked like fire almost, wrapping itself around Link's sword.

"HIIIIIIIYAAH!"

WHOOOOSH!

Link let the energy surge loose. The surge extended out of his sword, making his sword longer, and reached out towards the Skulltulas. It was such a surge of energy that Link was forced to spin around three hundred and sixty degrees before stopping, hitting everything around him. Then the fire dimmed, but the magic had done the trick.

All the Skulltulas were on the ground, crumpling up into little balls, and cringing with pain. Their Skulls were cracked from the force of the blow. Then, in an instance, they vanished in a blaze of white flames. Link slid his sword back into his sheath, not exhausted at all from the powerful blow he had just done.

The monkey hopped down and right beside Link, and immediately started pounding Link with questions, "What was that you just did? How did you do it? How come your not exhausted from effort?"

"Easy little monkey, I'll tell you as soon-Uh Oh." Link looked down once again at his feet. Another shadow had formed.

A much bigger shadow.

Link quickly grew his sword and shield. He looked up at the source of the shadow and let out a gasp.

Not good at all, Link thought.

Suddenly, the monster leaped from the top of the tree. Link leaped out of the way, avoiding the monster that landed where Link had been just milliseconds ago. Link rolled out of his leap, and leapt to his feet, drawing his sword and readying his shield. He whirled around to face his opponent.

Gohma? Was the first thought that came to Link's mind, but it looked nothing like Gohma, despite the fact it looked like an arachnid. It was twice as big as Epona, and definitely a lot more powerful. Two black, beady eyes stared icily into Link's wide blue eyes. It had green and yellow stripes all down its legs hairy legs and armor-like back.

But what Link was most transfixed on was its pincers. They were huge, and could easily grab Link, and rip him to shreds.

The monkey immediately climbed the tree in fear of his own safety. He hid among the bare willow branches, but Link made sure he could see him at all times so he could protect him.

The beast let out a bellowing roar, opening its pincers to reveal it's several rows of smaller pincers. Pincers that awaited flesh.

Link's flesh.

The roar vibrated through Link, rattling his limbs, and rippled his hair. The monster's warm, smelly breath was swept up Link's nose. Link's breathing began to speed up. His heart pumped faster to carry the extra oxygen that Link was inhaling into his expanding Lungs. His nose and eyes widened even more, extra alert and perceptive to the spider.

Link was ready for whatever the spider might throw at him. He wasn't scared, he had fought bigger things then a giant spider.

"Link," shouted a surprising voice.

"Tatli, this isn't the time?"

"Link, I've seen tha-"

"NOT NOW!" Link whipped off his, hat, grabbed Tatli, and threw her at the Monkey. The monkey caught her, keeping her out of harm's way for now.

The spider let out another deafening roar, and then jumped at Link. The gigantic spider made it look so effortless. It didn't run to jump, it didn't crouch down to prepare the jump, it just simply jumped.

Link side jumped out of the way, to avoid the weight of the spider coming down upon him. Link struck the back of the spider with his sword, but the armor was too strong.

Stunned at the sword's incompetence, Link didn't have enough time to react for what happened next. The spider lifted one of his eight hairy legs, and struck Link, sending him flying ten feet before landing on his back.

Then the spider turned his but to Link, and shot a stream of webbing at him.

Link tried to roll out of the way, but the webbing managed to snag his shield, pinning it to the ground. Link immediately tried to pull the shield out from the webbing, but it was too strong.

Link heard another deafening roar, and looked up, just in time to avoid the spider leaping on top of him. Link side jumped once again. However this time, he aimed for the spider's legs with his sword instead of it's back.

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEAAALK!

The spider screamed in pain as one of its legs was suddenly crippled. It bent down, onto his left-front leg. Link immediately hopped on the spider's back, and plunged his sword into the neck of the beast. The spider reeled in pain, throwing Link of its back, and landing catlike below the owl.

"Link, there something you should know about this thing."

"What?"

As if answering his question, something Link never expected to happen, happened. The two wounds that Link had created began to shimmer like ripples in a pond, and then they disappeared.

The spider had healed itself.

"Just great," Link muttered.

"Link, it can't heal itself if it keeps getting attacked."

"But it'll just throw me off if I attack its neck again."

"Well think of something else then."

Then it hit him. He had an idea.

Link didn't have time to tell Tatli though. The spider had recovered, and leaped at Link. Link ran under the hopping monster. He then drew an arrow, dived into a roll, and turned around.

THWI-SQUILCH!

The arrow embedded itself into another leg. The wound began to shimmer once again. Wasting no time at all, Link leaped onto the monsters back, and up into the tree. He climbed as high as he could, hoping the spider would follow.

It did.

The spider shot webbing to a nearby branch, pulled itself up very quickly, and landed on a wide branch. The two were still pretty low on the tree, so the branches were wide enough to allow a descent battle.

The spider let out a roar again, and then leaped at Link. He landed where Link had been just milliseconds ago. Link had back flipped onto a higher branch. Link then jumped down on the spider's neck, stabbing his sword into the creature's neck again.

