Worlds Apart - Part II

by Miss Lydia

Ganondorf has free reign of Hyrule and is slowly destroying the land. To his surprise, seven years after he gained power, his sworn enemies reappear and strike back! Link and the sorcerers set out to save Hyrule! (Read Worlds Apart - Part I first!)

34. Chapter 31

Link yawned widely and loudly as he flipped through the channels on Lydia's TV. "Man," he moaned to himself. "There's never anything good on this time of day. I'd hate to have to go and do something constructive."

Suddenly, Lydia tore through the room, almost tripping over the leather ottoman. "Story time!" she shouted. "Story time! Story time! Writers block is gone!!" With that, she ran into the nearby bathroom.

"What, finally? It's been a few months since you finished the last one. How long do you expect to keep people waiting like this? I mean, seriously."

"They know a good story when they read one, and will stick around no matter how long it takes! Hurry up and gather your stuff so we can go!"

"All right, all right." Link turned the TV off and picked up the phone, quickly dialing a number.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Gordon, hey. Link here. Listen, it finally happened. Lydia just sprinted through here yelling about the writer's block being gone, and we have to go RIGHT NOW."

"...What, now? But this isn't really a good time..."

"You wanna tell her that?"

Gordon was silent for a moment. "...All right, I'll be over in a few minutes and then we'll go," he said, then quickly hung up the phone.

Link opened the hall closet and started fumbling around for his equipment when he heard Lydia's irritated voice sail out from the bathroom.

"Damn it!!" she yelled. "Where are those red contacts I've been using the last couple of chapters?!"

"You had 'em last," Link called back.

"I KNOW that! God, I hate when this happens! I'm always in a hurry, and I always forget SOMEthing, and then I have to-- Oh, here they are."

"And the world was safe again."

"Mock me all you want," she said as she rushed up to Link, grabbed his arm, and started pulling him toward the door. "Let's just hurry and go before I lose the inspiration!"

"Wait, wait, Gordon's not here yet!"

"We'll meet him halfway! Move it!"

The door slammed behind them, and another too-long-awaited chapter of WA began.

Author's note:
This is a nice, long one, too. Worth the wait, I promise.
Although, I hope some of it doesn't seem too rushed. Unfortunately, I had to fit A LOT into this chapter, and it felt like I went through a few things too quickly. I tried my best not to, but I can't help but think some of you may still think things feel rushed. If you end up being one of those people, I apologize, and hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. sigh Too much story, too little space, too little time. ...Waaay too little time.

Worlds Apart
Chapter 31

By Miss Lydia aka Goddess Rinoa

(Author's note: For a better formatted version where the HTML actually works, please visit the fanfics section within the Fan Stuff of my website, Zelda Infinite. Since this site seems to self-destruct every time I try to link you there - this thing is getting more and more tempermental - you'll have to follow the link in my profile. Trust me, it's worth it. It's just more attractive over there. Thanks!)

Forcing herself out of a daze, Lydia slowly opened her eyes. She gazed around her as she tried to shake off the sleepyness that hung over her like a fog. The Temple of Time ruins?

As her head cleared, she tried to remember what had happened. That Hylian boy with the Triforce of Courage... He had worked some kind of magic on her before. She remembered the blue light... but between there and ending up asleep on the ground in the courtyard, she couldn't recall. And that only further angered her.

She angrily looked around her, quickly realizing that the boy was ilong/i gone. After all, who knows how long she had been out? With a glance up at Ganon's Tower in the distance, she imagined Ganondorf nagging her to go and find him again. She snarled and began to stand up.

Her forehead connected with something hard and she cursed loudly. Rubbing what would undoubtedly be a bump later, she realized she was encased in some kind of weak barrier. "What the hell?" she groaned out loud. Placing both hands on the barrier, she pushed hard, forcing her own magic into it. A matter of seconds later, the barrier shattered and disappeared.

Lydia stood up straight. The sorcerer boy was moving already?, she asked herself. Did he honestly think such a weak barrier would hold her? Fool.

She knew she would have to go and find him again. Chances were that he would head to the Spirit Temple again, obviously having business there that she got in the way of earlier. That was as good a place as any. And when she found him... There would be a world of pain.

With that, she glared upward and took off into flight.

The sun was approaching the noon position as Epona galloped away from the grassy areas of Hyrule Field and back into the desert valleys, carrying Link and Gordon on her wide back. Gordon admitted earlier that even though he iwas/i resilliant to the magic his sister had worked on him before, he was still severely weakened from the recovery, and had exhausted himself in his search for Link that morning. Luckily, Nervani was true to her word, and they had found Epona grazing in the Field not far from the Market.

Link was just finishing up telling the story of the previous day at length, trying to not leave out any details about the Temple, so that Gordon would know what to expect. The sorcerer laughed each time Link told him about the times Lydia had panicked and thrown magic at something, obviously not surprised by that behavior.

Once the story was over, Gordon thought silently for a moment about Nabooru.

"So, it seems," he said, "that she was under Ganondorf's control for a long time... I didn't realize he had gotten to her that long ago."

"It's rather sad," Link replied. "Lydia was really upset by the fact that she couldn't interfere in it."

Gordon thought for a moment, then nodded, not needing further explaination. "...Of course. That may have severely altered today's events... Who knows what that could have caused...?" The boy smiled. "But, at least we know she's okay inow/i."

"Right."

The canyon appeared before them earlier than expected, and Link caught sight of the destroyed bridge. Or, at least, the bridge that iused/i to be destroyed. Link also saw a familiar group of carpenters working on the bridge that Nervani had cut through a couple of days earlier.

The Hylian's eyebrows wrinkled with annoyance. There was no way to get past without attracting their attention, which was something they really didn't have time for... and if he remembered what it was like the first time...

Link stopped Epona as they drew close, and one of the carpenters looked up at them. His mouth dropped open.

"Hey! Hey hey heeeeeyy!! Look who it is!" he shouted excitedly, nudging one of his buddies so hard he almost fell off the bridge. "It's the cute kid from the other day!"

Gordon raised an eyebrow and looked around at Link, who was grimacing slightly. "I take it you guys have already met."

Link said nothing.

The carpenter that almost fell into the canyon straightened himself and excitedly ran right up to Epona, who nervously pawed at the ground and edged slightly away.

"Kid! Kid! You were so awesome the other day!"

Another carpenter joined in, practically bouncing over to them. "Just when we thought we'd be stuck in that fortress forever, BAM! There you came to save the day, and--" The bearded man noticed Gordon, and pointed right at his face. "Hey, hey, heeeyy! It's the other one!"

Gordon smiled awkwardly, trying to think of something to say.

Link saved him the trouble. "You guys are already fixing the bridge?" he asked.

The third carpenter left his tools behind and joined the rest. "Yah, man. That Gerudo leader woman that's been missing for some time suddenly showed up early this morning. She told us it was important to fix the bridge, then went on her way." The man's voice quieted and he started mumbling to himself. "...Although, it's a bit annoying that it has to be fixed twice in the same week..."

The only carpenter left on the bridge finally left his post, ran up beside Epona, and took hold of Link's wrist. "Kid! What can we do to repay you for your awesomeness from the other day?"

The Hylian gently pulled his arm out of the man's sweaty grip. "You guys could always let us cross the bridge..."

The first man patted Link's other arm, shaking his head. "Oooh, no can do. Not with the horse. The repairs aren't fully complete yet and won't support that kind of weight. I mean, you sure could itry/i, but you'd end up on your way to the lake, I'd wager."

Link couldn't help but smirk. "Last time you wagered on something that involved me," he said, "you ended up giving your friend money."

The man grumbled.

"Even so," Link continued, "it's probably best to leave her here anyway. She can't come where we're going."

Gordon took that as the signal to climb down, and carefully did so, giving Link the room to swing his leg over and climb down himself.

"So, where iare/i ya goin', kid?" the bearded carpenter asked as Link turned Epona around, dispite her mild protest.

"West," was Link's vague answer. He gave Epona a sharp pat on the hindquarters, and she galloped away... but not before giving Link a slightly hurt look. He waved for Gordon to follow him, and the two started across the bridge.

About halfway across, one of the large sweaty hands suddenly came down hard on Link's shoulder. "Hey hey hey! Stay for lunch, man!"

Link turned slightly, brushing the man's hand away. "We're really in a hurry. Thanks, though."

Another man approached Link, unconsciously forcing Gordon to step out of the way to avoid being shoved off the bridge. "C'mon! We made stew! My old lady's famous recipe!"

The Hylian was looking slightly aggrivated now. "I really do appreciate the offer, guys, but it's gonna have to be another time.

The first carpenter's excitement and eagarness went a little overboard as he went for Link's shoulder again. Forgetting that he was twice the boy's size, he pushed him a little too hard, forcing him to step backward. Only, when Link stepped back, the foot that was supposed to hold his weight ended up out in the open air above the canyon. Regaining his balance at this point with nothing to grab hold of was hopeless, and he toppled over the side of the bridge before he could even shout.

All four carpenters yelled at once in shock, then gaped open mouthed as the quiet boy with the glasses dove off the bridge as well. They continued to watch, amazed, as he caught up with the Hylian halfway down to the river, and not only stopped the fall, but started to carry him back up. All of the large men were on the bridge now, watching as the two hovered in front of them, Link giving them a really critical stare.

They all smiled awkwardly at him.

The Hylian sighed and shook his head. "Another time," he said, then looked up at his flying companion. "Let's go."

Gordon smiled, obviously trying not to laugh, then flew toward the Gerudo Fortress, leaving the embarrassed carpenters behind to finish their work.

Once they were well out of sight of the canyon, Gordon dropped back down to the ground. Link gained his footing on the nice, safe ground, then brushed himself off with an annoyed groan.

"What're they trying to do, kill me?" he grunted, looking at Gordon. "Thanks for the save." He noticed the sorcerer had his hands on his knees and was breathing heavily. "...You okay?"

Gordon smiled and gave him a Lydia-style thumbs-up. "I'm still a little winded."

When he finally straightened up and assured the Hylian that he was okay, they started to walk through the valley to where they remembered Gerudo Fortress to be.

"I wouldn't be too hard on them," Gordon said with a smile and a badly disguised laugh. "They're obviously big fans of yours."

Link put a hand to his forehead with slight exasperation, covering one eye. "I know, I know."

"So, what's the story?"

"When we split up at the Fortress last time, I ran into them. Apparently, the Gerudo women had locked them up. So, I.. you know."

"Once a hero, always a hero, huh?"

"I was just passing by."

"Right."

Link raised an eyebrow and gave the sorcerer a sarcastic look. "...What? I thought making fun of me was Lydia's job. Trying to fill in for her until she is back with us?"

"I guess I'm not as good at it."

Link looked down at the path, and smiled slightly. "No... You're not..."

The sorcerer gave him a gentle punch in the shoulder. "Hey, I know you miss her, but she'll be back. You'll see."

