A/N. I'll just say this: MidTerms suck. I've had to work with them and other schoolwork for the past few weeks so it took awhile to get this chapter out.

Remedy In The Shadows- Chapter 10-

Dark stone surrounded the pathway up Death Mountain. The rock was formed like a wall, giving travelers few options on where to go. Link, Navi and Thea had already made their way up much of the Mountain, Link didn't know how long in had taken them since the sun was hidden behind their surroundings. It had to have been a while because his feet were already feeling soar from walking on the rough terrain. He wondered if he should have gotten better boots, or if he had lost some of his endurance.

On the other hand, Thea had been taking the journey pretty well. Link had thought that she would tire every so often and request that they rest, he had obviously underestimated her physical ability. The pathway was treacherous, and the air was hot and moist, neither fact seemed to effect the girl much. She had a few scratches from brushing up against the mountainside, and even though she occasionally breathed heavily her walking pace didn't slow down, and Link heard no complaints.

Navi had started up a couple of conversations with Thea. Link excluded himself from the first few conversations, he felt he had no need to talk. Thea had talked about Gerudo culture and Navi spoke about life in the forest. After awhile of ignoring what was said, Link began to take interest in the two races share their thoughts, he occasionally spoke to add his opinion to the mixture.

"A boy like yourself helpin' out the Goron race, so what did you do anyway?" Thea came out and asked once they all neared a curve in the path.

"Nothin' much, just save the entire race from monsters that could crush you without even trying." He smiled and heard Navi laugh at his comment. "Oh but don't worry they aren't around here anymore. Your quite safe my dear." He started to laugh as well, but they neared the cave where he and Navi had faced the monsters that he spoke of. At that time his journey for the Spiritual Stones had just begun, he had thought that after facing the terrors in the cave he could face almost anything, and that he had already faced the worst. He couldn't have been more wrong.

'You were a kid, you underestimated the whole situation just because you hadn't seen the whole world yet. You're older now, and won't do it again!'

"Right…" Link saw her roll her eyes as she moved ahead of him. She moved into a small opened area next to the cave entrance. Link noticed a familiar rock-like object resting along the mountain wall, "Fine don't tell me! Why should I give a damn?" She continued with humor in her voice, "Do you expect me to believe that?" Thea began to walk towards the rock.

Navi fluttered down to Link's ear "Link that's a-"

'…Uh oh…'

"Thea!" Link tried to call out to her

She ignored his voice and began to sit down atop of what she thought was a rock, "What-" When she rested herself upon the object, she was instantly force to the ground. Luckily she was able to use her arms to break her fall or else she would have had her face crushed against a rock. Link didn't know whether to laugh or to go help the startled girl. He couldn't help laughing at the terrified expression on her face as she turned herself around. She was still sitting on the ground, but had scooted away from the force behind her.

What had shoved her down was a member of the clan the populated the mountain. The Goron stood about six feet tall, it was understandable that Thea could mistake it for an inanimate object since it's body looked identical to a builder. Since the Goron's main diet consisted of rocks, it wasn't an odd fact that they grew to resemble what they ate. Even the Goron's dark eyes looked like stones, they looked down at the girl who had disturbed his slumber, and let a small growl escape his mouth. Exposing the strong teeth needed to crumble their food. The creature's teeth weren't to be worried about, however the incredibly large arms were. Its rock-like muscles were capable of lifting a tremendous amount of weight, and capable of snapping both Link and Thea in half.

'Is he angry with her? Why is he so angry?'

Link moved quickly towards the still stunned Thea, when he approached her the Goron looked down at him. His face softened, "Link? You're Link aren't you?!"

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Thea heard the creature call out something to Link who knelt besides her, but she couldn't register what he had said.

'…What… the HELL is that!?!?!'

Again the creature spoke, soon it was in a full conversation with Link, and again Thea was too shocked to hear their words.

'A clan that occupies the mountain…is that a Goron? I heard they're strong, and that thing looks pretty damn strong…'

"Thea?" Her own name came into her ears as she felt a hand tap her shoulder. She couldn't turn her head yet, her heart was still beating at an incredible speed. She took her eyes away from the Goron and looked at her hands. Link spoke to her again, "Thea? Are you alright?"

"Hmph Not much of a Gerudo if she can't stand up huh." A deep, rough voice spoke above her. Thea felt her head shake as she looked up at the Goron who spoke to her. His great arms were folded, and his eyes glared down at her, "I don't know if they'll allow her."

