Malon walked through the small tunnel, looking down at the crystal clear water which was quite the contrary to her muddled mind. Death's sudden change in character had not only confused her, it had disturbed her, and left her feeling unsure.

"The entire world can't depend on me, can it?" she questioned herself for what must have been the millionth time. The responsibility she felt now was crushing, a weight that made the young girl's shoulders hunch over in misery. But even as her mind screamed at the unfairness of it all the more mature part of her realized she couldn't just do nothing and hope everything would come together.

"Malon?" a quiet voice called uncertainly, halting her train of thought.

She looked up, startled, the first thought that flew into her mind being that the giant fish could talk. But upon seeing the actual speaker her mouth dropped.

"Link?"

He knew he was grinning like an idiot, "Well, this is the last place I thought I'd see you."

Malon's mind whirled and for a moment her duty was forgotten in a wave of warm and fuzzy feelings. Her mother had said she would meet someone important at Zora's Domain and here he was, smiling at her kindly whilst Lord Jabu Jabu's mouth opened to it's fullest behind him. The last thought did a double take and full comprehension dawned on her, an icy fear wrapping its fingers around her heart, "Link, behind you!"

It was too late. He looked at her in confusion, turning in what seemed to be slow motion, just as Jabu Jabu decided to inhale.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Slowly, Navi became aware of the fact that she was hearing gurgling noises, sounds that, bizarrely enough, reminded her of a growling stomach. Cautiously opening her eyes she saw rows of large, sharp, yellow teeth and pinkish gums. Finally her sense of smell came back, which was almost enough to make her faint all over again. She gagged on the stench, a mixture of raw sewage and decayed flesh making her want to retch.

She turned to see Link lying in a puddle of something gooey, his eyes were closed but he was definitely breathing.

"What in the name of the Triforce did I do to deserve this?!" Navi cried, looking upwards toward the heavens, or, to be more precise, the roof of Jabu Jabu's mouth.

"Navi?" the frantic voice had come from outside the giant fish, "Link?"

"Malon?" the fairy called back, "Could you get us out of here? If you don't I swear I'll find a way to kill you."

There was a pause (perhaps because the threat was being considered), and then a creaking sound as the mouth slowly re-opened to admit Malon's small form. She walked in, looking at Navi who seemed to be in shock.

"Navi are you all right?" she asked worriedly, holding her hand out to the pixie, who immediately sat herself down on the open palm.

"How?" the fairy demanded, "How did you do it?"

Malon blinked, baffled, "What do you mean 'how'?"

"That fish wouldn't open its damn mouth until we found another fish to feed to it, how did you do it?!"

The young girl smiled slightly as Navi jumped up and down in evident anger, "Well," she said with a barely controlled amount of mirth, I just asked him to open his mouth."

Malon shook Link awake as Navi hovered in the air, speechless, for the first time in her very long life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"A princess, in this?!" Malon exclaimed, after Link had told her the whole sorry story. "Are you sure she isn't dead?"

"The stench itself should have killed her." Navi muttered, pointedly pinching her nose shut, "So Linky-kuns where is this darling Ruto?"

Taking out his slingshot, Link hit the uvula at the roof of the mouth, which, in turn, opened a door near the back of the throat. He walked through, leaving Malon, who blinked several times before asking, "Did anyone else find that odd?"

Navi laughed, although it was half-hearted, "You haven't seen anything yet." She assured the young girl as she flew into the next room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You were right Navi." Malon whispered to the fairy as Link argued with the Princess Ruto, "This is definitely stranger than that whole 'door in a fish' thing."

"You may carry me." The fishy princess informed Link, a tone of finality in her voice as she sat down on the gelatinous looking floor and pointedly crossed her arms over her chest.

Link bit his tongue against the nasty retort that he knew was coming and instead glared at the young princess before picking her up. Malon frowned, both at Link's obedience and at the shark-girl's snobbish manner, and said all of this to Navi, who merely giggled.