The Hylian smiled, but the smile quickly disappeared and he stopped in his tracks. He suddenly looked up into the sky in a slight panic, then grabbed Gordon's arm and pulled him into the dark shadows of the valley walls, ducking behind one of the large boulders.

"Don't move," he whispered.

Gordon turned his eyes skyward, and to his surprise, he saw his sister's form flying over right then. She wasn't flying in a staight line. It was obvious she was heading west, but she would go in one direction for a bit, stop and look around, then go off at another angle, look around, then continue on.

After a few nervous minutes, Link decided it was safe to peel themselves from the rock, and they stepped back into the sunlight.

"She's looking for us," he said quietly, staring off in the direction to which she had disappeared.

"And she's probably as mad as a hornet," Gordon added. "...Do you think she's heading for the Spirit Temple?"

Link nodded. "Probably. I have no doubt she assumed I'd be going there first."

"...What'll we do if she finds us before we awaken the final sage?"

"...I don't know. I just don't know."

Just then, the two boys heard the loud beating of hooves somewhere up the path. Before long, Nabooru appeared atop a large black horse. She caught sight of them, and waved.

"Did you see her just now?" she shouted to them as she pulled her horse to a stop. After getting solemn nods, she continued to speak. "I saw her fly over the Fortress and into the desert. She's obviously heading for the Temple. We'll have to tread softly on the way, so she doesn't find us."

"I don't really see the likelyhood of her being able to spot us in that desert," Link said. "I've been there already. You can barely see your own hand in front of your face."

"True. I'm more worried about what happens when we actually get to the Temple."

"...Speaking of which, Nabooru," Gordon spoke up, "Why are you so intent on coming? You know it'll be dangerous, right?"

The Gerudo woman laughed, quite entertained. "Of course. That's the idea." Her voice softened. "...Besides. I owe you all a lot. I know Lydia would want me to make sure you two don't get into trouble while she's gone." She looked directly at Link. "I told you I'd pay you back for that day all those years ago."

The Hylian smiled. "Actually, that was just yesterday."

Nabooru grimaced. "Boy, are you itrying/i to break my brain?"

Gordon laughed.

"Speaking of which," the woman continued, "Did you manage to get the gauntlets?"

Link, realizing that he had icompletely/i forgotten about them, felt around behind his shield until he found the Silver Gauntlets. He started to give them to Nabooru, when she laughed and waved them away.

"I don't need 'em, yet," she insisted. "Why don't you go ahead and hang on to them for now?"

The Hylian smiled, knowing that was a subtle message that he should just keep them, and tucked them back with his other equipment.

Nabooru turned her horse around and started to walk it back toward the Fortress, with the two boys following on either side.

"While you two were off doing whatever, I have spent the whole time since I got back trying to convince the other women that our real enemy now is Ganondorf."

"That must have been a hard sell," Gordon observed out loud.

"Indeed. See, in the earlier days, around the time that I met Link and Lydia at the Spirit Temple, our main motivation for following Ganondorf was that he promised to lead our race to glory. The Gerudo have been somewhat of outcasts for a long time, and that sounded very appealing. I knew from the start that he was no good, hence my intent to mess up his plans. But the other women didn't see him as I did and blindly follow him, even to this day."

Link looked up at her and asked, "So, when we get to the Fortress, are they still going to threaten to tear us apart or whatever?"

Nabooru flashed a really wide, triumphant smile. "Not anymore. I spent hours talking in the main hall, after the initial 'Where the hell have you been Nabooru?' gaggle died down. I told them the entire story, from why I disappeared all that time ago to why they were being ordered to hold an unstable and obviously dangerous sorceress within the fortress for Ganondorf. It took some doing, but I think I have finally convinced most of them of what the truth is." The woman looked down at Link. "My good friend Nervani didn't even need my convincing. Apparently, you have already met a few times. She said that you actually managed to beat her in a sword fight. Is that true??"

Link chuckled. "Actually, I think I bested her itwice/i... But I was lucky."

"And the plot thickens! Y'know, I owe you thanks. Nervani is going to buy me some lunch in exchange for my not telling the other girls about it." Nabooru smiled very slyly.

"How manipulative. Lydia would be proud of you."

Nabooru looked ahead. "Speak of the devil."

Just then, a second horse appeared from around a bend in the valley path. As soon as she saw the three standing in the road, Nervani smiled and waved. She stopped her horse in front of them and smiled at Nabooru.

"I think I've convinced the remaining stragglers of what's really going on." She looked down at Link. "I think it'd be fairly safe to assume that you have the support of the Gerudo race in your efforts."

The Hylian smiled back at her.

Nervani narrowed her eyes. "...You're not gonna itell/i anyone... are you?"

Link laughed. "Maybe I'll keep quiet if you buy me some food."

After an annoyed groan, Nervani gave Nabooru a playful slap on the shoulder. "You're a bad influence on that nice boy."

"You know me," was Nabooru's reply.

Nervani pulled her horse alongside Nabooru's. "As long as we're here, we may as well give you boys a ride to the Fortress. It's still a ways, and the sun is high." She smiled down at Gordon. "See how nice we are?"

Link climbed up onto the back of Nabooru's horse, trying not to crowd her too much, while Gordon joined Nervani.

"Hey, you're kinda cute," Nervani told the sorcerer. "What's your name?"

Gordon's face turned red, and he bashfully told her his name.

"Well, Gordon... Wanna buy me lunch sometime?"

Nervani waved from her place at the top of the ladder, beside the enormous gate leading into the desert as it creaked loudly and slowly rose. Once the gate was up, she agily slid down the ladder and looked at her friend Nabooru.

"Are you sure you won't be needing help?" she asked.

"We need to keep this down to as few people as possible," Nabooru replied. "It's already going to be hard enough to hide from the sorceress until we're ready for her."

Nervani's face softened, and she looked at Link and Gordon. "I suppose what happened to her is partially our fault... If we Gerudo hadn't been so stupid as to not see what Ganondorf was really up to... we wouldn't have..."

Link smiled slightly and raised a hand. "Don't."

The woman smiled back. "...Okay, then... Just, rest assured... that if there's anything we can do to help... Just let us know." She quickly regained her confident composure and pointed at Link's face. "And don't forget that you still owe me that rematch!"

"And you owe ime/i lunch."

Nervani's arm changed course and pointed at Gordon. "Are iyou're/i gonna treat ime/i to lunch."

Gordon forced a smile. "...Not sure how ithat/i happened, but..."

"Right then!" Nervani shouted as she stepped backward and waved. "Take care and come back safe, okay? Remember, if you need ianything/i..."

With that, she took off and disappeared into one of the Fortress entrances.

The sorcerer looked at Link, who was smiling. "She's a weird one."

"It's like I'm surrounded by Lydias," the Hylian replied with a laugh.

Nabooru shoved him playfully. "Since you're so taken with that girl, I'll take that as a compliment." She turned toward the desert, and her expression changed.

"...I feel ill winds blowing. We need to get there and get this thing finished."

Gordon was the first to actually start walking. "Let's hope we don't run into Lydia before we get there."

"I'd rather we didn't run into her at iall/i," Link said. "Not for now, anyway."

"Will she fly low in the desert, looking for us?" Nabooru asked the Hylian.

"And get sand in her hair? Probably not."

"Then we'll worry about it when we get to the Temple."

Gordon smiled at Link as they drew close to the blowing sands. "...You sure do seem more light-hearted about this than before."

"I feel that I can be light-hearted about it," he replied, "because Lydia was light-hearted about it. Even though she was worried about what would happen, she still acted like herself, teasing me and yelling violently at monsters and such."

"...There are some places that even Ganondorf's magic can't reach."

"I certainly hope you're right."

"Ooooh, Koume, do you feel it?" the cackling witch asked her twin sister. "More intruders in our desert!"

"Ooooh, yes, Kotake," the other witch replied. "They're coming this way, they are!"

Nestled deep in a back room of the Spirit Temple were a pair of identital-twin witches, Koume and Kotake, wielders of fire and ice magic, respectively. They served Ganondorf, and were the guardians of this Temple.

"Shall we whip up something special for their arrival?" Kotake asked.

"Ooooh, yes, Kotake, what a wonderful idea!"

"But whatever shall we do?"

"Let's find that Nabooru girl and have her wear the Iron Knuckle armor again! Remember what fun we had the first time we did that?"

Kotake cackled with glee. "Ooooh, yes, Koume, I do, I do!"

"Forget it," a third voice said sternly.

The two startled witches whirled around to find a girl standing in the door frame with her arms crossed.

"Who are you, girl?!" Koume shrieked. "How did you get in here without our noticing?"

The girl looked at Koume. The firelight bounced from her glasses. "Because my magic extends beyond fire and ice, fool."

"Tell me who you are!" Koume loudly demanded.

"The name's Lydia. That creep Ganondorf probably mentioned me.

Kotake poked her sister's shoulder with her broomstick. "Sister, dear, I seem to recall him mentioning that one of his underlings would be coming here."

Lydia snarled. "There's that 'underling' crap again..."

Koume planted her bony hands on her hips. "Very well, then. ...What business do you have here?"

"I came to warn you about the group coming here. They're gonna--"

"We know, little girl," Koume interrupted with a defiant smirk. "We felt them coming before you even got here."

"Maybe, but did you know that one of them wields the sword of evil's bane and the other one has powerful Hyrulean shaminist magic at his disposal?"

Both witches stared blankly at her.

"...They'll kick your asses, y'know," Lydia declared.

Kotake pointed a thin finger at the smiling girl. "I think you underestimate us, young one."

"No, I don't think I do."

"Why, you...!" Koume fumed.

"Calm down, old ones," the sorceress said calmly. "I'm here to bail you out."

"Kah! We have no reason to trust you!"

"You have a ibig/i reason. He's tall, dark-skinned, and is pacing around Ganon's Tower waiting to bust you both up if you don't listen to me, his... 'underling', if you will, that is probably higher ranked than both of you put together on the Ganondorf Underling chain."

Kotake twitched, and poked Koume. "I think she's got us there, sister dear."

Koume looked at her sister, surprised, and shrieked, "What's that business of being higher ranked?! I've never even iseen/i her before!!"

"But, sister dear, she's taking idirect/i orders from Ganondorf... Isn't that proof enough?"

Koume mumbled angrily, but otherwise quieted down.

"I don't take orders," Lydia pointed out, "I'm acting under my own will. But, yeah."

"All right, all right, young one," Koume grumbled. "What will you have us do?"

Lydia pushed off from the door frame and slowly, if not dramatically, paced into the room. "They'll be here soon. I will set up a nice welcome for them. ...Admittingly, the welcome might actually kill them. But, if it doesn't, I'll have at least tired them out, and you two will be better matched against them if they make it this far."

