This is one of the most emotional, important chapters I've written in quite a while, and you'll see why. Again, I apologize for any formatting goof-ups and/or HTML weirdness. FanFiction.net hates me with a passion. I'm never sure how the chapter will behave. For nicer formating and coloring text where it's needed, visit www.zelda-infinite.com. Trust me, it's just better.

Enjoy, everyone! Believe me, you've been waiting for this one! As always, leave feedback! I love reading it! And, hey, leave e-mails if you can! Not being able to reply to reviews drives me insane!!

~Lydia~

*~*~*~*

Worlds Apart
Part II
By Miss Lydia/Goddess Rinoa

Chapter 28

"I hate it already," Lydia declared.

The sorceress glanced around at her surroundings. They hadn't gone too far into the Shadow Temple yet, but the hallway the girl found herself in was very telltale. The walls were a dull, dark grey, and occasionally dripped water down onto the floor, sending the sound echoing all around them. The floor was exactly the same color. The air hanging around them was heavy with the feeling of doom and gloom.

Somewhere in the distance, the trio could hear sounds hanging in space, Link more so than the other two. It sounded somewhat like a choir of Redeads in the middle of a chorus. A long, continuous, sad chorus. Whether the sound was coming from their imaginations or from something real in this temple, they did not know. Nevertheless, it succeeded in intimidating them.

"Maann... I really don't like this..." Lydia continued as the group turned a corner. "This place absolutely reeks of the Undead. This temple is freaking me out already."

As she continued to complain, a dead-end suddenly came into sight. The wall in front of them was more like a large picture than a wall. It was a wide, grey, scary-looking face. The eyes were black and hollowed out, like that of an old skull. Its mouth was open in such a way that it looked like it wanted to laugh and scream and the same time.

"Oh, fabulous," the girl groaned. "I love the shadow spirit's choice of decor..."

"This is where we stopped before," Link told her, bringing the group to a stop. "That voice told us we needed the 'eye of truth' to continue." He reached into his tunic front and fumbled around for the glass. "Let's see what happens."

"Perhaps looking through it...?" Gordon suggested.

Link did so without hesitation. He lifted the Lens to his right eye and peered through it. Inside the borders of the glass, the wall with the freaky face on it disappeared completely.

"A fake wall, just like in the well," he announced.

Lydia scoffed. "...A fake wall? That's it?"

"I have to agree," Gordon breathed loudly. "Anyone could just walk up to that wall, put their hand on it, and realize that there's no wall there at all. What would stop them from continuing forward without the Lens?"

Link craned his neck down a little bit and glanced at the floor through the Lens. His breath caught in his throat and he stiffened up.

"...That's why. Nobody move."

"W-What? What is it?" the sorceress asked him, the worry in her voice suddenly skyrocketing.

The Hylian swallowed hard. "The floor...right...in front of us... It's an illusion. ...Everyone... slowly take a couple steps backward... so no one falls in..."

"Oh, geez," Lydia whispered, taking two slow, careful steps backward. "Not cool, not cool..."

The two boys carefully followed her lead. "I see," Gordon said. "If you don't have the Lens, you can't see that bottomless hole there, and you walk right in."

"We almost did," Link added, swallowing again. "Our toes were hanging over the side."

"Damn it!" Lydia shouted angrily. "If this place's entrance is like this... What's the rest of it gonna be like?"

"Whatever it is, we'll get past it. ...Right now let's just worry about getting over this hole."

Gordon nodded and took a firm hold on Link's arm. "Levitation!" he shouted, and lifted off the ground. With the Hylian in tow, he sailed over where the hole supposedly was, and they disappeared through the wall with the face.

Lydia stayed rooted on the spot, waiting to see what they would find before following. After a few seconds, Link's head and shoulders appeared through the wall and he smiled at her.

"Come on through," he said. "There's a solid floor in here. ...Be careful of that hole." With that, he pulled back through the wall and disappeared.

The girl sighed with the relief of getting a break. At least there was a floor to walk on. That was an improvement. "Levitation!"

When she flew through the wall and landed next to the boys, she found herself in a large room. It was fairly empty, with the exception of the large sculpture in the middle. It was a large statue of some kind of bird, and it sat upon a slightly raised platform that was wide enough to cover half of the floor in this room. The walls were as plain and gloomy as that hallway had been, and more of those creepy-face pictures were arranged on them. Across the way, on the far, far wall, was a door that was closed off by iron bars.

Link had his eyes glued to that door. "Looks like there's only one way to go. ...Would one of you be able to melt those bars?"

"Hah!" Lydia laughed. "With our eyes closed. That's child's play."

As they walked through the room, Gordon looked around nervously. "I dunno... I don't like this... There's something wrong with this picture."

"What do you mean?" his sister asked as the group stepped up onto the platform that held the bird statue.

"Not sure, but something's weird."