"Don't worry about it," she whispered to the young girl, "Once we find the Zora's Sapphire we can send her back home to her daddy."

"I hope he beats her." Malon mumbled unpleasantly. She was acutely aware of the fact that even though the princess was talking to Link in her haughty tone, she was looking at Malon with very ill-concealed dislike.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The little group had grown accustomed to the reek of fish that very literally surrounded them, which helped with the fact they were stuck in Jabu Jabu until they found the princess' stone. Unfortunately even with that problem averted they couldn't seem to completely shake off the streak of bad luck that seemed to stick with them, no matter which section of Lord Jabu Jabu they were in. This was one of those instances.

"Umm, Link?" Malon said quietly, looking uncomfortable.

"Yes?" He questioned, turning to the young girl and nearly dislodging the princess that sat on his head, "What is it?"

"Um, uh, well." Her voice was barely heard over the fuming princess' shouts, "I have to go."

He blinked in evident puzzlement, "Go? Go where?"

As Malon's flush deepened Navi laughed and fluttered to Link's shoulder. She whispered something in his ear, and a blush spread across his own face, "Oh." He muttered embarrassedly, realizing now how obvious it was.

"You would be so clueless without me." Navi said loftily, smiling for all she was worth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Link nimbly dodged the claws of lightning that threatened to electrocute him while Ruto giggled nervously from atop his head. Malon, on the other hand, wasn't in the giggling mood.

"This sucks!" she cried, barely avoiding the monster's attack as it lashed out at her. "Link can I have that boomerang!?"

The young hero turned and saw the trouble she had managed to get herself in. He smirked slightly, then threw his new boomerang into the fray and efficiently exterminated the monsters.

"I think we need to get you some weapons." He said, almost to himself, tapping his chin as if in deep thought, "It sure would save me a lot of trouble."

For his 'trouble' he received a smack in the back of the head by a very angry little girl.

Navi watched from a little ways off as Malon began her tirade of 'How to Treat a Lady' and Link with his riposte of 'Why Not to Hit the Hero', and couldn't remember a time when she had been more entertained.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next room they entered was virtually empty, which was a nice respite from the usual monster infested area. Link looked about the room warily, sensing something was wrong, which was forgotten the instant his eyes fell upon the shimmering blue stone in the middle of a platform.

"That's it!" Ruto cried, thrashing about and nearly kicking Link in the face due to her excitement, "Throw me up there!"

"With pleasure." He murmured under his breath, despite the fact that his eyes never lost sight of the gleaming jewel.

"Zora's Sapphire?" someone whispered questioningly into his ear.

He nearly jumped, and then relaxed when he realized it was just Malon, who was still frowning at him because of their last little fight. He was relieved that she was speaking to him, but then his expression grew a bit troubled as he remembered some of the words they had exchanged. He hadn't even been angry at her; she had merely pushed nerves that had already been frayed by Ruto's constantly offensive remarks.

He opened his mouth to apologize, and was interrupted by the princess who shouted more urgently this time, "Throw me up there!" which was emphasized by thumping him on the head.

It was only after he had heaved the princess toward the stone that he realized what he had done, the warning bells in his head going off. No one left a precious object sitting out in the open like that, it had never been that easy and it wasn't about to start now.

"Trap!" he yelled at Ruto, but it was already too late the stone was in her hands, she was holding it up triumphantly, brandishing it like a trophy and looking at him with pointed smugness.

"We can go now." She said, and began to walk towards the edge of the raised rock.

Link felt a little sheepish, his outburst from before appeared to have been terribly misguided. Malon was looking at him oddly, which made him feel inferior to an even higher degree, though, in truth, he wasn't sure why.

A shriek of alarm made him turn back toward Ruto, and his eyes widened to see the platform rising out of the ground and upwards with a deliberate slowness. The princess disappeared from sight as the floor became one with the ceiling, although her scream was still heard on the lower level.

"What is this. an octopus?" Ruto's voice echoed to where Link and Malon stood ready for trouble.