Koume snarled at the girl. "How do you expect us to fight against them, even iif/i you 'tire them out'? We still have that shamanist to deal with! If he's as powerful as you say he is, how do you expect us to deal with that?"

The sorceress rolled her eyes. "iBecause/i, I gave him a hell of a beating the other day. I'm surprised he's already up and walking. I wouldn't be worried about his magic right now. In his current state, he can barely pull off a simple flight spell. The iidea/i is to tire out the Hylian one with the Master Sword, so he'll be easier to beat."

"...Our magic wouldn't work too well against something like the Master Sword. What are we supposed to fight him with?"

"I'll bet you two are upset about losing Nabooru, huh?"

Kotake whined loudly. "We just wanted to play with her a little longer!"

"Good news. She's on her way here as we speak."

The witch looked at Lydia for a moment, then waved her hand in the air, as if using some kind of magic. Her huge, bug-like eyes suddenly snapped open, and she grabbed Koume's arm. "She's right, sister dear!" she said excitedly. "I can feel the Gerudo girl's presense!"

Lydia smirked and knelt down closer to the two little witches.

"All right," she said slyly. "Here's what you're going to do."

Nabooru was first to step into the dimly-lighted Temple. She moved with the grace and ease of someone that grew up in this kind of environment. Link and Gordon, however, weren't quite so, awkwardly shaking sand out of their clothes and their hair as they walked. Gordon even somehow mananged to get some in his shoes.

"This sure brings back memories," Nabooru said nostolgically, gazing around the room from wall-to-wall. She pointed up to where the small hole in the wall was. "Hey, that's where we first met!" She smiled playfully at Link. "You were so small then. It's surprising how much you grew since then."

Link walked past her, his eyes intent on the large block that required the "power of silver". "That's what happens after seven years," he said dully and uncaringly.

Nabooru shrugged and started to follow him. "Fine. Be all work and no play, Mr. Boring."

The Hylian stopped, then turned slightly to face her. "So... now iyou're/i trying to play Lydia's role in this group?" he asked with a smile.

The Gerudo looked confused. "Am I? I was just being myself."

Link shook his head and continued on toward the block. "...You're a ilot/i different than when we first met you, that's for certain."

She stuck a finger in the air matter-of-factly. "That wasn't ireally/i me, though."

"...That thing is ihuge/i," Gordon observed, completely changing the subject.

The block that was covering the hallway was enormous. It towered over them all, and looked to weigh at least a ton or two.

Link felt Nabooru poke him. "The gauntlets, boy. What are you waiting for?"

He put his normal gauntlets back with the rest of his equiment and pulled out the Silver Gauntlets. Even in the absense of any kind of good light in this room, they still managed to find some and reflect it. Link slipped them on quickly, and suddenly felt an energy pulse through his arms. The feeling was incredible, and he couldn't help spending a moment gawking at his own hands. When Nabooru poked him again, Link took hold on the giant block, and pushed forward as hard as he could.

The block slid along the floor surprisingly easily. The other two followed as Link pushed the block farther and farther through the hallway. After several lengths, the block suddenly dropped into a huge hole in the floor and came to rest as a nice bridge into the temple ahead.

Link took a moment to crack his knuckles in a show-offy fashion. "Nice," he said.

"Do you suppose Lydia was able to get into the temple without moving this thing?" Gordon wondered.

They started to walk. "Maybe," Link said. "I'm sure Ganondorf knew of a couple of different ways in. Either way, it doesn't matter. She'll either meet us somewhere inside and try to beat us up, or follow behind us later now that the block is moved and try to beat us up.

The sorcerer sighed. "I guess so."

The large hallway abruptly ended with a doorway. The door was locked.

Nabooru wrinkled her eyebrows. "...That's odd..."

"I can try to blast it open," Gordon offered. "Although, it might make me useless for a while."

"Save your strength," Link said in an unusually deep voice, approaching the door. "I'll handle this."

With that, he took hold of the doorknob, sucked in a breath, and pulled it as hard as he could. With a loud crack, the door came right off its hinges. Link stood there, holding the door, facing his companions triumphantly.

Nabooru laughed. "You're enjoying those gauntlets way too much, I think."

"No such thing. Let's press on."

Link dropped the door, and they all stepped through the open doorway into an absolutely massive room. Link recognized it immediately. It was that huge room he and Lydia had found while looking for the gauntlets - the one with the large statue in it.

"I've been here before," he said. He pointed to a stairway on the other side of the room. "We went that way."

"Right," Nabooru said. "It was a good guess. And we're gonna have to go ithis/i way." She pointed at the stairway directly above where they stood on the far-right side of the room.

"What's that way?" Gordon asked.

"Well, there are a couple of witches are in this temple, and--"

"I remember," Link interrupted with a grimace. "They're the ones that--"

"Yeah. ...Anyway, they're still here somewhere... In a room up through there." Nabooru pointed up at the face of the huge statue.

Link followed her gaze, remembering that Lydia had noticed something strange about that statue's face the day before.

"The path is behind the statue's face," Nabooru continued, "but obviously the face needs to be removed for it to be opened. All it needs is light to be reflected on to it, and it should crumble like dry sand."

The sorcerer stepped forward. "Light, eh? iThat/i is something I should be able to pull off."

Nabooru shook her head. "No, no, sweetie. It needs inatural/i light."

Link raised an eyebrow. "...Just ihow/i are we supposed to get natural sunlight in here?"

"Look up there," the woman said, pointing up to the ceiling. A large square section of the ceiling in front of the statue seemed to be separated from the rest. "That's a platform that can be lowered from the room above. In ithat/i room, is a large opening in the ceiling."

"Hmm...," Gordon murmured. "Even if we get that platform down, how do we reflect the light onto the face? The only one of us that would habitually carry a mirror would be Lydia, and I doubt she's gonna help us with this."

Nabooru smiled again and redirected her gaze back to the stairway she pointed out earlier. "If we go that way, we can get the Mirror Shield."

"Mirror Shield?" Link repeated, suddenly ingrigued.

"Mm-hmm. A strong shield coated with a mirror. Not only could you reflect light with it, but it's an invaluable tool to fight those witches with. To weaken them, you'll have to reflect their own power back at them."

"You sure seem to know a lot about this, Nabooru," Gordon said.

"Well, as you know, I've been in the business for a while. But now that I quit, I can spill all the dirty little secrets I want."

"That's what Ganondorf gets for not giving you a good health insurance plan, huh?"

Link and Nabooru both stared at him.

"...Sorry, lame joke," the sorcerer said, looking at the floor. "Let's get going. Lydia's bound to be wandering around here somewhere, and we're making easy targets of ourselves by staying in one place too long."

And so, the group made quick work of the stairway, reaching the door on the top that was almost identical to its twin on the other side of the room. The exception being that this one wasn't magically sealed like the other one was. It actually opened rather easily, which was disappointing to Link, who was still on the testosterone high of having brutishly ripped that other door out its frame, and was looking for something else to destroy. ...He began to understand, just slightly, why Lydia enjoyed blowing doors open so much.

Through the doorway, they found yet another widing stairway. Nabooru confidently led the way, as if she had been this way dozens of times before. The stairway wound around until they found themselves in another massive room. Judging from the way the stairs were designed, this room was directly above the one they had just left. On the ceiling was what looked like a large opening - or what remained of a large opening. Where it looked like the opening ishould/i have been, it was covered by rock. On the floor was a large square sectioned off from the rest - the platform in the ceiling. Across the room was a small doorway leading to a dark hallway.

Nabooru cursed loudly, glaring at the rock slab covering the hole in the ceiling. "Who did ithat?!/i" she yelled as the group made their way to the center of the room. She angrily pulled at her hair and stomped on the ground for a moment before coming to her senses and looking at Gordon. "...Do you think you'd be able to blow a hole through there?"

Gordon studied the rock. "...iMaybe/i... Not as easily as I'd like, but if I have the time to work up the necessary strength, I probably could."

The Gerudo woman sighed. "Okay... Okay, no big deal. Good, good." She pointed to the doorway on the other side of the room. "That leads to several different passages that take you to different places around the temple, but most of them have since been sealed off, including the one that leads to the witches' quarters, which is why we have to go the long way. There's actually only two left open right now - the one that leads to the temple's entrance... Wait, no, that one was sealed, too. So.. only the one." She paused, smiling at Link. "The one that leads to where the Mirror Shield is stored, as well as to the switch to lower this platform into the room below."

"Well, we'll have to get that shield to get ianything/i done," Gordon said, "so let's go."

They started to walk. Link followed, but he seemed worried. "...Something's not right."

"Come again?" Nabooru asked, stopping.

"Don't you think this is all too easy? Why hasn't anything happened yet?"

Right on cue, the room started to shake.

Nabooru had a startlingly Lydia-like look of sarcasm on her face, she yelled harshly at Link. "Damn it, boy, you jinxed it!"

Link quickly ran over to where his comrades stood, keeping his balance much better than either of the other two. The floor on the side of the room they had come from started to change form and rise. More and more of it separated from the rest of the room and started to take a shape. The shape looked like that of a minature dragon. 'Miniature' meaning, of course, that it was only about twenty feet tall.

"...Great..." Link muttered bitterly.

"That's... that's a golem!" Gordon shouted.

"A golem? What's a golem?"

"A rock monster created from shamanist magics. The only one other than me that can do that is..."

All three turned around at once, realizing it at the same time. In the small doorway behind them, which was now sealed off by a magical barrier, was Lydia, smiling at them with her arms crossed, her red eyes piercing right into them.

Link's stomach dropped.

She giggled girlishly from the safety behind her barrier. "I've been practicing my Vu Vraimer. Like my little golem?" Her eyes narrowed and her expression changed. "...Have fun." She walked backward slowly and disappeared into the darkness.

Link was about to call after her when the golem took a step forward, shaking the room again. He concentrated on it as it glared down at them, waving its stone tail back and forth threateningly.

"Gordon?" the Hylian called. "Do you know how to idestroy/i a golem?"

"Yes, I do," the sorcerer replied, "but I'm not currently in any physical shape to pull it off. Just... um... Keep it busy! I'll think of something!"

"Keep it ibusy?!/i" Nabooru shouted. "What are we supposed to do, throw a stick?!"

"Just keep it away from ime/i while I work something up!"

Link looked back at Nabooru, who was so exasperated she couldn't even speak. "No choice!" he shouted before taking off toward the golem.

"...Gah!" Nabooru groaned loudly, and then took off the other way.

The golem growled loudly as the two little people approached him. It appeared to be having trouble deciding which of them to go after.

Nabooru jumped up and down, waving her arms. "Hey! Hey, you big salamander!" She started in spite of herself as the golem set its sights on her, turning away from Link.

Link took that opportunity to see what Gordon was doing. He had his head bowed and seemed to be chanting a spell.