Link suddenly stopped moving and stiffened, as he always did when something threatening came around. His hair stood right up on end and his leg muscles tightened, prepared to move quickly if necessary. He slipped the Lens of Truth safely into his tunic front and took a firm grip on the hilt of the Master Sword.

"Yeah," the Hylian finally said, barely loud enough to hear. "Something's wrong."

"...Damn this place..." Lydia whispered harshly, positioning her hands in a spell-firing position.

What set Link's senses off showed itself immediately. It wasn't what they expected, though. It wasn't some kind of regular monster or a herd of Redeads or something. It was a voice. A deep, raspy voice, cackling loudly at them, as if absolutely blown away by the fact that they had walked right into its trap.

The voice was so intimidating that it sent shivers up all three spines, and they looked around the room frantically, looking for the source of the arrogant laughter.

How kind of you to step into my domain! Foolish, but kind.

It was the shadow spirit. They all knew it immediately. How could it be anything else?

"Damn," Lydia said loudly. "You wasted no time, did you?"

The spirit laughed again, as if wildly entertained by the girl's words. Why would I wait? This is just too good! I finally break out of that stupid underground cavern, and before I even get the chance to regain my bearings, I'm attacked! Attacked, right off! Those little attacks of yours hurt, you know. How inconsiderate and barbaric of you to attack me.

It paused long enough to laugh again. I swore I'd get revenge, but I didn't know you'd come to me! That's just perfect!

"Okay, so you're pissed!" Lydia shouted back at it. "We know. Do we gotta chat about it all day? Come out here and face us like a man! ...Or a..shadow thing.... Whatever the hell you are, show yourself!"

The spirit once again let loose in a fit of cackling laughter. Ooooh, I've got something different planned, which will be very entertaining for me to watch, I'm sure. Now please, make yourselves comfortable in my domain. I'll go make some tea. In the meantime-- The voice broke off into a laugh, which made it obvious the spirit was enjoying some kind of private joke. In the meantime, please, help yourselves to as much suffering as you can handle!!

Before any of them could react, the platform they were standing on suddenly fell away. Link and the two sorcerers plummeted down into the darkness, followed by the cackling laughter of the shadow spirit, who was quite proud of itself.

This will be quite entertaining... Let's see how you handle what I do to people that mess with me...

*~*~*~*

Gordon slowly and painfully pulled himself up off the cold, hard floor. He shook his head, trying to knock away the stars that were dancing in front of his eyes.

What happened?, he thought. Where am I?

When he finally pulled himself to his feet, he realized that he was alone. Link and Lydia were nowhere in sight. ...In fact, nothing was in sight. He was surrounded by total darkness, total silence.

As nervousness crept up on him, he heard a girl's voice laugh happily somewhere behind him. The sorcerer spun around. A little ways in front of him, Lydia was standing there. Link was there, too. They were laughing together, as if sharing a joke that he wasn't in on.

Gordon sighed with relief. "Hey, there you guys are!" he shouted. "You okay? Where are we?"

But they didn't respond. It was as if they hadn't heard him. He started to walk toward them, but was shocked to see that none of his steps took him any closer to where they stood. He picked up the speed and broke into a run, but he couldn't get any closer to them. They continued to stay out of reach.

Lydia smiled warmly at Link, and took his hand in hers. As they continued to laugh, they turned and started to walk away from Gordon.

"H-Hey! Wait!" the boy shouted. He stopped in his tracks, momentarily in shock. His voice just then... It was different. It was young and high-pitched. Gordon bit his lip nervously and looked down at himself. He was six years old again. As panic started to well up within his body, he continued to run after his sister and the Hylian. He ran as fast as his little legs would take him, but they continued to get farther and farther away from him.

"Please! Don't leave me behind!"

Up ahead, dark mist swirled around them. Slowly, with red glowing eyes, Ganondorf rose out that mist, just behind them. They didn't seem to notice.

Gordon tried to call out to them, but his child's voice just wouldn't be heard. One of his feet hit the floor wrong, and the little boy fell on his face. He looked up frantically just in time to watch as Ganondorf wrapped the two with the dark mist. And then, all three of them were gone.

Defeated, the little sorcerer lowered his face back to the floor and cried like a lost child.

----

"Owww..." Lydia moaned as she sat up. "What happened? ...Damn arrogant spirit... I'll show it a thing or two." She pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked around her. Complete darkness surrounded her. A pang of panic hit her stomach when she realized she was alone. The boys were nowhere to be found.

"G-Guys?" she called out.

No one answered. At first, she was greeted only by the silence. But as she started to stand up completely, she heard a familiar moaning all around her. It sent a shiver down every single nerve ending in her body and she froze in horror. Redeads. In front of her. To her side. Behind her.

She was surrounded by the monster she feared most.

"...Uh oh..." she breathed in fear.

Whereever she was, these Redeads were here to kill her off, for certain. Absolutely trembling with fright, she called up every shred of willpower she could find within herself and directed it down into her right hand, where she was conjuring up a spell.

