Review reply time! First, the replies for "A Doll Upon Evil's Shelf".

Samurai Snow: How could you have liked that? It was so terrible! I would have left it rhyme-less if it weren't for the first bit about shield and wield. I hade that line stuck in my head, so I turned it into a poem. And if the first part rhymes, why not make the rest rhyme? Rhymes are hard… Drawing manga, you say? Did you happen to visit my website or something, or is that just you loving manga as much as I do?

Jana+Anthony: Yeah, yeah, that's just you flaming without intentionally flaming…

Uber Spoonz: I flamed my own poem because no one else would…

Now for my story's replies!

Dragon-Charmer16: Actually, she didn't just freak out. There was something about her strange statement about "evil" and "God"… And I hope you'll tell me the result of this epic battle in your next review!

Mxedcherub: Dumb day? How dare you! You just beat Tales of Symphonia! You can't have a dumb day after that! It's… unprecedented!

Jana+Anthony: Why was it confusing? And I'll get your picture of Acarsis up there as soon as I have four other requests.

J.M.G: Hold on, I think my evil alter-ego Ayase has something to say to that… (gives microphone to Ayase) YOU LITTLE LIAR! YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED IT UNLESS I HOLD TOLD YOU THE ANSWER WHICH I DID SO YOU DESERVE TO DIE! DIE DIE DIE! (gives microphone back to Spoonz) I think that about sums it up.

Samurai Snow: Yeah, I needed to get some humor in there and fast if it was to live up to the humor genre. If you liked that, you'll love chapter nine!

Zeldafreak123: I know the last three were short, but this one is normal length again.

CheeseFromJupiter: Yes, the shortness ends now. By the way, I love your new story!

And now for the answer! No one guessed correctly. Last chapter Hieke said, "Do good? I? No! Evil anon I deliver: I maim nine more hero-men in Saginaw; sanitary sword a-tuck, Carol, I-lo!-rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan; I gas nine more hero-men in Miami; reviled I, Nona, live on. I do, O God!" And I said that whoever guessed correctly what kind of wordplay that was would get a cookie and special mention. No one got it. The answer is that it's a palindrome. A palindrome is a sentence, word, or paragraph that spells the same thing when you turn it around. (Think "racecar".) Look closely at the above quote. If you read it backwards, rearraging only the punctuation and spacing, it spells the same thing. Okay, enough of that. Onto the next chapter! And this one is normal length for those of you who are sick of short chapters!

(Please excuse the crappy title)

Chapter 13: When the River of Time Flows Thin

"Hieke! Did you find one of the Spirits?" Link called when he saw his friend climbing the ladder that led to the depths of the Karkariko Well. Hieke climbed over the stones and looked back into the well, wondering where Jaruko was. The black wolf leaped out gracefully and shook himself to clear away the soil and grime from his fur. Jaroku, who had followed Link once they were out of the Shadow Temple, ran over to his brother.

"Brother!" Jaruko exclaimed. While the two wolves romped in the grass, Hieke reminded Link about the Amulet of Epochs. "We haven't got much time left," she said worriedly. "We still have to find the last two Guardian Spirits, locate the Amulet, and figure out how to use the Amulet to stop Ganondorf from reviving!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Link interrupted. "You mean to say that you don't know how the Amulet works? Well, jeez man! We've gotta pick up the pace!" Jaruko nuzzled Link's hand. "We may be able to help you with the location of the Light Spirit," he offered. Jaroku nodded his agreement. Hieke sighed in relief. "Thanks, guys," she said, her gratitude evident in her voice.

Jaruko and Jaroku explained that the Spirit of Light was at the Temple of Light. The trouble was that the Temple of Light was situated in the very center of the Sacred Realm. The only way to reach the Sacred Realm was to play a certain song in a certain place. Acarsis won the game again when it came to who was to be keeper of this song, but since she already kept the Song of the Celestials, this melody went to Kanika the Spirit of Time.

Luckily, the Temple of Time wasn't far. Link and Hieke quickly made their way to the church in Hyrule Castle Town. When they entered, however, who was there but Princess Zelda herself.

"Link," she said, her blue eyes wide. "Hyrule is in grave peril. We are once again threatened by the Gerudo King of Thieves. …oh! You're… Hieke, correct?"