The dragon golem swung its huge tail toward Nabooru, who agilly flipped out of the way, and the tail sailed harmlessly into the far wall. ...Well, almost harmlessly. Several parts of the wall fell free from the rest and crashed to the floor.

Gordon suddenly shouted. "Both of you get back here quickly!'

Nabooru did a fancy roll right between the golem's legs and made a break for where Gordon was standing. Link met them there.

"Got a plan?" the Hylian asked.

Gordon spoke quickly as the golem started to regain its balance after the swing of the heavy tail and turn toward them. "Stone is weakest against ice. If we could freeze it, it would shatter under its own weight. But, I'm not strong enough yet, so I'm going to have to try something else." He clapped his hands together, then threw them down on the floor. "I'll try to melt it!"

The golem growled at them and stomped forward, shaking even more parts of the broken wall free.

The sorcerer started to chant. "i style="color: #0088FF"Infinite earth, mother who nurtures all life, let thy power gather in my hand!/i b style="color: #0088FF"Vlave Howl!/b"

A straight line of the floor between them and the golem suddenly turned red and broke apart, and a large circular area around the monster glowed red as it began to melt into lava. If he could melt the floor, Gordon thought, he could melt the golem!

However, just as the floor under and around the golem started to liquify, the spell ended prematurely. The stone hardened as it was and returned to its normal color.

Gordon dropped to the floor and panted loudly. "I...can't even do... the Vlave Howl!?"

"...Oh, boy..." Link muttered as he looked at the golem, which was momentarily testing its weight on the floor. When it assured itself that it wasn't going to move anymore, the golem growled and started forward again.

Nabooru's voice squeaked from behind them. "...We're dead."

Lydia walked down the dark hallway, lightly whistling to herself, using the light of a spell to see. She wanted to hurry and get back to the room where the witches hung out, but now that golem she created was blocking the way. There was supposed to be another way that was sealed in these halls somewhere, so she decided she would find it and re-open it - by force, if need be.

What a delightful little golem she had created. She had never been ithat/i great with the shamanist branch of the Hyrulean magics, but she sure pulled that one off, and was pretty proud of herself. Normally, a golem like that could easily be destroyed by freezing it with a powerful ice spell like the Van Rehl - also shamanism - but with that boy in such poor condition, he'd never be able to pull it off. They'd just futilly whack at the golem for a while until it cornered them and crushed them. The room was big, but not ithat/i big. They could only avoid it for so long.

While Lydia was congratulating herself, a room suddenly appeared on her right. Not about to ignore her curiosity, she held the light spell up to the doorway. It was a relatively small room, and was empty - save for the big, obvious treasure chest in the back.

"...Who would stick treasure ithere/i without any sort of protection... or even concealment?" Lydia laughed to herself, and started to walk into the room. Before she even completed the first step, her face came in contact with what felt like a wall. She staggered backward, a little stunned. After quickly making sure her glasses weren't broken, she approached the doorway again, and gently held her hand out. Right away, she found the wall again. It was a barrier, but not like a barrier that her magic would create.

"I see. Not as easy as first glance, huh?" The girl smiled to herself. "Fine. I like a challenge."

She touched the barrier with her left hand as she used her other hand to make the light spell hover above her, and felt something surge through it. A mark of the Triforce glowed slightly on the back of her hand.

"Hmm? ...Ohhh, I see how it is," the girl said to herself with a sly smirk. "Not just ianybody/i can get that treasure, huh?"

She placed both hands on the invisible wall and concentrated hard, calling upon the power of the Triforce of Wisdom, willing the barrier to break. Expecting this wall to put up a fight, she called up all the power that she could muster. But it seemed that the wall didn't need much convincing, because it shattered so easily that Lydia completely lost her balance and fell right into the room, sending up a cloud of dust.

She sat up, annoyed, and coughed a couple times. "...Wonderful."

Pulling the light spell into the room, Lydia made it over to the chest, which was otherwise unprotected, save but for a small lock, which had no chance against a little lighting magic. The girl lifted the heavy lid and prepared to collect the spoils.

At the bottom of the chest was a large, red-colored shield. The entire front of it was covered with a brilliantly shiny mirror with the design of a crescent moon engraved into it.

The girl's eyes danced. "Whoo!! I'll bet I could hock this off for a pretty penny!" she said gleefully as she lifted the heavy shield from the chest and swung it over her shoulders, much the same way the Hylian boy did. She hated the guy, but hey, he idid/i know how to efficiently carry his equipment.

After collecting the reward for her minor detour, she walked back into the dark hallway again in time to hear a loud smash from the large room she had left before.

"...What did that golem do? Punch the wall or something?" she asked out loud, then started to continue down the hallway.

But then, she stopped. She heard somebody yell in pain as they were thrown into a wall. She heard the golem stomp around some more. A pang of guilt worked up in her stomach, and she turned around, an extremely worried look on her face. ...Maybe the golem was too harsh, she thought. Getting crushed under several tons of rock would... really hurt...

Images suddenly flooded her head. She saw the Hylian boy, the sorcerer...and herself, happily spending time together... fighting battles together... What was this? Something was trying really hard to be...remembered...

The girl caught herself mid-thought. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked herself aloud. "Have you lost your damn mind? After the deed is done, you can go back, claim your Triforce of Courage, and have the last laugh on that dumb Ganondorf." She started to walk again.

And then stopped again. Then walked again. Then stopped, turned around, and sprinted back the way she had come.

It didn't take long for her to reach the door, stopping right before the spot where the had cast the barrier. Looking through the doorway, she saw the Gerudo woman slumped down by one of the walls. She was conscious, but didn't look like she'd be standing any minute soon. The sorcerer boy stood by her, trying to cast a spell, and after a failed attempt, slumped to the floor, exhausted. The only one left standing was the Hyilan, battered and bruised, standing protectively in front of the other two as the golem approached.

Lydia gritted her teeth, not out of excitement or suspense, but out of worry. She gently placed both hands on her barrier and quietly dispelled it. She looked on as the golem growled loudly at the Hylian, and with a swing of its tail, sent him sailing to the far corner of the room.

The sorceress balled a fist. Something was seriously wrong here... She created this golem to do exactly what it was doing... So why did she feel so...?

Her train of thought stopped there as she watched the golem stomp toward where the Hylian was trying pathetically to stand again. Her heart dropped as the golem raised its massive leg right over him.

Before she could even stop herself, a whirl of magic blew around her and then across the room. "b style="color: #aa00aa"Air Valm!!/b" she shouted.

A wind barrier instantly formed around where the Hylian had fallen, and the golem's massive stone foot came right down onto it. The golem, being the simple-minded thing that it was, lost its balance when its foot hit something solid before it was supposed to, and it fell backward to the floor, shaking the entire room again.

Before the dust even settled, Lydia's hands quickly formed seals, then slammed to the stone floor. "b style="color: #aa00aa"Van...Rehl!!/b"

Thin strings of pure ice webbed across the floor with quicker-than-the-eye speed, wrapping around the golem. Struggle as it may, it was quickly enveloped in a thick layer of ice and could no longer move. Moments later, an arm fell off. Then the tail. The rest of the body quickly followed, breaking into small pieces, then turning to dust and returning to the stone floor from which it came.

The room was quiet once more.

Before the realization of what she had just done hit her, Lydia caught sight of the Hylian's face, staring at her in an undescribable way. The girl's eyes shifted to the other side of the room, where she found the other two sitting up and looking at her, amazed.

Suddenly, an incredible surge of pain shot through her head. She held her head with both hands, let out a brief scream of pain, then turned around and bolted back through the hallway as fast as her legs would take her.

"iLydia!!/i" Link yelled after her, and began to run. Nabooru caught him halfway to the door and threw herself in his path. Link tried to manever past her, but the woman would have none of that, and stood fast.

"Don't follow her," Nabooru warned with an usually serious voice. She turned her head to look toward where the girl had stood moments before.

Gordon appeared beside them, limping slightly. "That was amazing... She's resisting the magic ithat/i well?"

"Which is exactly why we have to let her go."

Link shifted his weight nervously. "...I don't understand! She was..."

"I know, I know..." Nabooru said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Like the boy said... she's resisting the magic on her own, but it's causing severe emotional trauma. Ganondorf's magic and her own magic are pretty much having a battle inside her head. I... remember what it was like, as Ganondorf's grip on me loosened and Lydia's magic fought its way in, all that time ago. If you were to follow her while she was confused like this, it might do some damage. We have to let her work through this on her own."

"Yeah, but..."

"Let her go. ...It'll be okay."

Link sighed.

Gordon smiled reassuringly. "I think she's right, Link. What I saw a moment ago convinced me that Lydia's going to be able to beat this on her own. She just needs time."

"I hope so. I...can't stand much more of this."

"So, let's go find that shield, and go find the witches. ...Maybe Lydia will join us later, huh?"

Nabooru started to lead the way. "C'mon. The Mirror Shield is stored in a room not too far in."

Suddenly, Link stiffened again and reflexively grabbed hold of his sword. Before anyone could react, a huge Wallmaster suddenly dropped down on him, knocking him to the floor. It picked him up a few feet, then threw him across the room. On the way back, it threw itself into Gordon, sending him in the other direction. Then, it stopped, and stared at Nabooru with unseen eyes.

Nabooru stood fast and tried to look threatening. "Go away! Shoo! Shoo! Nobody called you here!"

The Wallmaster hissed loudly at her and crouched down, preparing for a pounce.

"Well..." Nabooru muttered to herself. "...That iused/i to work..."

The creature threw itself into her, wrapping all of its fingers around her. Instead of jumping back to the ceiling, it seemed to fly forward, disappearing into the dark hallway, pulling the screaming Nabooru along with it.

Link was on his feet a second later and sprinted into the darkness as fast as he could run, trying to follow Nabooru's voice - not even his Hylian eyes were doing any good in this darkness.

After about a solid minute of running, he suddenly ran face-first into something rock solid, and blacked out as soon as he hit the floor.

Lydia was curled up on the floor of the room where she had found the Mirror Shield, holding her head as the pulses of pain occasionally went through. Every time it happened, she saw images in her head of times she had since forgotten. That Hylian boy was in most of them.

Eventually, the pain subsided for the most part, and she sat up again, leaning against the wall. What was happening to her? Why was it happening? Was it some sort of magic?

As she was about so stand up again, something large whizzed past the room, carrying the Gerudo. The Hylian soon zipped past the doorway, as well. A moment later, the sorcerer brought up the rear, holding a light spell.

Lydia crawled to the doorway and peered out into the hallway, but all three had disappeared into the darkness ahead. All was silent.

"Seems the witches took that chance to take the Gerudo girl," she thought to herself. "...Speaking of which... I had better get back there..."

She stood on shaky legs and walked out into the hallway. She originally was going to take the sealed way to the witches' room, but that would probably require crossing paths with those two boys again, and if they were the source of this mental insanity she was currently experiencing, she wanted nothing to do with them for now.