Thea felt a grip on her arms, without even realizing it, she was lifted to her feet. Link's grip on her soon left and he moved in front of her, "Can't you trust her if she'll be with me?"

What happened next was almost all a blur to Thea. Not because she was afraid, but because of all the possible things she hadn't seen, all the things she hoped to see. She was in awe as the environment changed around her.

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The world around them opened to a circular area deep inside Death Mountain, that was where Goron City was protected. The area consisted of multiple floors, each floor was meant for a different purpose. Sounds from all of the floors flowed upward through the area's hollow center and up to the ears of Link.

'Wow…'

Ahead of Link was the top floor's balcony. It stretched over the floor's edge; a sturdy wooden railing ran across it to protect for accidental falls. At the far side of the railing was a slightly large monument made of granite, it had the Goron symbol engraved into it. Link walked forward to it, he remembered the first time he came to Goron City. He had questioned the reliability of the balcony, he had pictured his motionless body lying on the bottom floor. Now, he walked across the wooden boards with ease and slight embarrassment with his past fears.

"What is that?" Link heard Thea take a few steps behind him. He noticed that she acted a little odd when entering Goron City. She was obviously intimidated by the Goron's appearance. He couldn't help but laugh whenever she would scoot away from the Goron who escorted them to the city. He remembered him being a little afraid when he first saw a Goron, but not in total shock.

Link ran his hand over the top of the stone, he noted the empty area where the Goron's Ruby was supposed to be placed. Darunia left to protect the Fire Temple, which meant that the Gorons had to elect a new leader, and a new holder of the Spiritual Stone. Link didn't know who either of the people were.

Without answering Thea he left the balcony. He walked over to the main set of stairs that lead down to all of the levels. Navi joined him quickly, however Thea seemed to be taking her time admiring their surroundings, "You might want to come with me." Link called over his shoulder, "They don't know you."

Thea mocked his words under her breath as she joined him at the stairs. "Wow…" The words came out as a gasp. Walking down the stairs allowed them to see most of the City. As each floor past they saw more of the Goron culture, workers, children, shops, and homes, they saw everything. It seemed that their arrival had caused a commotion within some of the population. As they descended further downward more of the Goron population watched them from afar, he couldn't tell what emotion was more common; overjoyed for seeing one of their heroes, or fury for seeing a Gerudo in their home.

"Link! Look!" Navi caught Link's attention. She fluttered ahead of him, it was just then that he realized that they were approaching the bottom floor of the City.

"What is it?" He asked stepping a little more quickly. The bottom floor of Goron City was more businesslike than the others. It consisted of homes of the Gorons who helped run the City, and any important elders. The main room was Darunia's old Throne Room. At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary so he continued to walk and admire the tremendous Goron statue that stood in the floor's center. However once he moved around the statue he saw what Navi had.

Outside Darunia's old room stood at least ten Gorons, all of them talking amongst themselves. Link couldn't tell what they were talking about, but he could sense the anger that their voices held.

"Open the door!!" One of them bellowed. Link stepped closer and saw that the old Throne Room had the stone door sealing the entrance. Some of the Gorons were banging their strong fists onto the seal.

"Come on! It doesn't belong to you!"

"You're a coward! Locking yourself up!"

"Get out here or we'll bust in!"

'Who's in there?' Link thought as he moved closer to the crowed.

"Link?" He heard Thea call out to him again, and again he didn't answer her. He turned to her and signaled for her to stay put. In return she gave him a disgusted look.

'Good, just don't talk.'

When Link started to approach the group of Gorons they stopped their hollering for a moment. They took their eyes away from the door and dropped them down to Link, and Link met each of them with his own gaze. He had helped through a time of tragedy; he had no reason to fear them. So when one of them tried to push Link backwards, he ignored the force and continued.

"Boy get out of here!" On of them stepped in front of Link's path. His broad chest was coated with various black tattoos, Link noticed that a few other Gorons had similar artwork on their skin. "I said get away boy!" It barked again when Link didn't move.

"Wait! That's Link!" Another Goron called out from the crowd, but Link couldn't see the one who spoke.

A sudden realization spread through the Gorons. Their faces fell blank, some of them took steps back making the situation extremely uncomfortable. The one that had stood in front of Link relaxed a bit and gave Link more space. The once loud crowd had grown deathly quiet, Link could have sworn that he heard what was going on within the closed off room.