"Stay away from me!" she shrieked, throwing her hand toward the Redeads in front of her. "Fire-Ball!!"

Nothing happened. Lydia stared at her extended spell hand in shock. Nothing had come from it. There was supposed to be an eight-foot-wide ball of flame making burnt cinders out of those Redeads right then, but there was nothing.

Starting to panic, she tried again. "Fire-Ball!!"

Nothing.

"What the hell?!" she cried aloud as her throat burned and her eyes threatened to drop tears.

Just then, something grabbed her from behind and wrapped its arms around her. Those arms were cold, flaky...dead.

That was it. The sorceress lost all self control and started to completely panic. She flailed around helplessly, trying to shake the monster from her back, all the while shrieking and crying at the same time. She could feel its cold breath on her neck as it opened its mouth and prepared to start chewing on her flesh.

Suddenly, she heard Link's battle cry from behind her. She felt the wind against her back as the blade of the Master Sword cut the monster away from her. It fell off to her left side and disintigrated on the spot. The rest of the Redeads, once their comrade had been destroyed, backed off and faded into the darkness.

Gasping for breath, muscles weak, Lydia slowly turned around. Link sighed loudly and gracefully returned the Master Sword to its sheath. The look on his face was a mix of frustration and...annoyance.

Lydia wiped the tears from her eyes, overcome with relief and gratitude. "As always, thanks for the rescue," she managed to choke out.

"Tch," Link grumbled. "Like you deserve it."

The girl wasn't sure she heard that right. "...Huh?"

"You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself," the boy continued, looking up at her with unusually critical eyes. "You know it. I know it. So why do I always have to bail you out of trouble?"

My God, he's serious, Lydia thought. "...I...I..."

"You've been a burden to me ever since you came to Hyrule. Always in the way. You throw spells recklessly, you're conceited, hot-headed, and the complaints never stop. If you're not whining about something, you die."

Lydia's hands trembled and tears streamed down her face unchecked. Had he always felt this way? Did he hate her?? As her heart started to shatter, she managed to mutter, "Link...I..."

Link raised his hand to stop her from speaking, then turned around coldly and started to walk away. "Why don't you just go home? I can take care of the rest. Goodness knows I can sure perform better when you're not in my way all the time..."

From that point on, he was too far away to hear clearly. Only undistinguishable mumblings could be heard until he had completely faded into the darkness.

The sorceress fell to her knees and cried harder than she had ever cried before in her entire life.

----

"Lyd? Gordon? What happened to you guys?"

Link called out repeatedly into the darkness that surrounded him, but got no response from his comrades. He had been wandering aimlessly for several minutes now, trying to find them, but it didn't feel like he was actually going anywhere.

Suddenly, his ears picked up a hissing wind. It started quiet, then got louder and more forceful all at once. It swirled around him like a hurricane. As he went for his sword instinctively, the darkness was blown away by this wind and scenery was finally revealed. It was nighttime there now. He was standing somewhere in Hyrule Field. Dark storm clouds raged overhead, complete with all kinds of thunder and lightning. He could barely make out Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village, and the Kokiri Forest from where he was standing. All were on fire. The Hylian could hear the screams of the town's inhabitants as they tried deperately to save themselves.

As he gawked in horror at what he saw, he heard a familiar laugh somewhere behind him. Ganondorf. Link spun around and saw him a little ways in the distance, dark and forboding as ever.

He also spotted Lydia. Ganondorf had a solid grip on her neck and was holding her up off the ground while she weakly struggled to break his grip. The hand that held the girl had the symbol of a fully-completed Triforce on it.
Before Link could do what he always did instinctively whenever the girl was threatened, Ganondorf suddenly charged up magic in his arm and released it through his hand. Dark electricity discharged, piercing Lydia's body over and over while she screamed in pain. As quickly as it had begun, it was over, and Ganondorf finally released his grip. The girl fell and crumpled on the ground like a rag.

Link screamed her name in a panic and dashed toward them as fast as he could get his body to move. The Evil King chuckled and gave Link the most mocking smirk he could muster up. In a flash of dark magic, Ganondorf was gone.

The Hylian skidded to a stop, knelt down, and cradled the sorceress in his arms. He yelled her name repeatedly, begging her to respond. Finally, she weakly opened her eyes and looked up into his. Her eyes were dulled and weak-looking. They looked like they wanted to cry, but didn't have the energy to do so.

"...Link...," she whispered to him. "...You promised...that you'd always protect me... You...prom..ised..."

Her green eyes slowly closed, her body went limp, and her labored breathing stopped.

As his spirit and desire to live shattered, Link burst into tears and held the girl against his chest as she died in his arms.