The spider reeled in pain, hoping to throw Link off, but Link was already climbing even higher up in the tree. The spider recovered quickly once again, and caught up to Link. Link's boot connected with one of the pincers, and the spider fell back onto the lower branches.

An arrow was in hot pursuit of the spider's descent. It embedded itself in the spider's neck, leaving the spider to try and heal itself again, and by Link some precious seconds to get high enough.

When Link thought he was high enough, Link ran to the edge of the branch.

THWEEEEEEET-SQUIMCH!

The spider had recovered, and had shot webbing at Link. It finally made its target, and Link's foot was securely stuck to the tree branch. Link lost his balance, and fell on his stomach.

Before he could try and free himself, the spider leaped up to Link's branch, and was upon him in seconds.

"AAAAAAAAH!"

Link screamed in pain as flesh was torn from his shoulders, and into the greedy mouth of the spider. Link immediately swiped his sword at the spider, but the spider, having had enough of the annoying weapon, grabbed it with it's pincers and tore it from Link's hands. The sword flew, and landed in the ground next to Link's shield.

Link was defenseless.

More blood spewed from Link. Link tried kicking back, but the spider blocked every blow with his pincer. He screamed in agony every time the pincers tore at his skin. It was pain that Link was feeling again.

This is why I don't like adventure anymore, Link said to himself.

After the spider thought Link was weak enough, the spider stepped back. Link was heaving from all the pain. Blood quenched the spider's thirsty pincers. He let out a deafening roar, leaning back, about to finish the job.

Had he looked at Link at that moment, he would have killed himself and got it over with.

But no, he was spared from Link's determined glare. Even though he was on his stomach, his clothes torn, drenched in his own blood, he had the most determined look on his face. With his narrowed, and full of determination, his nostrils flared, and his teeth bared, he muttered the same phrase he muttered to Nosca before he was knocked out: "Not this time!"

The spider charged at Link, it's pincer's open and ready to devour Link's flesh. Link lifted his free foot to meet the spider's pincers head on, and deflecting them sideways. Wasting no time, Link swiftly kicked one of the spider's legs, tripping the spider. The spider lost its balance and teetered dangerously over the edge of the branch.

Link muttered one last word before he finished his foe: "Bye." Powered by determination to eliminate this beast, he kicked the spider harder then he had ever kicked before. The spider fell of the branch, screaming.

It wasn't the regular roar the spider usually gave. It was a roar of defeat, a roar of loss. But as soon as he hit the river, it was a roar of pain. The river was acidic, and began to devour the spider greedily into its depths. With one roar, the spider disappeared under the surface. It couldn't heal itself as it was in constant pain.

Immediately, the webbing holding Link down disappeared in a quick spurt of white flames. Tired, bruised, and bleeding, he slipped off his branch, to a lower branch, and then a lower branch, until he reached the bottom.

The owl was lying motionless on the ground, as the webbing had disappeared. Link slumped next to the owl, and the monkey who had climbed down with Tatli in his paws.

"Tatli, what was that thing? How did you know about it?" Link asked, heaving.

"Skull kid called her Arachnilia. Skull kid carved it out of wood, he carved a lot of creatures out of wood, and made up characteristics they had. He was good at small wooden sculptures. He would even use the mask to add color to them. I never thought that he would be able to make them come alive.

"Tatli, just how many of the sculptures did he carve?"

"A dozen or so. I don't know."

"Not good. Any ways, I better find a way to heal these wounds."

"Yeah you look a wreck."

"To add on top of that, I'm getting a headache agai-" Link stopped for a second then whipped out his bottle of Red potion. He drank half the bottle in one gulp.

The effects were immediate. His wounds began to melt away, all his bruises disappeared, and the headache disappeared. Energy flowed through him quickly. He was no longer tired, and felt like he could take on another two Arachnids.

"Well that was a fast recovery," Tatli chirped up. "Hey can I have some of that stuff to heal my wings?"

"First, I'm going to give it to the person that needs it most." Link walked over to the fallen owl, opened his beak, and slipped the almost the rest of the red potion into the owl's beak.

Slowly, the blood from his beak trickled back into his mouth. His bloody wounds melted away, his plucked feathers grew back, and his broken wing healed itself.

Slowly, the owl's eyes opened. They fluttered a bit, and then opened all the way.

The Owl was conscious.

* * *

"I really should thank you for all that you've done to help me. Killing that giant spider, freeing me, and fixing my wing. Merely flying you to this temple's just not enough."

Link felt another pang of guilt because when he went back in time, no one would be there to rescue the owl as well.

The owl willingly allowed Link to hop on his back for the ride. It only took them ten minutes to get to the temple. It was right above the waterfall that was across from the Deku palace, but when they first got there, Link couldn't see the temple.

Above the waterfall, was a circular pond. The fumes from the poisonous water seemed to be concentrated, and the water thick. It bubbled here and there sometimes. In the center of the pond, was a wooden stage, high above the water the stage was on poles, and stone pillars supported the poles. A straw roof hovered over the stage on wooden poles.

In-between the stage stage and the waterfall were two wooden trees, rotted out in the water.

Link had collected all of his equipment back, and gave Tatli the rest of the red potion (which was only a few drops, but to a fairy, it was more then enough). She happily flew along beside the owl, exercising her wings.