"What's going on? I need to speak with whoever's in charge." Link tried to make his voice sound as serious as he could, but a light laughter rose up from the group.

"Well, join the club boy!" The Goron in front of Link laughed, "The coward has locked himself up with what he doesn't deserve!"

"What do you mean?" Navi fluttered in front of Link again. Some of the Gorons seemed mesmerized by her presence.

The wall-like creature spoke again, "He's gone and locked himself in what he says is his Throne Room! Taking what he thinks belongs to him!" At the words of the gigantic Goron the chaos returned to the group. They began to slam themselves against the door again, even though the door didn't budge they continued to express their rage.

"So what are you saying? That your tribe isn't capable of making decisions?" The oh-too-familiar-voice came from behind Link. It caused the Gorons to pause their action, and face the voice's owner. Link didn't want to look. He didn't want to see the eyes of the Gorons that stared at the girl behind him.

'Why didn't you just keep quite?'

Before any of the Gorons could moved forwards, Link spun around and was surprised to see that Thea was standing only a few feet away from him. She had her arms folded against her chest as she stood up strait. Her face was plane, she just looked at the Gorons in front of her as if she was about to have a civilized conversation with them. Link wondered how someone who was once in shock of the environment could seem so normal around a race that hated her kind.

"Thea!" Link quickly moved to her side. He grabbed her arm roughly to possibly give her a clue. He brought his lips near her ear and spoke softly "What are you doing? Just stay back!" He tried to push her away, but she resisted. Instead she reversed the grip he had on her so that she was now grabbing his wrist.

She pulled him closer to her and whispered into his ear, "I'm giving you a chance to get near that door. Just do your thing and I'll do mine." With that said she shoved him forward and took her attention back to the Gorons, "Yeah, I mean can't you act like civilized creatures and work out your problems?"

What happened next happened so fast. Link continued to move backwards, as he did he felt a rush of movement all around him. He heard the Gorons around him comment on Thea's words…

'Wait!'

Link tried to rush back to the girl, but the Gorons moved to her first, and their movements forced him back further. Whenever he reached forward he was pushed back by the crowed of giant creatures.

When the group finally past him he felt a soft touch on his shoulder, instead of attempting to reach Thea he turned and saw Navi by the now opened door, "Link! Come on!"

'Opened? How?'

Staring at him through the crake between the stone door and the doorframe were two dark eyes. A pair of frail Goron hands struggled to keep the door open, the weight of the door caused him to shake. The dark desperate eyes stared at Link, almost calling out to him.

He forced himself to move to the Thrown Room, ignoring the screaming behind him. In the short time that he had spent with Thea he learned that she had a way to maneuver out of thorny situations. Hopefully she would have few problems with furious Gorons. When he slipped into the room with Navi he helped the Elder Goron close the stone door. Before the door was sealed shut, he saw the argument between the small, thin Gerudo, and the muscular, giant Gorons. She had told him to leave her alone, hopefully that wouldn't cause a major scene within the city.

'I just left her with Gorons that could crush her without much effort. If she gets hurt it's my fault…'

"You're Link aren't you?" A raspy voice said behind him. Link turned to face the Goron. Unlike the other Gorons, this elder's skin was pale, showing that he had to at least be over sixty-five years old. Small amounts of dry, gray hair fell to his shoulders. In the past his arms probably resembled the arms of the younger Gorons, full of muscle. Now his limbs seemed to be almost all skin. However, like all Gorons his belly was large. Link wondered how he managed to loose his muscle.

Link glanced around the room, "Yeah, yeah that's me…how'd you know?" The Throne Room looked identical to what it had looked like the last time he had been allowed to enter it. Along the stone walls of the cubical type room were various paintings. The red paint on the brown rock gave the room more character. Standing at each corner in the room were iron torches. The fire from them illuminated the room; shades of orange and red danced along the walls and the carpet covered floor. Along the wall to his right was a dark wooden table. On the table's surface were multiple tools, and papers. Against the far wall was the stone throne chair that Darunia once sat upon.

"Darunia had spoke great words about you. You saved us, everyone here knows your name." The Elder coughed out. Whenever Link took a step around the room the elder followed close by.

"Who are you?" Link turned to face the old Goron, "What's up with the Gorons here?"