Ganondorf continued to wreak havoc on the land with his full Triforce. The ground around Link broke apart as it was shaken by a great earthquake. Trees fell all around him. The clouds blackened even farther and lighting struck harder. Lon Lon Ranch partially fell into the ground. Lake Hylia overflowed. Hyrule Castle continued to burn. People continued to die.

But Link didn't care. He hadn't kept his promise, and Lydia was dead because of his failure. He wished he could die himself. No, he didn't even deserve death.

Just then, something inside Link's tunic started to feel warm and glow. He reached into his shirt and pulled out the culprit. It was the Lens of Truth, growing brilliantly and radiating heat. He wasn't sure what it was, but something compelled him to look through the Lens.

He slowly raised it up to his right eye. When the glass was at his eye-level and he could see through it, there was a brilliant flash of white light from the Lens that blinded him and caused him to recoil in shock. The white light expanded quickly and enveloped everything in sight.

And then everything was dark and quiet again.

When Link finally worked up the courage to open his eyes again, the scenery had changed again. He was in a fairly small room. The walls and floor were made of tightly-packed dirt. It seemed that, other than himself, it was empty.

But something was strange. Something about his body felt strange. As his head continued to clear, he realized that something had a grip on both of his arms, the back of his neck, and on his waist. It was a cold, dead grip, that reminded him of the monster he called Ugly down in the well the day before. After another few minutes, his mind had completely cleared up and he realized that it reminded him of Ugly because it was the same monster. The things that held him were white, pastey, dead arms much like Ugly's, all sticking out of the dirt ground, holding him up a few inches in the air, keeping him from moving.

His muscles were weak, but he managed to twist his neck just enough to look to his left. Just over there was another set of hands arranged in the same fashion. The person they were holding onto was Gordon. His eyes were tightly closed, his teeth were gritted, and his limbs twitched, like he was having a nightmare.

A sudden pang of hope hit Link as he started to realize what was going on. Fighting the hand that held his neck, he twisted his head over to look to his right. His heart melted with relief. There, held by hands in just the same way, was Lydia. She looked alive and well, save for the fact that she also seemed to be having a nightmare of some kind. Tears streamed down her face as she watched whatever that nightmare was.

But that wasn't all. Just to Lydia's right was another person, also held fast by the clammy hands. It took Link a moment to recognize her -- it had been a long time. It was Impa, Princess Zelda's Sheikah attendant, held fast in a nightmare of her own. She must have been down here for days... It was a good thing Sheikahs were so resilliant.

Link realized what had happened. This monster that resembled Ugly... it had some kind of modification. It had the power to show a person the worst fear that dwelled in their heart, and keep them in that nightmare indefinitely. It was then that Link realized the true purpose of the Lens of Truth in this temple. If he hadn't had it, none of them would have had a chance of ever escaping their individual nightmares.

What Link had seen was indeed his worst nightmare. Without the Lens of Truth, he would have never escaped it.

The Hylian's muscles trembled and his tear-soaked face twisted with sheer anger at what this monster had done to them. By sheer force of will and adrenilin, he forced strength to return to his limbs. He had to get loose. If anything, to free his friends from their individual horrors. If their nightmares were anything like his...

After taking a few deep breaths, Link let loose a fierce battle cry and pulled as hard as he could against the arm that held his sword arm. It wouldn't let go at first, but the Hylian was too angry to let up. He continued to pull with more and more force until he finally managed to slip his arm free. Before the arm could regain itself and grab his arm again, Link had taken the Master Sword from its sheath. With agility only he could manage, he swung his arm in various directions, cutting arm after arm at their source. The stems fell away and retreated into the ground. What remained above the cut site simply disintigrated into dust.

Once completely free, Link stumbled forward and fell down on his side, completely exhausted. It seemed that not only did those hands trap their prey in a nightmare, it fed off of their bodies for energy. It was several minutes of heavy breathing on the ground before Link could muster the strength to stand up again, with the aide of the Master Sword as a crutch.

He stumbled over to the group of hands that held Lydia and stood behind them. They didn't notice his presense nor care, which made it particularly easy for Link to slice them all in one swing. The stems retreated into the ground, the rest disintigrated, and Lydia fell forward onto the dirt floor, still unconscious.

Link sighed and rammed the Sword far enough into the dirt that it would stand on its own. He stumbled over to where Lydia had fallen, knelt down, took her in his arms and hugged her tightly, thankful to all gods in existance that she was alive.

After another moment, she whimpered loudly, finally starting to come around. She slowly opened one eye. "...What?" she whispered, confused as to where she was. She sat up the rest of the way and looked around. When her eyes met Link's, she looked shocked, as if his presense was the last thing she expected. "...Link?"

The Hylian smiled at her as new tears streamed down his face. "Listen," he said happily, mixing in enough of the urgency tone so that she'd pay attention to his words. "Whatever you saw wasn't real. It was a just a nightmare -- the complete opposite of reality." He paused and hugged her again. "Everything's okay now..."