Zelda turned to Hieke and studied her. "What are you doing with Link?" the princess asked. Link answered for his friend. "I'm helping her prevent Ganon's resurrection," he explained. Zelda looked at the hero with grave eyes. "You're only putting this girl in danger, you know," she said sadly. Link took a few steps backwards. "What are you talking about?"

Hieke cleared her throat. "Princess Zelda," she said in a sweet voice, "it's nice to know that you fret for my safety, but I am an experienced Gerudo warrior. I am more than capable of taking care of myself." Link backed up a little more. While both girls used calm, gentle tones, he could feel the tension brewing between them. Judging by the twitch in Zelda's eye, she was going to snap first.

"…you stay away from Link!" Zelda shouted as she lunged. Hieke, surprised, dodged the gnashing teeth of the princess. She drew the Pipe of Ages from her pocket and put it to her lips, though she was unsure of what to play. Eventually she settled on the lullaby Lea would sing to her as a child.

Zelda froze to the spot as the melancholy song drifted through her on the magic of the Pipe. Link also became rigid, his mouth ever so slightly agape. And Hieke, playing the haunting melody, stood with her eyes closed. A single tear escaped her amber eyes. When it hit the marble floor, a soft light glowed. Gradually the light grew. Hieke stopped playing abruptly when she noticed the small portal.

A small yellow bird flew through the vortex and spread its wings joyously. It chirped and flew circles around the room. It then stopped and hovered in front of Hieke. "Hello," it said in a warbling voice. "You can call me Shou. I presume you are the former Lady Tadaka, now known as Lady Hieke?"

Hieke nodded. "Surely you know about Ganon's revival. I've come to make sure the Prophecy won't be fulfilled. By seeking out the seven Guardian Spirits, I hope to utilize your respective powers as a whole to locate the Amulet of Epochs. Once we have the Amulet, I'm going to have to figure out how to use it…"

Shou cleared his throat. "You need not worry about such a thing," he chirped. "You will know full well what to do what the time comes. Now… you must locate the final Spirit."

"Where should we look?" Link asked. "And what should be call it? I mean, the Guardian Spirit of Spirit just sounds retarded… No offense if that's what it's called!"

The little bird laughed and fluttered over to Link, landing on his shoulder. His saffron feathers radiated a golden light, and he had a small diamond on his forehead. "It is called the Celestial Spirit," he explained. "You should look for it near the Haunted Wasteland. I'm sorry, but I don't know anything else about it. The Guardian Spirit of the Celestials may be the most powerful of the Spirits, but it was not around before the other six of us fell into our centuries of sleep."

Hieke nodded in understanding. "Looks like I'm going home," she said. Link nudged her a little. "I thought we could only see the Light Spirit by playing a certain song, that song being kept by Kanika," he reminded. Hieke gasped, obviously having forgotten that. Shou chirped a bit to get their attention.

"But you did play the song, did you not?" he said questioningly. Hieke stared at the Pipe of Ages, still in her hands, in great curiosity. "I played the song Lea taught me," she murmured. "But… if that's the song that calls the Light Spirit, then why did she know it?"

Shou obviously comprehended something that Link, Hieke, and Zelda did not. "All will be revealed in good time," he said simply. "Until then, I suggest you search the Haunted Wastelands in your own era." The golden bird vanished in a flash of light.

"Well, I guess you'll be returning home now," Zelda muttered sadly. "Take care of yourself, Link." The Hylian princess lightly kissed Link's cheek, making the legend light up like a red light bulb. Hieke giggled and put the Pipe of Ages to her lips.

"Please no Teletubbies this time," Link begged. Hieke rolled her eyes and played the Song of Time. The blue warp came again and brought them back to their own time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This... was the chapter from Hades. Halfway through this chapter, after recently completing the five previous chapters and forgetting to save, the power went out and I lost all my work. Luckily, my Microsoft Word creates a recovery file in the event of an unexpected shutdown, so I really only lost a couple paragraphs of work! I love my word processor!

All righty, you know the drill. Five reviews and I'll update.

And guys, please, please help me! I need new ideas for… how about a bunch of one-shots? Short stuff like that helps to alleviate my writer's block. I wrote a short, crappy poem ("A Doll Upon Evil's Shelf") and suddenly I had the will to write again! If you'd like me to write a one-shot about something, tell me in your review. Also, if I get five drawing requests, I'll draw them and put them on my website (the address of which is my "home page" in my profile). Why five? I told you! Five is the magic number!