At first there was no response. The Goron's cloudy eyes looked sadly at Link, and occasionally looking at Navi who was fluttering around them. He sighed and finally spoke, "My name's Ihab. I've been in the group of Elders here in Goron City for a long time." He paused and moved closer to the throne chair, "After Darunia left, the question on everyone's mind was who would take over as our leader. His son is too young. He named him after you, did you know that?" Link nodded towards Ihab. Ihab had knelt in front of the throne, his frail hands gripped the engraved stone, "Well, none of the other Elders had been as close to Darunia as I had been. And none of the others had any ideas of what to do. So…I came in here, knowing that one of Darunia's precious possessions was wanted by many Gorons."

What happened next shocked Link. The old Goron- whose arms seemed like they could be snapped like a tree branch -tightened his grip on the throne and in seconds the stone began to shift. No pain, no stress showed on the old Goron's face. He easily pulled the throne away from the wall, exposing an opening carved into the wall.

'Wow…talk about looks being deceiving…'

Navi flew over to the newly opened door, "You opened up Death Mountain Crater? Why?" She peaked into dark path, than fluttered back to Link's side.

Ihab didn't seem to wonder how she knew the path eventually led to Death Mountain Crater. He simply entered the path, "Come with me, we must hurry. I'm sure your friend needs help as well."

Without much hesitation Link followed, but not before taking one last look at the Throne Room. At first it was almost pitch black, if there had been a bottomless pit in front of him he would've walked right into it. However once Navi joined his side she illuminated the environment. Like the Throne Room, the hidden pathway had crimson painting along the walls, but the further they traveled the less artwork there was. Soon they were walking on a narrow path surrounded by jagged rock.

Far ahead of them was Ihab. He shakily made his way down the corridor in silence. It didn't take them long to reach their destination, the path opened up to a circular shaped room. In its center was a single lit torch, much like the ones in the previous room. Directly in front of them was another door, that was the pathway to Death Mountain Crater, but Link didn't know the reason for the room they were currently in. Two curved, wooden tables went across the walls of the room. They were covered with thousands of torn papers; a few pieces of stationary had fallen to the floor. Underneath the tables were a few old, wooden chests. Even in the dim torchlight it was possible to see the dust that had gathered on them over years.

What caught Link's attention were the room's walls. Vines, thousands of vines grew around the wall. They began at the floor and grew upward until they reached the ceiling and entwined themselves in each other. Their leaves were full in a deep reddish-green color and large in size.

'The girl, Thea, she was right!'

Navi had also noticed the greenery, "How do these plants grow here? I thought that other than the Bomb Flower, no plants grew in Goron City."

As Link began to join Navi by the wall, he heard Ihab speak, the Goron had begun looking at the many chests in the room, "We Gorons need medicine too ya' know. We can't rely on taking a long trip to Kakariko Village whenever one of us is ill." Link could hear him begin to open multiple chests.

Link brushed the papers on the table off to the side, and climbed up on the surface. The table shook when his weight was transferred onto it. Thinking that the table might break Link prepared to jump off, but when everything seemed secure he returned his attention back to the wall, "So you're saying they're for medical use?"

A faint "Yes" was heard behind him.

Link moved the leaves to expose the stone wall. He placed a palm to it, the stone was warm, not too hot, but pleasantly warm. Whatever was around this room, it was allowing the mountain herbs to grow, "Do you mind if I take some?" He had already started to open his satchel.

Again, the elder Goron's voice was barely heard, "Go right ahead."

When his satchel was opened, he took out the small pouch that he had put the forest herbs in and opened that up. He noticed the herbs were still healthy and green, over time they would slowly wilt. But fairy dust could help recover near dead plants. He examined the plants, and carefully retrieved a few bundles of them. Along with the leaves he took some vine as well, maybe they could be of some use as well.

Maybe it was the fact that they were in a volcano and it was extremely hot, or maybe it was from all the traveling, a dull headache formed on a side of Link's head. He placed a hand to his temple and closed his eyes, trying to drive the pain away. His meditation was interrupted by Ihab, "Link, boy, hurry come over here!"

Grimacing he did as he was told and dropped himself off of the table. He walked over to Ihab who was at the opposite side of the room. The Goron was kneeling in front of an open chest, when Link approached he stood, and backed away.

"Darunia…he and I were friends. I watched over him when he was young. I was very proud of him when he was named 'Leader of the Gorons'". He paused with a sigh, "He left that here, knowing that he couldn't take it with him to the Fire Temple. I can no longer protect it. The other Gorons don't know what it means. That's why I'm giving it to you." He edged back even more, leaving Link's side. Link turned to him, but his gaze was not returned. Ihab stared at the ground; his gray straw-like hair covered some of his face.