Finally starting to understand, Lydia's body relaxed and she buried her face in his shirt, clinging to him as if she would never again get the chance.

Link wanted to stay like this forever, but knew Gordon and Impa were still being held. "Can you move at all?" he asked the girl.

"...I'm weak, but I think I can move," she whispered.

"Spells?"

"With a little effort."

Link backed away from her far enough that she could see the hands that held her brother a little ways across the room. Following Link's gaze, she twisted around and saw a strange woman behind her, being held in the same way.

"...I recognize those things," Lydia breathed in utter disgust.

With his strength almost back up to full, Link pulled himself to his feet and yanked the Master Sword out of the floor. "Those are what's generating the nightmares. Gordon and Impa are still suck in theirs."

Lydia looked at the strange woman. She had grey hair tied back in a bun, and wore tight-fitting black armor. If she had seen this woman on the street, she would have been intimidated by her. "This is Impa?"

"Can you cut those hands away?"

The sorceress crawled over to where Impa was being held. "I think so." She moved over to Impa's left side and sat in such a position that had all the hands lined up in front of her. Lydia put both of her hands together and took a deep breath. "Flare Arrow!" When she took her hands apart again, a long arrow of flame floated in front of her chest. She carefully gripped the back end with three fingers and aimed the tip at the row of arms, then let it fly. It cut through the arms one by one at their base, then flew across the room and exploded against the far wall. The hands disintigrated and Impa fell limply forward.

Lydia sighed, exhausted, and turned to look for Link. He had already cut Gordon free and was helping him stand, quietly talking to him. As she watched him, she remembered the things he had said to her in the nightmare. Was it really the opposite of reality, as the real Link had said... or was she really a burden to him? He'd never admit it, of course... But what if she was?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Impa stirred. The woman lifted her head, and when she saw Lydia, she gave her a really threatening try-anything-and-I'll-kill-ya look.

"It's okay," Lydia said to her. "We're here on Zelda's behalf."

Impa's cold, hard eyes trailed across the room, and when she saw Link, her face softened and her guard dropped. She looked back at Lydia and said, "...The Princess. Is she well?"

Lydia smiled. "Quite. She's safe for now. We're your rescue squad."

The Sheikah woman grunted and sat up with more strength than she should have had after being down here for as long as she had been. Link approached them them with one of Gordon's arms draped across his shoulders.

"What the hell happened?" Gordon grunted, fighting to stand on his own.

"A monster down here creates illusions and nightmares," Link quietly explained. "I don't think they are nightmares that are meant to ever be escaped from."

Lydia's eyebrows wrinkled. "You were the first to wake up, Link... How did you get out of it if escape was so improbable?"

The Hylian smiled as he remembered. "The Lens of Truth...cut through the illusion and set me free."

Starting to finally find his legs, Gordon chuckled quietly with understanding. "So the Lens' true purpose is revealed..."

Link opened his mouth to add something, but stopped mid-breath. There was movement in the center of the room. No one else seemed to notice, but he felt it. He didn't hear it or see it... he felt it somehow. Before he could warn the others, the dirt shifted violently and a large creature slowly rose from it. Lydia gasped and Gordon growled as they both recognized it. It was another Ugly, except larger, and the teeth were pointed and sharp - meant for meat-chewing. It was still white, but instead of patches of pink skin were patches of strangely evil-looking dark purple.

Impa immediately tried to stand and go for a weapon, but immediately fell to a knee. She was still too drained to do much of anything. Gordon was also still too weak. Lydia suffered from both weakness and fright and stayed frozen in place.

Although weak himself yet, Link lowered Gordon down to his knees, then turned to face the monster. It snarled and moaned at him. He snarled back for a moment, and then spoke.

"So, we meet again, Ugly."

The two sorcerers looked at him. 'Again'?

Link continued to growl at the monster. "What we did to you seven years ago just wasn't enough to fully banish you from this world, was it? I guess full-blown Undead really aren't dispatched as easily as anything else."

Ugly's head and arms wobbled as it started moving toward Link, angry that he had somehow broken free of its spell on his own.

"However," the Hylian continued, "this time, we've got something on our side that will surely put your restless soul in peace for good." As he spoke, he slowly, almost dramatically slid the Master Sword from its sheath. The magnificent blade almost glowed with anticipation. He held the sword in front of him with both hands and stared Ugly down with cold, battle-hardened eyes. "Rest now."

As Link watched the monster creep closer, his muscles screamed with effort, and he realized that he was nowhere near strong enough for a real fight. He'd have to finish this with one blow. It was all he had in him.

For just a moment, he closed his eyes and steadied himself. Images from his nightmare ran through his head repeatedly, causing his emotions to slowly boil up. This monster had put him through a short version of Hell itself and needed to pay for it.