"I'm quite sure you might be able to repay the favor some day," Link replied to the owl, hiding the guiltiness in his voice.

"Well, if that's all you need, I'll be off then." And with that, the owl crouched, then leaped into the air. He spread his wings, letting the warm air around him lift him up even higher into the air. He let out and ear-splitting screech, and dived over the waterfall.

Link turned to the monkey and asked, "Now what do we do?"

"Well, we sing that song I taught you," The monkey answered. "So where are you going to find a louder instrument?"

"Hey Wha- Oh yeah. I did say I'd find one. What did the Dekuscrubs use anyway?"

"Oh they used the Royal Deku pipes."

"That's it! Can you turn around for a moment please?"

"Uum, yeah sure." The monkey turned around silently, thinking Link was very strange right now. Then he heard some scrunching. It sounded like Link's bones were collapsing on him. It sounded like his entire body was contracting. But the monkey remained obedient, and did not turn around.

"Ok, you can turn around now."

"Link, why has your voice chang-AAAAAAAAAH! How did you get here you slimy baby Dekuscrub?"

"Hey relax, it's just me," explained the wooden midget. "I can just transform into a baby Dekuscrub at will. Why did you think I fought so badly for a Deku mask?"

"Oh that's what the king meant. So where's this instrument?" Smiling (in his mind since he couldn't actually smile), he pulled out the ivory white ocarina. He put it to his wooden lips, and it shimmered into the set of five pipes.

He began to play the Sonata of Awakening. The air around him seemed to stir at the song. It seemed to dance, and awaken on it's own, as if it were alive. The wind began chanting, forcing the trees near the stage to join in. Their branches swayed in time with the music. The water began to ripple in it's own symphony.

Link took noticed of all this because he was, once again awakened, and his senses fully alert. He even noticed that the ground was taking part, and shaking to the rhythm of the music ever so slightly.

Wait a minute, Why is the ground shaking, Link asked himself. He stopped playing, trying to figure out what it was.

The rumbling grew louder, and louder. The water started shaking, continuing it's rippling dance.

The difference was that the ripples were getting bigger.

The ripples soon turned into waves, splashing upwards, threatening Link and the monkey to swallow them. The trees began shaking, their branches rattling, trying to keep themselves attached to the tree. Then, the trees began to rise.

The waves climbed higher, keeping up with the trees, and nearly reaching the stage. But the waves weren't a worry to Link right now. What he was transfixed on right now was the thing that was supporting the trees.

It was a square building. A big square building. Link swore it was almost as big as the Deku palace. It rose higher, and higher, and higher. A tidal wave followed it.

A tidal wave from the Temple was heading straight for the Monkey and Link.

Link instinctively jumped up on a pole, and swung himself gracefully onto the roof.

The monkey however, was not so lucky. He just stared stupefied at the enormous, purple wave that was heading straight for him, planning on devouring him.

Link looked down at the helpless monkey, unable to do anything as the wave advanced the monkey. It hit the stage forcefully, rattling the stage, and threatening to collapse under Link's weight, and tossing him in the drink. Link held on to the straw roof, defying the stage's threat. He leaned back to avoid the dreadful edge of the roof.

But his stomach dropped at the thought of the monkey. He dared not look down onto the empty stage. The stage that might not have held onto an innocent life.

And now that innocent life might be sinking in to the acidic pond, dead.

Link just stood on the roof for the longest time, his luminous eyes filled with sorrow at the monkey. Dare he look down to confirm his sorrow to not be in vain.

Slowly, he stole a peek below him. Hoping his sorrow was in vain.

It wasn't.

The stage was empty, not holding the innocent life that he was hoping for.

Emptiness. That was Link suddenly felt like. His throat was empty, possessing no voice to cry out. His lungs were empty, possessing no air for Link to feed off of. His ears were empty of sound. His eyes were empty. Empty of light and color. Empty of tears.

But most of all, it was his brain that was empty. It was empty of emotion. Of happiness, and determination.

"Link," Tatli said softly. Link just stared at the empty stage.

Finally he said, "He's gone."

"Link, he wouldn't have lived any ways. You have to travel back in time tomorrow, and he'll be burned on the stake. We have a job to do. We have a world to save. Lets just enter the temple and save the Giant. A bridge rose up as well, we can cross the river safely."

Link slowly lowered his legs over the roof, and hopped down. He took off his mask, and swore a silent prayer towards the monkey. He took one of his flowers, and laid it on the stage. He then turned, crossed the bridge, and entered the temple.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Disclaimer: I own Arachnilia Bwahaha (cough cough)

Next chapter: Come on! It's the temple next chapter! Only Link enters without his guide.

Author's note: Well, I got over my writer's block. The problem is: I now have a writer's block for the next chapter :( . This chapter gave me a bit of a hassle putting it up, but I managed. Some people suggested I put floor\wall masters, and bongo bongo in it. The problem with that is: who would spin the web? And a big Skultulla would be a very easy fight, so sorry I couldn't use any of your ideas. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.

Word Count: 4 743!
Word Count for story so far: 23 896!