The girl started to make her way back to the room where she had summoned the golem, keeping one hand on the wall for support. About halfway back, she stopped, and put her hand on a particular brick on the wall there. The brick receded into the wall, and the sounds of some kind of large mechanism working in the golem room reached her ears. Continuing onward, she reached the original room a few minutes later, finding the platform in the floor had lowered into the room below, supported by four large chains.

She stood at the edge of the large hole, looking up at the stone slab that covered the large hole in the ceiling. She scoffed at it briefly, then sent a solid Damu Brass at it, condemning it to a multi-pieced fate. Bright sunlight flooded the room, and the girl lowered herself down to where the platform now hung.

Squinting slightly in the massive amount of sunlight that now filled the enormous room, Lydia swung the Mirror Shield around and directed some of it at the face of the large statue, which right away crumbled almost completely, revealing a large door behind it. The girl flew over there, opened the doorway, and staggared into the familiar room, lit by torches.

She found both of the witches in fighting stances, lowering their broomsticks when she entered.

"Oh, it's just iyou/i," Koume grumbled.

"...Sorry to disappoint..." Lydia replied, almost at a whisper, continuing to sway weakly as she walked.

Kotake let out a little cackle of surprise. "Oh, look, sister dear! The young one was able to get through that troublesome barrier and get the Mirror Shield!" The witch with the icy blue jewel on her forehead held out a bony hand. "Why don't you go ahead and turn that over to us? We'll make sure it's properly destroyed."

Lydia edged away protectively. "...Mine..."

The witch recoiled her hands. "Oh... Well, whatever suits you, young one."

The sorceress walked past them, and disappeared through a large door in the back.

Kotake poked Koume. "...Sister dear, was it just me, or did the girl seem... disoriented? Do you think something happened to her?"

Koume scoffed. "Who cares?"

"Is it all right for her to keep the Mirror Shield?"

"As long as the one with the Master Sword doesn't have it, I don't care." The fire witch turned toward Nabooru's unconscious form in the corner of the room. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about right now."

"Ooooh yes, sister dear, you are right, of course."

"Let's get to work, Kotake," Koume said, raising her broomstick.

Link slowly opened his eyes, and saw Gordon standing over him, holding a light spell. He found himself flat on his back on the cold stone floor.

"...What happened?" he groaned.

Gordon's eyebrows wrinkled. "You found a dead end. ...With your face."

"...How long was I out?"

"I'd say at least twenty minutes."

"And Nabooru?"

"Gone. I've already looked everywhere. They seem to have completely disappeared."

Link started to sit up, holding his face as if trying to move things back to where they belonged.

"And...," Gordon continued. "I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but... it looks like somebody already took the Mirror Shield."

The Hylian balled a fist, and then slammed it angrily on the floor.

"We'll think of something else," the sorcerer said reassuringly.

"Something needs to go right... iSomething/i needs to go right..."

"It will," he said as he helped Link stand. "Things can only get better from here."

They started to walk back toward the room with the platform, since that was pretty much the only place to go. Gordon led the way with his light spell.

"So you said the Mirror Shield was gone?" Link asked.

"I found an empty chest that seemed big enough to hold something that large, and further searching yielded nothing. I can only assume that the shield used to be there and somebody has already taken it. For now, we need to find a way to get that platform lowered so we can get to where the witches are supposed to be."

When they stepped into the room, the huge hole in the ceiling was immediately apparent, and the platform had already been lowered.

"...Whoa," Gordon said, stunned. "Somebody saved us the trouble."

"But, who could've...?"

The two looked at each other.

"Come to think of it," Gordon half-whispered, "in the room where the chest was, I thought I found remains of a magical barrier, but there was really no way of telling how old the fragments were. It ifelt/i somewhat recent..."

"And as I so brilliantly discovered earlier," Link added, "that hallway is a dead end."

"Plus, there's probably only one other person around here besides me that could blow a hole through that rock... and I iknow/i it wasn't ime/i."

Link started ahead. "Hurry. We can't be too far behind."

The sorcerer took hold of Link and lowered them both down to the platform below. It came to their attention right away that the statue's face had been reduced to dust. Visible behind where the face used to be was a large stone door. Gordon flew them over there, and set Link down right in front of it.

Link placed a hand on it. "...Looks like it has been opened recently. She came through here, all right." He faced his companion. "...You ready?"

Gordon shook his head.

"Neither am I. Let's go." With that, he heaved the large door open and stepped through.

Closing the door behind them, the two found themselves in a large room. Not nearly as large as the last one, but it was decently sized, and was lit by torches along the walls. There was a large open doorway in the back.

In the center of the room stood a large suit of armor, just like the one Link had seen the previous day. In front of the suit, facing away from them, were two small forms.

One of them suddenly cackled loudly and turned to face them. She had bulging eyes, a huge nose, and a large red jewel on her forehead. "Looks like we have visitors, Kotake," she said.

The other turned around. This one looked identical to the first, save for the blue jewel instead of the red. "Ooooh yes, Koume, you are right," she replied.

"The witches," Gordon whispered in Link's ear.

Both of the witches started to hover in the air on their broomsticks. "How bold they are," Koume sneered, "to come into our home uninvited like this, eh, Kotake?"

"Ooooh yes. We should teach them a lesson, Koume."

They backed off to where the suit of armor stood.

"Oh, loyal minion," Koume said. "...Destroy these two for us!"

With that, both witches disappeared in little puffs of red and blue smoke.

The suit of armor started to move. It started forward, put its arms up in the air threateningly... then suddenly stopped and looked at its hands, as if just noticing they were empty. It raised its right hand, snapped the fingers, and in a flash of light, an enormous ax appeared in its grip. It raised the ax high and resumed its threatening position.

Gordon took one step backward. "...Okay, that's really bad."

Link stood fast, unsheathing his sword. "Don't panic. Lydia and I faced one of these when we were here last. If we can just get that top layer of armor off, it's pretty easy to cut down."

All of a sudden, the armor suddenly sprinted forward with unbelievable speed and threw its ax down where the boys had stood seconds before - both of them had jumped to either side.

"Okay, ithat's/i the catch," Link yelled to Gordon. "This one is faster."

The armor suit stood rooted in place, looking back and forth, obviously trying to decide which one to go after. Link whistled at it loudly, drawing its attention. It turned and started stomping toward him.

Gordon caught sight of a paid of red, criss-crossed suspenders on its back, obviously holding the outer shell in place.

The armor broke into a sprint and took a swing at Link, who rolled away. The ax made a huge gouge in the wall, and it took a moment for the suit to recover its footing. Link took a swing at the red suspenders, but instead of turning to swing at him with the ax, the armor swung its other arm around the opposite way, slamming the Hylian right in the torso, sending him flying to the other side of the room.

Link lay on his side for several seconds, gasping for air. That blow had completely surprised him. The last one of these monsters he had fought wasn't nearly that flexable, or quick. Why was this one so different?

He looked up to find the armor suit standing over him, glaring. As it was about to position itself to bring its ax down on its target, a small chunk of the wall it had cut into earlier flew from behind it and bounced off the back of its head. It spun around angrily and glared at Gordon with its white glowing eyes.

Using the distraction, Link forced himself to stand, and with one swift motion, he cut through the vulnerable suspenders in the monster's back. The outer layer of silver armor fell to the stone floor with a loud clang. The suit spun around again after a moment of surprise, but Link had already moved around it and was standing back where Gordon was, holding his sword at the ready.

"Okay," the Hylian said with a smile. "One carefully-placed strike should finish it off." He was about to run forward when Gordon's hand suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Wait," the boy warned. "Something isn't right."

"Meaning?"

Gordon stared at the suit intently as it started to approach them, studying it...

Link began to get nervous. "Quickly now, it's icoming/i," he pressed.

"Okay, I'm going to cast a spell while you cut it down, but don't kill it. Knock the helmet off...icarefully/i..."

The Hylian stared at him, completely bewildered.

"Instead of striking to kill... I simply want you to knock that helmet off after my spell is finished."

"..."

"Trust me."

"You know I do."

Gordon smiled and held his hands out in front of him. "You'll know when to strike."

The suit of armor lost its patience right about then. Holding its enormous weapon above its head, it grunted loudly and charged them.

The sorcerer acted, throwing out a veil of white magic at the approaching enemy. "b style="color: #0088FF"Flow Break!/b" The magic wrapped itself around the suit, and it stopped right in its tracks. It appeared to suddenly weaken, even appearing slightly confused, and began to stagger.

Link knew what that spell. He had seen it many times before. But why would Gordon use...

Suddenly, he understood what was going on, and knew what he had to do. The moment the creature started to stagger, he sprinted forward, holding the Master Sword out to his side. In what felt like slow motion, Link leapt through the air, and with expert swordsmanship, hooked the bottom of the helmet with the tip of the blade. As he sailed past the monster, he followed through with the strike, lifting the helmet up from the rest of the suit and sending it flying to the other side of the room.

Another large piece of the armor fell free from the rest. One of the arms came apart, followed by both legs. When the breastplate feel free and clanged to the floor, the person hidden inside became obvious. As Link landed after his jump and swung around to face what was left of the suit of armor, Nabooru weakly fell to her knees, dazed and obviously confused.

Gordon's legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor, completely spent.

The Gerudo woman slowly looked up. "...Wh...Where am I?"

Link was about to speak when he felt the now-familiar presense of the witches. Right on cue, they appeared in the room again with puffs of red and blue magic, on either side of Nabooru.

Koume was first to speak. "Well, it seems the spell has broken, doesn't it, Kotake?"

"Ooooh yes, you are right, Koume," the ice witch replied.

"Perhaps we should have her work for the great Ganondorf a little longer."

"Ooooh, good idea, sister dear!"

Both witches reared their broomsticks back and gathered magic into them. Nabooru tried to run, but the witches threw the magic at her before she got far. She was struck in the back, and disappeared in a flash of white light. Koume and Kotake quickly spun around and did their own disappearing trick, leaving nothing behind but their red and blue smoke.

The room was quiet again, save for Link's angry swearing about how everything was going wrong.

Gordon pushed himself up into a sitting position. "There was nothing that could have been done. It happened too fast."

"I can't take this anymore!" the Hylian fumed loudly, stomping toward the large doorway in the back of the room. "We're gonna find those witches inow/i, and we're going to ifinish/i this. I'm tired of running around in here, getting kicked around, and having everything take turns for the worse!" When he was almost to the door, he stopped and turned around in time to see Gordon try to stand, only to fail and end up back on the floor again.

Feeling like an ass, Link turned around and went back to help him up. He swung the sorcerer's arm around his shoulders and lifted him to his feet.

"I'm sorry," he said. "...You know... My temper hasn't always been that short."

"Lydia's a bad influence on you," Gordon replied with a laugh.

"Tell me about it."

The sorcerer looked worriedly around the room. "Nabooru could be anywhere by now..."