Link's eyes snapped open and he ran forward, bellowing angrily, with the Master Sword held out to his left side. The mark of the Triforce of Courage flickered just for a moment and the Master Sword glowed with energy. Ugly remembered this and was determined not to let this kid ram a sword through his head again. The monster steadied itself and prepared to strike. As the boy drew within range, Ugly threw its head forward, chomping its sharp teeth, craving the taste of flesh.

But Link suddenly dodged to the right and Ugly's face sailed harmlessly past his left shoulder. He knelt down just slightly and tightened his grip on the sword. Ugly's neck was wide open. Before the monster could recoil, Link released his battle cry and swung the sword upward as hard as he could, slicing right through the neck.

As he followed through with the swing, Ugly's head fell to the ground, flopped around for a moment, and then burst into flames as the power of the Master Sword pulsed through it. As Link dodged clear, the rest of the body caught fire as well.

As the body burned, everyone felt their bodily weakness draining away. Their strength was returning. With Ugly's demise, the energy that it had sucked from them was being released. After another moment, all that remained of Ugly was a pile of black ashes.

Lydia stared with an open mouth. "Wow. That didn't happen before."

Link stood up and turned around, quite proud of himself. He smiled and gazed at his reflection in the blade of the sword. "Yeah. I love this thing." He slowly sheathed it, then straightened his face and tried to act more serious. "That creature won't be bothering us again."

A deep chuckle came from Impa's throat, and she raised her hand to the Hylian - some kind of salute. "It has been many years since I have seen you, young Link. And you've become quite the Hero."

Link stood up straight and puffed his chest out a bit. "I am doing by best to pull Hyrule out of these dark times. The Princess Zelda is safe for now, and we draw closer to defeating Ganondorf every day."

Impa chuckled again, waving a hand slightly. "At ease, young one." She gazed over to where the remains of the monster lay. "...I am truly in your debt."

Gordon stood with strength returned, and gazed upward, looking for means of escape. Barely in sight was a circle of light - the room they had fallen from, no doubt. "What say we get out of here?" he asked everyone. "It looks like we can just fly up and out."

As soon as she heard that, Impa smiled at the two with small ears. "Ah, so you are the ones Zelda sent Link after all those years ago. ...I supposed that."

Lydia couldn't possibly miss that opportunity. "We sure are! We're the unbeatable, all-powerful, bow-to-us sorcerers! And we're here to give Ganondorf a real headache! We're--"

"But first of all," Link said, cutting off her string of self-praises, "we have to get out of here. Let's go find that shadow spirit."

The sorceress glared at him. "You are really no fun, you...dull, no-fun guy."

Link simply smiled at her. After all, he thought, the fact that she can verbally jab at him meant that she was really alive and okay. That was good enough for him.

*~*~*~*

After a few long moments of magical flight directly upward, the group found themselves back in the room they had fallen from. They all quickly moved away from the bird statue, having previously made the connection that it meant trouble. All that was left was that door in front of them with the bars on it.

Lydia widened her eyes hopefully, and looked at Link. "...Can I?"

Link shrugged. "As long as it gets opened somehow."

"Yay!" The sorceress pranced forward eagarly. She had been dying to blow something up for a good while now. She cracked her knuckles and threw her hands toward the door. "Damu Brass!!"

A red ball of light flew forward and struck the ground in front of the door, exploding on impact. The door frame shook so violently that the bars were knocked loose. They stayed intact otherwise, but fell free of the door and clanged loudly on the floor. When the dust cleared, Lydia chuckled and congratulated herself. She raised her arms and flexed her muscles like a body-builder would.

"Impressive," she heard Impa say.

"Totally!" she shouted back. "Forward, troops!" She ran through the door and disappeared without waiting.

Link sighed. "Reckless as ever..."

"Well, it's not so bad," Gordon said as the rest of them started toward the doorway. "It seems she was relatively unphased by what happened back there."

"...Yeah..."

Of course, that's not what Link really thought. He knew she was faking it. It was obvious to him. Whatever she saw really bothered her. But now wasn't really the time to bring it up, and he concentrated on what lay ahead.

They found Lydia just through the door. She had stopped and was gazing down into a large hole. The room they were in was quite small - barely enough floor space to house that hole, and was empty except for it.

"What's down there?" Link asked as he walked up beside her.

Lydia hummed quietly. "Um... I'm not entirely sure... But it absolutely reeks of shadow spirit." She straightened up and gazed back at her brother and Impa. "Are we ready?"

They nodded, and Gordon took a firm hold on Impa's wrist, ready to lower them both down into the hole. Lydia did the same with Link, and they all jumped in. About halfway down, the sorcerers caught the entire group with levitation magic and slowly lowered everyone down onto the white floor in the gigantic room below.

Upon touchdown, it became obvious that it wasn't really a normal floor. It was tight, yet gave with every step. It was a huge platform they were standing on in a room that was so huge they couldn't even find the walls. This platform...it was so strange.

They realized it all at once. It was a drum. They were standing upon a giant drum.