"Go on Link!" Navi spoke up. He gave her a light smiled and turned to the open chest.

He moved to it and kneeled, but quickly turned his head, "Navi come hear, I can't see what's in it." As soon as his words left his mouth his friend fluttered over to his side, her glow caused darkness to retreat. The contents of the chest were made obvious.

Paper, lots of paper was carefully formed around the red stone that was placed in the chest's center. He recognized it, it brought back memories that he didn't want to have. The red stone sparkled in the fairylight, the gold that framed it did as well. Such a beautiful stone, no wonder others would desire to own it.

'One person shouldn't have more than one of the stones, it's dangerous.'

The headache returned to Link's head, he hoped that Kakariko at least had some medicine for that. Link's hands gripped edge of the chest, he felt a small splinter slip into his finger but he didn't care, "Ihab…how can they not understand this?…-"

A scream pierced through the air, it caused Link to cringe. It was far away, but traveled into the hidden chamber from the direction of the Throne Room. It belonged to a woman, a young woman.

"…Thea." He breathed out. Right when he was about to return to the royal room a thunderous stomping arose. Link could feel the ground shake beneath, some papers fluttered from the table surface to the floor. He looked at Ihab who looked right back at him in terror. Soon voices accompanied the trembles.

"Ihab!"

"A passage? Who knew about it? Did Darunia?"

As the voices grew so did the trembling, until he finally heard, "There he is!"

Two, three, four and even more Gorons entered from the passage that Link and Ihab had come from. Link recognized them as the Gorons who had been busting down the door. All of them rushed towards Ihab. The ground continued to tremble as more Gorons poured into the chamber. Being worried for the old creature Link rushed over to help him, but was simply shoved away by a strong arm. The force sent him flying backwards until he fell back down by the opened chest. He felt pain soar up his arm but he put it aside. Without moving he looked back at the group.

They weren't hurting Ihab, they were simply being rough with him. Demanding answers and shoving him into the table. The old Goron wouldn't even look at them, he wouldn't let his gaze leave the floor.

Link understood, he understood that if he were to try and help it would be useless. The Gorons respected link, but Link had no say in the Goron government, or who should rule or whatever. They wouldn't listen to him. And since he was being ignored, he had a chance to retreat.

'The Goron's Ruby, will be taken if I leave…'

The headache increased when Link moved over the chest. Before him sat one of the most important treasures in Hyrule, and if he weren't to take it, it could be destroyed. Link sent one last look at the old Goron.

'He wants me to do this, if I don't do this who knows what will happen. It's meant to be, TAKE IT!'

"Link!" Navi returned Link's attention back to reality. He heard the Goron's arguing increase, and knew it was time to leave. He opened his satchel once more, and grabbed the stone that continued to sparkle. He carefully placed it in the bag, making sure that no Gorons saw his actions. He didn't want to look at the Gorons again, he didn't want to see how he was leaving the elder Goron. He ran to the exit, and surprisingly no one even noticed. He ran through the dark path once more, but this time he could see his destination. The Throne Room's dim torchlight could be seen. Link felt like he was running forever though the dark path, for a moment he thought he was being prevented from leaving the hidden chamber.

Once he reentered the Throne Room he didn't stop, he wasn't even surprised to see that the stone door had been busted open and was laying on the floor in pieces. When he turned the corner to enter the main hall once more he stopped.

Propped up against the wall was the one who had screamed. Thea's eyes were closed, Link saw that she was breathing quite rapidly. Her right hand tightly gripped her left bicep. Almost her entire skin was covered in dirt. He saw a small amount of blood leaking from her mouth.

"Thea!" He ran to her and her eyes shot open, they still contained the same fire and intensity, but this time fear was in them as well. She tried to stand but failed. When she tried again she managed to prop herself against the wall, her breathing was still heavy.

After taking some slow, deep breaths she spoke quietly, "We need to get outta here." Link nodded at her. He offered to help her walk, but she shook her head. Somehow she was able to walk awkwardly to the set of stairs. Link and Navi joined her, making sure that they got up the steps safely and that they weren't being followed. The fact that Link's headache had reached an ultimate high of pain didn't bother him.

A.N. Uhg, finally, sorry that one took awhile. School has intensified. I'll start working on the next one when I can. Right now I'm counting down February vaca…and my B-Day of course :D.