Link started to walk, carrying most of Gordon's weight. "Those witches can't be far. I'm sure they'll tell us what they did with her. They'll just need a little...persuasion."

The large, open doorway led through a dark, high-ceilinged hallway that ended very abruptly. It opened up into the largest room they had seen thus far in the temple. It was practically the size of a battle arena, with a high ceiling, dimly lit by dozens of torches lining the walls. Four large platforms rose from the floor on each of the four sides of the room. In the center of those four platforms was an even larger platform, about half the width of the room itself. On all sides of all of the platforms were handles and footholds, obviously for climbing the twenty feet or so to the flat top.

The room was completely silent.

Link didn't see any other ways in or out of this room - a dead end. If the witches came this way, they would have to still be in here somewhere. ...In addition, if they were right about Lydia coming this way before, she might also be nearby. When he was about to mention this fact to Gordon, he noticed how limply the sorcerer was hanging from him, like a rag doll.

"...Are you all right?" he asked reluctantly.

The sorcerer groaned, "No. No, not really."

Link backtracked to the doorway and lowered Gordon to the floor by the wall there. "Just wait here. Don't move."

"Be careful."

"You know me."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Showing his usual grace, Link quickly and effortlessly scaled the nearest side-platform, using the built-in footholds. When he reached the top, he was momentarily startled by just how large and wide that center platform was. It was in jumping distance from the much smaller platform he stood on, so it wasn't long before he was on that larger platform, walking slowly, searching the room with his sharp eyes.

Hidden behind one of the side-platforms clear on the other side of the room, Lydia sat, curled up on the stone floor, wondering what she was going to do. She had been damn sure that there had been another way out of this room, and was surprised to discover that it was a dead end. Now, she found herself trapped in the room, unable to get away without attracting the attention of at least ione/i of them.

And she ihad/i to get away, and stay away. Whenever she laid eyes on one of them, deep emotion stirred somewhere inside of her, always followed immediately by sharp pain pulsing through her skull, like a punishment. There was no doubt that she felt something whenever...

If she could just get away from them and out of this damn temple, she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. Ganondorf could get his iown/i damn Triforce of Courage if he wanted it so badly. Lydia wanted no further involvement.

...Not if it involved hurting them...

For reasons she didn't understand... the thought of doing so broke her heart.

Suddenly, the witches cackling voices filled the large room and echoed from the dusty walls.

"Haa haa! Look at that stupid kid! He came here willingly to offer himself as a sacrifice to the great Ganondorf!"

Before she could even stop herself, Lydia began to climb the platform behind her, to get a better look. When she reached the top, she didn't climb up, but rather lifted herself so that the flat stone top was at her eye-level.

She saw the Hylian boy in standing in the center of the main platform, frantically looking from side to side, obviously looking for the witches. They wasted no further time making themselves known, rising from red and blue magic circles that appeared on either side of the platform.

Koume rose from the red one, spinning around on her broomstick and releasing some puffs of red magic, cackling loudly. "With my fire, I'll burn him to the bone!"

Not about to be upstaged, Kotake rose from her blue circle in a similar way, complete with the spin and the magic puffs. "With my ice, I will freeze him to his soul!"

With that, they began to circle above him, sharing a quick sisterly handshake in the air before separating and returning to their respective corners of the battle field.

As the witches circled around him, Link was completely at a loss as to what to do. The item that was supposed to help him fight the witches - the Mirror Shield - was mostly likely in Lydia's possession, and he had little chance of being able to hit the witches with his sword while they were up on their broomsticks like that.

While he looked around the room for ideas, Koume faced him, gathered up magic into her broom, then with a quick cackle, threw it at him. Link flipped away as the magic hit the floor where he stood. Right away, he found himself running as fast he could to escape the spread of the fire that seemed to turn the floor to lava as it went. After covering about half of the platform, the magic died out and disappeared.

The Hylian stopped running, and spun around just in time to see Kotake point her broom at him and release a thick line of ice magic, which hit the floor and spread in a similar manner. Link had to actually flee from the main platform and retreat to the safety of one of the side platforms, and even that was only safe until Koume flew over there and tried to torch him again.

This continued for several minutes as Lydia watched from her perch. Slowly climbing the rest of the way up and onto the platform, many emotions fought each other inside of her as she watched the boy dodge attack after attack. At one point, one of Koume's strikes was so close that he tripped and disappeared over the side of the platform.

Acting instinctively, Lydia took a step forward to help, but was stopped by the pain that shot through her head. She silently began to scold herself as she dropped to her knees and waited for the pain to subside. Losing desire for the Triforce of Courage was understandable, and imaybe/i justifiable. But iwhat/i was this annoying urge to actually ihelp/i? She wasn't isupposed/i to care about this one way or the other! Why did her body continue to keep trying to jump into the battle without asking her first?!

Right about then, the Hylian appeared again, much closer to her this time, and it took serious effort to not accidentally gasp out loud. He was climbing up to the main platform, right in front of where she was knealing. Understandably distracted, he didn't seem to notice her there.

When he was almost to the top, Kotake reared her broom back. Link didn't see it coming in time to avoid it completely, but was able to partially dive to one side, to prevent a direct hit. The ice spread too quickly and froze his feet in place, causing him to lose his balance and drop to one knee. Quickly spreading around him and moving halfway up his body, the cold ice held him fast.

Koume cackled loudly. "That's what you get for jumping around so annoyingly, boy! And now you're going to--" The witch stopped talking, and focused her eyes on where Lydia stood. "Ah! There you are! So, have you come to watch?"

Link twisted his body as much as he could to see what had distracted the witch so suddenly, and saw Lydia, with a very frantic, confused look on her face. She would look at the witches, then look at him... then wince in pain and hold her head. Was she still resisting Ganondorf?

"...What's the matter with you, girl?" Koume cackled. "Are you ill?"

Lydia muttered something through her teeth that the witches didn't hear as she painfully held her head... but Link's sensitive ears picked it up. "...Get... the hell...outta me..."

"Well, no matter!" the witch continued uncaringly, rearing her broom back. "As long as you can still watch this and tell Lord Ganondorf what a great job we did!"

The Hylian returned his gaze to Koume as she gathered her fire magic, then pointed her broomstick right at him. "Prepare to die!" she shrieked, and let the magic fly. Held like this by the ice, all Link could do was brace himself and hope this didn't kill him.

Suddenly, Lydia let out an angry shriek.

Just as Koume's fire magic was about to hit its target, it suddenly bounced off in a completely different direction, hitting and momentarily covering the far wall, taking several seconds to fade away completely.

Link opened his eyes again to find Lydia standing in front of him, holding the Mirror Shield protectively in front of her, breathing as if she had been running for hours. Looking as if her knees were about to buckle, she continued to stand her ground, giving the witches an awful stare, until pain in her head once again overwhelmed her, and she had no choice but to drop to one knee.

The fire witch Koume waved a bony fist in the air. "What in the world are you idoing?!/i"

The sorceress said nothing.

"You were supposed to weaken him, not ihelp/i him, you stupid girl!" Koume continued to yell. "I almost had him!" Her long face suddenly turned from angry to sly. "...I suppose this means you have betrayed the great Ganondorf?"

Lydia continued to pant. "I... was never... working ifor/i him to begin with... you old bag. I thought I... made that iclear/i."

"But this is still going to iroyally/i anger him," the witch retorted with a delighted smile. "Ooh, I can't iwait/i to tell on you."

The girl tried to snarl something back, but another wave of pain hit her.

Koume cackled loudly. "I can't wait to see your punishment!"

"...Sister, dear," Kotake whispered. "Isn't that going a little far?"

Lydia slowly slid the Mirror Shield from her arm and lowered it to the ground. She had to get out of here inow/i. If she stayed any longer, she knew she might have some kind of breakdown. Just as she was about to flee for the door, she felt Link touch her arm. She flinched away as if burned, then stood and sprinted away as fast as she could, taking a flying leap off the platform and disappearing over the side.

The large door she had originally come through had since closed, and didn't show any sign of opening. In her panic, her first thought was to blast it open so that she could still get away quickly before anyone approached her. She jumped back a few lengths and threw her hands to the side... and met eyes with Gordon. He was still sitting where Link had left him, against the wall near the door.

They stared at each other for several seconds. In those short moments, her eyes said emotional things to him that her brain hadn't given the command to say. The sorcerer's eyes offered momentary comfort for her. Unfortunately, she came to her senses right away, threw a fireball through the door, and disappeared before the smoke had even cleared.

The ice that held Link had since melted enough to allow him to break it off and stand again. Quickly brushing himself off, he knew perfectly well that going after her was pointless, but couldn't help but want to. ...Even it had obviously hurt her greatly to do what she did, it was nothing but good news for him. She was very close to beating this.

Kotake's soft, yet cold voice interrupted his thoughts. "...Sister, dear...," she said to Koume. "What are we going to do now?"

Koume's huge eyes shifted back and forth, then she threw her broom back and gathered magic into it. "We hit him before he can get away again!" she shrieked, and threw fire magic toward the ground.

Acting quickly, Link grabbed the Mirror Shield that Lydia had left behind and held it in front of him. The magic hit it full on with such force that he was forced to take a step backward to keep his balance. The shield reflected the magic right back where it had come from, but not to the original owner. By chance, the angle at which Link held it sent the fire right into the ice witch Kotake, who yelled at the top of her lungs and hung limp for several seconds before regaining her bearings from the strike.

The first thing she did was smack Koume with the brush of her broom. "Oh, igood/i one, Koume!" she shrieked, her usually-calm voice suddenly turning shrill and angry.

Koume's voice was similarly shrill. "I forgot he had the shield, okay?!"

"Well, take ithis/i, sister dear!"

Kotake gathered her ice magic and let it fly, but not at Koume - she sent it in Link's direction instead. A bit stunned at the suddenness of that, Link reflected the magic the same way, right into Koume, who had a similiar reaction to Kotake's.

The ice witch laughed. "That's what you get!"

Koume shook herself out. "All right, all iright/i! Just stop." The witch sighed. "...We can fight all we want later, but we have something ielse/i to worry about right now, don't we?" She casually waved a hand in the direction were Link stood staring at the witches, absolutely bewildered by their behavior.

"Um... excuse me?" Link called up to them. "If you're too busy for me right now, I could go..." He thumb-pointed at the door.

Koume huffed at her sister. "See? iHe/i agrees with me."

Kotake was visably starting to calm down. "...Okay, Koume. What do you want to do now?"

The fire witch flew over to where Link still stood and started to circle high above him. "Let's show this boy what we're really made of!"

The ice witch joined her sister in the circling. "Oh, all right, Koume."