"Goddesses, what doesn't this guy eat?!" Navi hissed, hovering close to Link's hat and ready for battle. "Fish, fairies, kids, electrified jelly fish and now an octopus?!"

"Must have horrible heartburn." Malon said jokingly in a feeble attempt to relieve the tension that was already building in the air, the tension before a battle.

The platform lowered itself back to ground level, making both ten-year-old children take a step back in surprise. Perched in all its repulsive glory was a creature that could have very well been mistaken for an octopus. Neon green eyes studied its opponents with care, and found them not to be much of a threat, or a good lunch for that matter.

It jumped off the platform and landed with a large thud on the ground. From deep within its throat a strangled gurgle emerged, and with no other warning it charged.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Adrenaline surged through Link, and as his battle sense awakened he became more aware of the current situation. The details he had missed before became more apparent, a weaker looking point toward the rear of the Bigocto, the lack of battle space, and the very inappropriate cursing from Navi's direction. All of these added up to one thing, the approaching fight was inevitable.

The size of the room had been greatly jeopardized by the platform, which now brandished some not-so-nice looking spikes as it spun about like the blades of a windmill on a blustery day. The situation appeared to be getting more difficult by the second.

Link turned away from the oncoming danger, grabbing Malon's hand on the way, and began running in the opposite direction.

"What is this supposed to accomplish?!" Malon yelled from behind him, fear making her snappish.

"We're going to try and get behind it!" the young hero yelled back, grasping her hand tighter to encourage less talk and more running.

The children ran about the platform in a mad rush to get behind the pursuing monster, and after several minutes finally lost sight of its hideous face.

It was like some insane game of tag in Navi's opinion; no one seemed to know who was it. Both parties appeared to be running in the direction of each other while trying frantically to get away. It would have been amusing if it hadn't been a game of life and death.

Link had managed to get close enough to Bigocto's back to hit the weak spot with his boomerang, and now slashed at it with his Kokiri sword. The monster growled in pain and fury, turning and readying itself to attack. Link, however, had anticipated this and had already dashed to safety, dragging Malon along with him.

The hero continued to use the guerrilla tactic, hitting and running until the Bigocto appeared to be wearing down. The battle was almost over, and Link could almost taste the victory that hung tantalizingly close.

A cry of pain shattered Link's elation, and Malon's hand slipped out of his grip as she fell to the ground.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She cursed herself mentally when she felt the sharp point of the spike dig into her side. The curse had turned into a scream that she couldn't contain as she crumpled to the ground, clutching at the wound to slow the bleeding. The spiked platform continued to spin around, her blood spinning along with it.

She turned and saw the Monster quickly descending, hungry for more screams of pain, eyes cold and cruel.

Malon tried to stand but to no avail, the pain causing her to double over.

Then out of the corner of her eye she saw him.

Death, scythe in hand and head bowed, stood above her, emotions hidden within the blackness of his hood. He said nothing, only watched Malon and waited. His cloak billowed slightly in a wind that no one else felt adding to his already solemn disposition.

A strange calm settled itself over her, the pain eased slightly, and her muddled thoughts became clear as the water of Zora's Domain.

She was going to die.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Notes: Well reviews from my last few chapters have told me what I've been doing wrong. I promise to try to be more in character with a couple of ten-year-old kids but in my defense I cursed that much when I was ten! Umm. wait bad example.

I'd like to give a special thanks to Girl With Many Names, Urazz_Izymne (haven't heard from you lately.), and The Pilot, your criticism has helped, (although the writing still sucks) and I love hearing from you. If I keep getting reviews like this I may never stop writing! *insert evil laugh here*

Side note: Sorry for the whole 'Part 1' thing, but I wanted to get this posted before Finals start, and I have an essay to write on the Scarlet Ibis, that I have not even started... so I'm making it into two parts. I promise to try and finish the next part as soon as possible. *Sighs* ever notice how when you have the beginning and the end of a story figured out the middle always messes you up?