Just then, a familiar voice cackled.

You meddlesome little beings!! You weren't supposed to break free of those illusions! Not only that, you destroyed my precious Dead Hand! I'll get you all for this! No more playing!

Something huge dropped down onto the drum over to the right and knocked everyone off their feet. It was a giant hand with thick fingers and no arm. Just the hand, floating there. As everyone climbed to their feet, another hand came down on the left and knocked them all down again.

As these hands lightly drummed a beat, the main body appeared in the center, above them. ...It was the most bizarre-looking thing they had seen yet. It looked like a cross between a sock and some sort of plant - shaped like a sock, but open at the bottom like the blossom of a plant, exposing a large red eye.

The main body disappeared from sight, and the hands went on a rampage, pounding down on the drum repeatedly. They were no longer keeping a beat, but were merely trying to squash whoever they could, sending the group jumping and diving in all directions trying to avoid them, all the while trying to stay on their feet as the drum shook.

Gordon tripped and went down, turning over on his back in time to see a hand coming down on him. "Flare Arrow!", he shouted, sending the arrow of fire directly into the palm of the hand. When the magic struck, the hand shrieked and recoiled, shaking itself violently, as if trying to ease the pain.

The boy stood up quickly. "They're not invulnerable!" he shouted. "Just shoot 'em!"

While the two sorcerers each took a hand and worked to keep it at bay with various pain-inflicting spells, Link's eyes darted back and forth, looking for the main body, which had disappeared into the darkness. But search as he might, it just wasn't anywhere.

Impa, standing just behind him, put a hand on his shoulder. "Boy, the Lens of Truth!" she said to him, exasperated that he hadn't already started using that.

Link's nimble hand had the Lens out in less than a second, and he gazed through it. ...There it was, just between the two hands, where it would be expected to be hiding. It was hiding itself with invisibility, becoming just like all those fake walls. The red eye was the obvious weakness. It wasn't exactly well-hidden, since it wasn't supposed to be seen at all.

The Hylian's brain worked hard for a few seconds, then he snapped his fingers. "I have a plan!" he shouted loudly over the shrieking of the hands. "Everyone come over here!"

The two sorcerers fired spells at the same time, striking each hand, momentarily stunning them, then ran to where Link and Impa stood. Link gave Impa his bow and quiver, and shoved the Lens of Truth into Gordon's hands.

"We have to go for the eye," he said. "Impa, I need you to stick an arrow in it. Gordon, use that Lens to help her find it. Lyd, we need you to keep those hands at bay while they go after the eye." He reached up and yanked the Master Sword out of the sheath. "Once you hit the eye, I'll go in for the final blow."

"You got it, Long Ears!" shouted Lydia, who ran off to one side. Gordon and Impa nodded confidently, then ran off to another side. Link stood, Master Sword at the ready, for his cue to attack.

Impa squared her shoulders professionally and raised the bow with almost as much grace as Link had, securing an arrow in it, ready to fly. Gordon stood just behind her with the Lens raised to his left eye. As he watched the eye's movements, one of the hands shook away the paralysis and swung itself toward them. An arrow of fire sailed over their heads and struck the hand, knocking it back again, followed by Lydia's typical shout of success.

"Okay," Gordon whispered, watching the main body move toward them. "When I give the word...let it go."

The Sheikah nodded, battle-hardened skills at the ready.

The main body of the spirit continued to move sideways as Lydia kept firing at its hands. Closer, closer... Just a little more... Finally, the eye was lined up with Impa's aim and started forward toward them.

"Now!!" Gordon bellowed. The arrow released.

Link's quick eyes watch the arrow fly as if it were happening in slow motion. It struck something he couldn't see at first, but as soon as the eye was hit, the entire body of the monster fell out of its cloak of invisibility and fell down onto the drum, stunned for the moment.

Now or never. Link dashed forward with the Master Sword held out to his side. Again, the mark of the Triforce of Courage glowed and the blade of the sword was coated with great energy. Just as the spirit was about to regain its bearings, Link shoved the blade into the red eye as far and as hard as could, and let the Triforce release its energy.

The monster shrieked with pain and rage as the Sword held it pinned in place. The energy of the Triforce coursed through it again and again, filling the entire room with bright light.

Link yanked the sword free and quickly ran out of the way as the monster collapsed upon the drum's surface. It immediately started to disintigrate into the same purple thing that had attacked Kakariko the other day. Then, even that started to smoke and evaporate until it was completely gone.

The shadow spirit was no more.

Satisfied with the day's work, the Master Sword's glow dulled back to normal again, and Link replaced it in its sheath. Before he could so much as sigh contently, he was pounced on from behind.

"Let's hear it for Link, the Plan Master!" Lydia shouted happily, lowering herself off of Link's back. "Did you think that up right there and then?"

Link smirked at her. "That I did. I mean, it was the obvious thing to do."

"Good for you, Hero of Time."