They spun faster and faster until they seemed to become one. Suddenly, there was a large puff of magic, and from it came a large, much more beautiful woman, with half of her hair fire, the other half ice, holding respective magic wands in each hand. The woman smiled and winked at Link before flying over to one of the room's large side-platforms.

iWell,/i thought Link. iThat's a new one./i

After lowering his normal Hylian shield to the floor and swinging the Mirror Shield over his back in its place, Link moved to the center of the main platform and watched the large witch move from platform to platform a few times, waiting for her to make the first move. Not about to disappoint, the witch raised her fire wand, and sent the equivalent of one of Lydia's fireballs in his direction. It wasn't moving very quickly in comparison, however, and would be easy to dodge, but Link knew the Mirror Shield he had must have further purpose in defeating these witches. He quickly swung it in front of him in time to catch the fireball, trying to angle it so that it would bounce back where it came from. But, to his surprise, instead of reflecting the fireball, the shield absorbed it. It repeatedly flashed red, and shook slightly as it held the energy inside of it.

"...iNow/i what?" Link asked himself.

The witch flew over to another platform, and threw another fireball. Link raised the shield, which again absorbed the magic. The Mirror Shield began to flash red even more quickly and it shook harder in his hands, as if it was having trouble holding everything in.

Again, the witch moved to another spot. This time, she lowered her fire wand and raised the ice, sending a blue, icy beam of magic at him. Reacting quickly, Link raised the shield and took the hit. The shield absorbed the ice magic just as it had with the fire, but the flashing subsided and the shield stopped shaking.

Obviously, that wasn't right.

"Ice will cancel fire!" Gordon's voice suddenly yelled.

Link turned around and saw the sorcerer. He had climbed almost all the way up to the platform, and was holding himself up by his elbows. "And, fire will cancel ice! Try to absorb enough of one kind!"

The Hylian turned around to face the witch, who was moving back to her original position. What was Gordon thinking? If that shield had absorbed another fireball... Judging by the way it had been shaking, it wouldn't have been able to hold the magic anymore.

...Unable to hold it anymore...? Suddenly, it all made sense.

The witch sent another fireball, which Link quickly absorbed. Again, the shield started to flash and shake. She zoomed on over to her next perch, sending a second fireball, which the shield again absorbed. It shook so hard Link had to tighten his grip to hang on to it.

After another move, the witch sent a beam of ice. This time, Link leapt out of the way and allowed it to hit the ground, quickly moving away as it spread, and eventually faded.

"How long can you run?" Koume and Kotake's combined voices asked. "You'll eventually tire... and then you'll either burn or freeze. Which will it be, I wonder?"

She moved back to the last platform she had been on as Link moved back to his original stance in the center of the room. With a wave of the red wand, another fireball sailed toward him. Link braced himself and threw the shaking Mirror Shield up, catching the fireball-head on. It shook violently for a few moments, and then intense fire magic exploded from the mirror, and fanned out to where the witch still was. She wasn't able to escape in time and was hit by the onslaught, dropping to the platform below, momentarily weakened.

If Link knew anything about fighting, it was when to make the strike, and now was the time. He swung the Mirror Shield over his shoulder and quickly drew the Master Sword from its sheath.

He closed his eyes and concentrating hard, summoning power from the Triforce of Courage within him. He had to finish this in one blow - he had something important to do that still had to be taken care of.

An image of Lydia's face flashed through his head, and the Triforce of Courage started to stir. Sprinting forward, with the glowing Master Sword held at his side, Link leapt from the platform to where the witch was trying to recover, and struck with all his strength. Bright light spread throughout the room, the force of the magic blowing all of the wall sconces out.

When the light faded, the large witch was gone. All that was left was two balls of magic - one red, one blue - circling each other as they headed toward the center of the room. Keeping his sword out, in case there was more to come yet, Link followed.

The magic balls dropped to the floor, and after quick flashes of light, Koume and Kotake appeared again. ...Oddly enough, they had bright, shiny, honest-to-goodness halos hanging over their heads as a light started to shine down on them from somewhere above.

"Ooooh!" Koume fumed. "What a fresh kid. We'll get him this time, right Kotake?"

Kotake looked at her sister. "What's that above your head, Koume?"

"...I don't know, but you have one over your head, too, Kotake."

They started to float up from the ground.

Kotake started to complain loudly. "But I'm only 400 years old!"

Koume followed suit. "And I'm only 398 years old!"

"We're twins!" Kotake shot at her. "Don't try to lie about your age!"

"Don't talk to your sister that way!"

"You're heartless!"

This continued back and forth for a while. Link stepped back as they bickered, trying to be serious about this... but couldn't help but smirk. This was probably the strangest thing he had ever seen in his life.

Suddenly, the witch sisters stopped bickering, flew up to the light, and disappeared. All that remained was Koume's cackling voice.

"I'll come back to haunt you!"

The familiar blue circle of light appeared where they had stood, and Link sank to the floor, exhausted. "...I'll look forward to it," he said with a smile.

The room was peaceful again.

Gordon slowly approached from behind, working to stay on his feet. "It's almost sad to see them go," he said with a laugh.

"Really." Link stood up and brushed himself off. "Are you okay?"

"Shaky still."

"...Did you see where she went?"

"Lydia? She blew her way out the door and is probably making her way outside."

"We can still catch her, then."

The sorcerer nodded. "...But first, we have unfinished business." He gestured toward the glowing circle of blue light.

Link nodded. "...The final sage. We're finally finished. After all this time and after all we've gone through, we're finally finished."

"What do you think happens now?"

"...I don't know. I really don't know."

"We'll figure it out as we go along, huh?"

"Isn't that ialways/i what we've done?"

With that, they stepped into the blue light circle and disappeared from the dark, now empty Spirit Temple.

Lydia flew until she could fly no more, and was only able to fly to the outskirts of the Gerudo Valley. Instead of landing on the path below, she set herself down atop of one of the high, secluded side-cliffs, promptly dropping to her knees to catch her breath. She sat on the stony cliff for quite some time, holding her throbbing head in her hands. iWhat/i had happened to her back there?

Suddenly, she felt a presense beside her. Tilting her head, she saw some familiar dark clothing. She groaned out loud, and stood up to face Ganondorf.

The Evil King towered over her, his barrel-like arms crossed. "...iWhat/i was ithat/i?" he demanded.

"What was what?" Lydia asked innocently, trying to pretend she wasn't in any pain.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out?!"

"Frankly, I don't care."

Ganondorf snarled. "...Obviously, I underestimated you..."

Lydia suddenly started to scream at him, glaring with her red eyes. "I don't know what you did to me," she yelled, "...I don't know what kind of magic you worked on me or when, but you had better fix it! Or, so help me, you will enter a world of pain!"

The Gerudo man raised a bushy eyebrow. "...Which of us is in the world of pain right now?"

The girl continued to glare.

"Fine, fine," Ganondorf sighed. "If you want, I can fix this problem." With amazing speed, the Evil King lashed out and grabbed Lydia by the forehead, releasing magic into her before she could get away. He pumped everything he had into her, forcing her resistance down into the depths of her mind where it wouldn't give him any more problems. In her weakened state, there was little she could do to stop it.

He let go, and Lydia dropped to her knees. She raised her head slowly, her eyes glowing a firey red, even more intense then they had been before.

Ganondorf smiled. "...I said I'd fix it. Didn't say I'd remove it." He turned around, his cape whipping around in the hot wind. "...Let's go. We have business to take care of. And then, I'll finally be able to wash my hands of all of this."

When the light faded, Gordon and Link once again found themselves standing in the Chamber of Sages. Right after they arrived, the platform started to glow, and Nabooru appeared, smiling widely at them.

Link smiled back. "I can't say I'm surprised."

"iI'm/i not surprised," Nabooru joked.

"Are you all right?" Gordon asked.

The Gerudo woman waved her arms in a dismissing way. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Listen, you don't have much time. Ganondorf's on the move!"

"What?" Link half-shouted.

"Undoubtedly, he's either felt the defeat of the witches and is on his way here, or he is going after Lydia while she's weak. You need to get to her before he does." Nabooru smiled. "...Before you go... Thank you for everything. ...Now that us six sages are together, we will be able to aid you when you strike against Ganondorf. Oh! And, if you run into Nervani, tell her to take care of things for me! And be sure to ask the girls if you need any help, okay?"

"Thanks for your help, Nabooru."

She clapped her hands together. "O-kay! Now, as you know, there's a Triforce platform outside of the temple, in the oasis. You're probably used to being transported there, but Lydia has undoubtedly gone way past there by now, so I'm going to send you to the valley to give you a head start. Aren't I nice?"

"More than we could ask for," Gordon agreed.

"Just make sure you kick Ganondorf around for me!"

Everything around them started to glow white, and the Chamber slowly disappeared. Nabooru's voice followed them out.

"Hey, sorcerer boy! When all of this is over, you istill/i owe me lunch!"

When the light faded, the boys found themselves standing in the valley, a ways past the gorge, almost back to Hyrule Field. The sun was dipping in into the west, the sky beginning to turn a slight shade of red. Shadows grew, and the air slowly cooled. All was quiet.

Gordon looked around. "Where are we supposed to start? If she can still fly, she could be anywhere by now."

Link, on the other hand, was uneasy, and before Gordon had even finished his sentence, he stiffened.

"No, she's very close!" he warned urgently.

The sorcerer spun around, looking frantically for signs of her. "Already? Where?!"

"I don't know!"

There was suddenly a rush of wind from above, and Link and Gordon were blown apart by the force of a blast. In the center of it was Lydia, crouched down on the ground with her right fist dug into the dirt. She had been waiting nearby, and struck the moment they appeared.

Gordon was the first to stand. Before he could even move, Lydia shot in his direction. Not at a run, but a magic-induced almost-faster-than-the-eye dash, and slammed her fist into his stomach, releasing electricity into his body. Unable to resist it in his weakened state, he buckled over and blacked out.

Link stood up as Lydia straightened up again. When her eyes met his, a chill went up his spine. Her eyes were glowing red with a whole new kind of hatred as she glared right through him. She slowly paced away from where Gordon had fallen, taking a place several paces in front of where Link stood, and faced him. She held her right hand out to her side, and black smoke appeared from nowhere, swirling around a long object that had appeared. With a swing of her arm, the smoke was dispersed, and her pearl-handled longsword was clutched tightly in her hand.

She charged forward with an animalistic yell, sword at the ready. Acting instinctively, Link quickly drew the Master Sword and held it protectively in front of him as the girl struck. Metal connected with metal loudly and forcefully. Lydia drew back, and struck again. Again, Link blocked it. She continued to strike, trying to find an opening somewhere.

Link was close to panic. What was he supposed to do? If he tried to end this fight, it was going to involved hurting her. All he could to was block her angry, ferocious blows as he tried to think of a way out of this. At one point, one of Lydia's strikes got through and the blade grazed Link's right cheek.

As she had him backed almost to the valley wall, the thought that crossed Link's mind was about how disturbingly familiar this was. When had something like this happened before?

And then, the gut-wrenching realiziation hit him. This was the reaccuring nightmare Lydia had been having. It was really happening. Any minute now, she was going to stop striking with the sword and start throwing magic. And he would be completely helpless unless she could stop herself.

When an angry yell, Lydia put all of her magic-induced strength into her next strike, knocking Link down. She stopped, glared at him for a moment, then took a few steps back.

Link suddenly felt another presense nearby. Up on the high cliff behind Lydia stood Ganondorf himself. His arms were crossed, his cape billowing dramatically in the eastern wind. He was smiling.

"Do it," he commanded.

Lydia dropped the sword into the sand by her feet, raised her hands above her head, and started to chant in a monotone, uncaring voice, speaking the forboding words that stirred up memories.

"ib style="color: #aa00aa"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows.
Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows./b/i"

The Hylian's heart dropped. The Dragon Slave?!

The air pressure in the valley suddenly dropped. The hair on the back of Link's neck stood up as energy started to flow in.

"ib style="color: #aa00aa"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand,
Before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand./b/i"

A ball of dark red light started to gather where Lydia was holding her hands as the spell gained strength. He shouted to her repeatedly, but it didn't seem to get through at all. Ganondorf had done something to her after she left the temple.

If she fired the Dragon Slave here...

Suddenly, he realized what Ganondorf's true plans were. Link was no sorcerer, but he knew very well what kind of damage a Dragon Slave could to. If it were to be fired off in a constricted area such as this valley, it would not only kill its target, the spellcaster would most likely also be caught in it as well. Ganondorf wasn't using Lydia to kill ihim/i, he was using her to kill all three of them!

And there wasn't anything he could to. Only Lydia could stop it from happening.

"Lyd! Wake up!" he continued to shout. "You can beat this! I know you can!'

"ib style="color: #aa00aa"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed,
By the power you and I possess./b/i"

The ball of magic was drawing great power now.

Ganondorf smiled triumphantly. The moment he had worked so hard for was finally here. He was going to enjoy this greatly. ...From a distance, of course.

"Come on, Lydia, don't let this happen!" Link pleaded, standing up again. "You've watched this happen dozens of times! But this isn't where our story is supposed to end! You wanted nothing more than to change the ending! This is your chance!"

The sorceress paused. Her eyebrows wrinkled, and she started to shake, as if about to cry. The magic spell continued to swirl above her.

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow.

Link smiled at her. "Remember the 'bone crushing heroes'? Surely the strongest of them can beat this, right?"

Lydia whimpered, and somehow managed to keep the spell stable in the air above her.

"You don't want ime/i to get all the credit for beating Ganondorf, do you? C'mon! Shrug this off and we'll beat him together! ...Wake up!"

A single tear fell from Lydia's left eye, reflecting some of the red glow. She slowly started to lower her arms.

Gordon started to slowly sit up, disoriented and not quite yet aware of what was going on.

The Evil King cursed out loud. "Oh, no, you don't, you little wench! Finish it!!" He pulled his arm back and threw a black ball of energy, which hit Lydia square in the back. She yelled in pain, lowering her head from the blow. When she raised her head again, her face was once again filled with hatred and anger.

The sorceress placed her right foot a step back, to brace herself.

Link sank hopelessly back to the ground. ...After all this... After everything they had done, after everything they had accomplished... iThis/i was how it was going to end?

"I love you, Lydia," he said, wanting those to be his last words.

"ib style="color: #aa00aa"DRAGON.../b/i"

Suddenly, Lydia spun completely around on the heel of that right foot, and faced Ganondorf. She threw her hands - and the spell - up toward where he stood on the cliff.

"iWhat?!/i" Ganondorf shouted.

"...ib style="color: #aa00aa"SLAVE!!/b/i"

A huge amount of red magic suddenly exploded from Lydia's outstretched arms, and a beam of magic as wide as a large tree trunk hit Ganondorf square in the torso. But the spell didn't explode there. The beam continued up toward the sky, carrying the screaming Gerudo at its head. Lydia sent the spell sailing upward for almost thirty seconds, and then, suddenly spread her arms wide in some kind of signal to the spell.

The Dragon Slave exploded. A dome of red light expanded in the sky, brighting the area so much that Gordon and Link had to turn away. This was the first time a full-strength Dragon Slave had been cast since the sorcerers' magic was awakened seven years before. A shockwave spread across Western Hyrule, blowing out windows and knocking down trees. Grass immediately outside of Gerudo Valley was blown right out of the ground. Nearby trees that resisted up-rooting were quickly de-leafed.

Eventually, the sky dimmed down again and the wind stopped blowing. When everything had quieted, Link lowered his arms, squinting into the sunset.

The sky was the normal blue-ish red again. There was no sign of Ganondorf.

Gordon slowly stood, painfully holding his stomach where Lydia had struck him.

Lydia was still standing in the same place, still facing away from them. She breathed heavily as she gazed into the sky.

The Hylian slowly started forward. "Lyd...?"

Suddenly, the sorceress spun around so energetically that her clothing and short hair spun with her. Her big green eyes were brighter and greener than ever, and tears streamed unchecked down her face.

"I did it!" she declared happily. "...I really did it!"

She ran forward and leapt into Link's arms, excitedly wrapping herself around him, and started to cry. "I did it! I did it!" she repeated.

Link, somehow managing to keep himself from crying as well, said, "...You couldn't have cut that iany/i closer, I think."

The girl laughed. "But, then, where would the suspense have been? Huh?"

"I guess. I'll probably never learn the concept."

"That's okay. Seems I'm always gonna be around, so I can be the suspense supplier."

Gordon approached then. "That is your expertise, after all. ...Well, that, and getting into trouble."

Lydia pulled away from Link and looked at her brother, her face full of emotion. She was about to say something when Gordon raised his hand in dismissal.

"Yes, I'm fine, and don't worry about what happened. You still have the Triforce of Wisdom, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then there's no problem."

"Do you want it back?"

"Not particularly."

The sorceress's eyes wandered up toward the continually-darkening sky, where she had fired off the spell before. "...Maybe it'll be safer if you do. We all know that wasn't enough to stop Ganondorf."

"iStill?/i" Link demanded. "That was a full-force Dragon Slave!"

"And Ganondorf has a full-force Triforce of Power, if you will," she replied with a sigh. "Remember when Gordon blew the Temple of Time to bits? The guy was barely affected."

Gordon nodded. "Even though it's true that I can't quite yet cast that spell at full power, it should have hurt him much more than it did."

The Hylian thought for a moment. "...In other words, we need to get out of here before he recovers and comes back."

"We need to find Zelda. She'll know what we need to do next. We have all the sages on our side now... all that's left is to--"

The sorcerer stopped talking when Lydia suddenly bent over and held her forehead in pain. The Triforce of Widsom stirred violently and the mark glowed. Through a wince, she spoke through her teeth in a panicked voice. "He's coming!"

"Already?!" Gordon yelled as he threw his hands into the spell-firing position.

"From where?!" Link looked around frantically, but saw nothing.

There was a rush of cold air from behind them, and before anyone could react, Ganondorf broke through the group at a sprint, grabbing Lydia from behind. He ran to the other side of the path, and turned around, holding Lydia in front of him with a firm group on her neck.

"Lydia!" Gordon yelled.

The girl turned her head as far as she could and looked the Evil King in his frantic eyes. "You never give up, do you? Let go of me right now, or so help me, I'll--" Her voice was cut off as Ganondorf squeezed her neck tighter.

With the utmost anger expressed on his face, Link went for his sword, the mark of the Triforce of Courage glowing brightly.

Ganondorf spoke then, his voice dark. "...Make any sudden moves, and I will kill her."

The tone of his voice was so serious and forboding that the boys knew he meant business, and had no choice but to stand down. Using all of his willpower, Link pushed the Triforce of Courage's power back down until it subsided.

Gordon's mind raced. If some mugger on the street had grabbed Lydia like that, he would have been charred crispy by now. But there was no way she was going to be able to cast anything with Ganondorf strangling her like that. How was he supposed to get him away from her without hurting her in the process? He dared a quick glance at Link, who was visably edgy, standing on the balls of his feet, glaring at Ganondorf with a kind of fury that was rarely seen.

Ganondorf loosened his grip on Lydia's throat just enough so that she wouldn't pass out. He started to speak to her.

"You were supposed to get the Triforce of Courage," he hissed angrily, "and you failed. ...This can be forgiven, I suppose, in time. ...However, I will not tolerate you giving away what is already mine. I will take it back!!"

In an explosion of dark energy, the Triforce of Wisdom was ripped away from Lydia as she screamed. Since she wasn't destined to hold that Triforce piece, she could do little to resist, as much as she tried, and Ganondorf easily took it. When the energy faded again, the sorceress dropped to the ground. Hovering in Ganondorf's extended right hand was a small golden triangle.

Gordon and Link looked at each other, both knowing what had to be done. Link with his sword and Gordon with his magic, both charged forward with everything they had.

The Evil King laughed maniacally. "And with this, I will be rid of you forever!"

The Triforce of Wisdom suddenly exploded with power before the boys could get close. A shockwave of energy hit them, knocking them away like leaves in the wind.

Lydia raised her eyes just enough to watch as the energy expanded and spread to fill the entire valley with yellow light, completely enveloping them all. First, she felt light-headed. Then, the surrounding walls, the sky, and even the ground she was lying on seemed to drop away. She began to forget things.

And everything went dark.

The young girl opened her eyes slowly. Her head throbbed and her body ached. Looking around, she had no idea where she was. It looked like the inside of a cabin or something. The room was darkened, lit by several candles placed nearby.

Just then, a concerned face bent over her. It was a girl with a head of long, flaming red hair, and long Hylian ears.

"You're awake?" she asked. "Oh, thank Din! I wasn't sure you'd iever/i wake up! You've been asleep for two days."

The girl in the bed blinked once. "...Who are you?" she whispered.

"My name's Malon. And this is Lon Lon Ranch." Malon turned over the wet towel resting on the girl's forehead.

Feeling significantly better already, the girl sat up and got out of the bed, despite Malon's protests. The girl started to walk over to the large mirror on the vanity in the corner.

"I found you unconscious in the field," she heard Malon say. "I was hoping you could tell me what happened to you."

The girl thought for a moment. "I... I don't remember," she replied, a bit distressed.

Malon's hands shot up to her mouth. "You've lost your memory? Oh, how awful! I'm so sorry!"

Reaching the mirror, the girl stood and looked at herself. Looking back at her was a young girl of roughly 17 or 18, with very long, full brown hair. She wore a brown dress that was neither fancy nor grungy, and had a shiny pendant in the shape of the Triforce around her neck. "...No, not all of my memory.." she said thoughtfully.

"Then," Malon pressed. "Do you remember your name?"

The girl reached up and flipped her long brown hair behind her shoulders.

"...Yes. It's Maya. My name is Maya."