Impa and Gordon approached the two then, and the Shiekah handed Link his bow and quiver. "Well done, young Hero."

He nodded. "Thank you for your help," he replied shyly, slipping the equipment back under his shield.

Gordon's gaze wandered over to the center of the drum. "...Oh, hello. We're being called."

The other three looked and saw the all-too-familiar circle of light there, prepared to lead them to the Chamber of Sages.

Lydia sighed. "Well, that's enough fun for one day, guys. Let's call it a night."

----

A few moments later found the group in the Chamber of Sages. Link and the two sorcerers stood alone on the medallion in the center. Impa stood in front of them on the medallion of the Shadow Sage. For the first time since Link had met her, she was smiling. She was usually too serous to smile.

"Well done, all of you," she said cooly, with her arms crossed. "I am assured now that you will be able to protect the Princess in my place. I shall stay here as the Shadow Sage and help you however I can - this is how I will repay you for pulling me out of the shadow spirit's world of illusion. I know you will someday save Hyrule from the Evil King Ganondorf."

"Oh, don't worry," Link said. "We will. We definitely will."

"Go then. May the Triforce be with you."

With that, the room brightened and the floor fell away as the trio was sent away from the Chamber. Five sages down, one to go. Things were definitely looking bright.

But...who could that last sage be?

*~*~*~*

"Nice night," Lydia whispered, her eyes glued to the sky.

"Yeah," Link said back. "Kakariko hasn't seen such a clear night in some time, I'm sure."

It was true - now that the shadow spirit had finally been destroyed, the forboding rainclouds that had been hanging over Kakariko for days had finally retreated, giving way to the shining stars and full moon. Lydia and Link were sitting upon the roof of their little house in the town, watching the stars twinkle. Gordon had already gone to bed a while earlier, as had most of the Kakariko villagers. The town was dark and quiet, appreciating the solitude it was finally getting.

The girl sighed. "...We sure have been through a lot since we first met, haven't we?" she asked, and took another bite from the piece of bread she was munching on as a snack.

"Mmm," Link agreed, not taking his eyes from the magnificence of this night's stars.

"Monsters, magic, evil Gerudo guy, sages... A lot has happened." Her voice trailed off as memories of that nightmare she had worked themselves into her mind. She swallowed, and lowered the bread down to her lap.

"Link..." she whispered. "...Am I a burden to you?"

Link almost choked with surprise and stared at her. Had she asked what he thought she asked? Of all the ridiculous questions!

"Wh-What?!" he shot back. "How could you possibly think that--" His voice trailed off as he realized what it was. "Oh... Wait. This is about that nightmare you had, isn't it?"

The girl didn't look at him - she only nodded. "I know you said those illusions were pretty much the opposite of reality, but... Am I?"

Link gaped at her for a moment. Was she really worried about this? He reached over and took her hand in his.

"Of course not," he said quietly. "You have never been, nor will you ever be. You're a joy to have around, and I'm glad we met."

The girl smiled at him, feeling more confident.

"After all," Link shyly continued, "...I..."

There was a long pause, and then suddenly, a voice completely foreign to the conversation shouted up at them. "Oh, for God's sake, Link! Everyone has already figured it out! Confess already!!"

Shocked and appalled, Link leaned forward and looked down toward the ground and saw Gordon leaning out of the window, gazing up at them. That little creep had been listening in the whole time!

"Why, you--!!" Link shouted in an unusually Lydia-like way. "I thought you were in bed!!" He grabbed the piece of bread Lydia had been eating ("Hey!!") and threw it down at Gordon, who ducked into the house just in time to avoid getting hit in the forehead with it. Wise enough to have learned his lesson, Gordon quickly closed the window and retreated back into the house.

Lydia gaped down at the ground, not sure how to react. "...So much for my snack," she finally said as she watched a passerby Cucco claim the bread for itself.

Link sighed heavily and tried to steady his heart and make his face stop blushing. The more and more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Maybe Gordon was right. He locked his eyes on the full moon and took a deep breath.

"You're not a burden to me," he said. "I'm happy when you're around. Not having you around would really damage my spirit. ...The nightmare I had in the Shadow Temple only made me further realize my true feelings for you."

Lydia's eyes widened and she stared at him, suddenly realized where he was going with this.

Link took another breath. "...I love you. And I always want you to be with me."

A tear streamed down Lydia's face before she could stop it and her body trembled with emotion. She smiled as more tears came, slid her body next to his, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"...I know."

Link smiled and curled an arm around her shoulders. "I thought maybe you did."

Back down in the house, Gordon pulled his ear off the glass of the window and smiled to himself. "Finally," he breathed. "I thought he'd never go through with it." Trying to be as quiet as possible, the boy crawled back into bed, quite satisfied with himself.

As for the two up on the roof, they sat there for the rest of the night to watch the moon set and the sun rise. For the first time in a long while, all was right with the world.