Okay, okay, more people reviewed *puts hands up in defeat* Heheheh. I guess I was just in a bad mood when I was writing, and that doesn't end up well. Well, here's the next chapter (which is about five pages long-the longest chapter so far. Woo hoo! Go me!)

A few things, though.

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS CHAPTER!! I WILL NOT ANSWER THEM!!!

I don't know what everybody believes (or likes to believe) about the whole Zelda/Sheik thing, since it pops up in this chapter. Believe what you will (if anyone doesn't know, there's a rather large debate about Zelda really being Sheik-many of the fangirls don't like to think so) but for this story, I am remaining true to OoT. If it offends you, too bad.

I think that's it for now. Well, RER!! (read, enjoy, review!)

I manage to take one or two long steps before I realize that it's dark. Really dark. I turn to Navi and Zelda. Navi lights it up a little bit, but not enough to travel by. Zelda crashes into me. I throw my hand out to what I hope is the wall to steady us, and make sure that we don't go tumbling down the old wooden staircase.

"Sorry," Zelda breathes, leaning into me. "Oh, goddesses, I'm sorry."

"It's all right," I say. "We're both fine. It's all right." I feel her weight move off of me, and I'm suddenly aware of just how dark it is and how lost I feel, even in the small space. "I just wish it wasn't so. . . . "

"Hey, what's with that door?"

"I dunno. Want me to close it?"

"Sure."

SLAM

"Dark," I finish lamely as the door slams shut. I hear the lock click, and the horrible truth dawns on me.

We're locked in.

With no way out.

And I don't even have a flashlight.

Navi flies in front of Zelda, illuminating her face. "Our only hope is to go in deeper and hope there's a back door," the fairy says. I nod, but Zelda doesn't look so sure.

"We don't know how big this place is," she says. "Anything could be in here." I nod, she's right, too.

But there's one point that I feel I should make.

"We're not going to get anywhere without some sort of light other than Navi," I say. "Sure, she's bright, but not bright enough. We can't see where we're walking." Navi and Zelda stare at me in amazement. "Hey, I'm not stupid all the time." Zelda and Navi (I can barely make out her little fairy head through the light she's giving off) nod. There's a crackling sound, much like the ones a fire makes when it hits sap in the trees, and a fireball appears.

And it's floating on Zelda's hand.

"It's a simple fire spell," she says when she notices my shocked look. "You should learn how to cast it." I nod, logging the sentence away into the back of my mind. "But . . . without the Triforce, I'm not sure how long I can keep it going." I look around-it's easier to see with Zelda's fireball. The landing looks like some sort of old mine shaft. The light illuminates about halfway down the stairs, and I can see stone beginning to peek out between rotting wooden boards.

Unlike the rest of the house, the basement looks genuinely old.

The wooden beams look like they could cave in at any time-we'd be safer down the stairs, where there's probably less wood that could fall on us. I notice a shaft of wood that has completely detached itself from the rest of the wall.

"We can use this," I say, picking it up. I hold it out to Zelda's fireball; in moments it's ablaze. The fireball in Zelda's hand goes out. "Pick up some lose pieces of wood," I say. "When this burns low we can simply transfer the flame to the new plank."

"I always knew you could come up with ideas like these, Link," Zelda says, but I don't hear her. I'm too busy yelling at myself for not bringing a flashlight.

We've gone through several planks of wood and traveled who knows how far into the basement when we hear a rumbling noise. Zelda-who's carrying the light-pauses, and I turn to look at her.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I don't know," she whispers. Navi sniffs the air.

"It smells like old metal," she says. "Iron . . . I think. And it sounds like something is walking . . . LINK! IRON KNUCKLE, DEAD AHEAD!!" I have no idea what an iron knuckle is, but I whirl around as the owner of the gigantic footsteps comes into view. It's clad in iron armor, and I can see the handle of an axe on its back. It has arms, legs and a torso like a human, but they're all too thick, even with the armor. Way too thick. It pounds an iron-clad foot into the ground, creating a rumble to intense it knocks me off my feet.

"What the goddesses?" I yell, scrambling backward, away from it. Navi lands on my shoulder.

"Fight it, Link! Fight it!" she screams. I nod, and run toward it. As it notices me, it pulls out its axe and swings horizontally. I dive, rolling under the blade, and come up at its feet. Without thinking, I curl one hand into a fist, and throw a punch at the iron torso.

CLANG!

"OW!!!" I yell, holding my hand and jumping away from the iron knuckle as he tries to grab me with his bare hands. "I think I broke my hand, Din damn it!" I hear the sound of metal whistling through the air, and look up in time to see Navi bounce into the Iron Knuckle's head to stop a vertical blow that would have cut me in half. I hear Navi screaming to go see Zelda, and I run to the disembodied princess. "This hurts," I say once I get to her.

"Here," she says. She takes a hold of my hand and begins to stretch out the fingers. I yelp, but she creates circles around my hand with her fingers on the other hand, and I see white light. The rings of white light turn blue, and then red before blending in with my flesh. The pain dulls considerably. "I've healed the main break, but I wouldn't suggest punching anything for a while." I notice that she's thrown the lit plank of wood with the others, and they've created a large bonfire that lights up most of the tunnel we're in.

I ignore the fire. "If I can't punch it, how am I supposed to fight it?" I demand.

"You'd need a sword," Zelda says. "Here, Link. You distract it while I get behind and attack from there."

"But how would you-?" I begin to ask, but there's a bright flash of light. I hear Navi shriek and look at the Iron Knuckle just in time to see a blur of blue and white fly past it. "What the-?" Navi comes flying into me. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Navi says, holding her head. "Just got too close."

"Link!!" yells a voice. It's a mix between a male's and a female's, something I've never heard before. I look at the Iron Knuckle, who has its back turned to me, to see the blur of white and blue dodge a blow from the axe. "Distract it, so I can attack, damn it!"

I gape. "Zelda?" I ask. I look down to Navi, who's smirking.

"Nope," she says. "Sheik."

"Wait wait wait," I say. "Who the goddesses is Sheik?" At that moment, I hear the dull thud of a blade cleaving flesh, and turn to see the Iron Knuckle fall flat on it's face, a knife sticking out of the back of it's neck. Someone stands behind it, wearing a blue bodysuit, a mask, and what looks like a turban on the top of their head. He (She? I wonder) turns to me.

"Glad I carry those daggers with me, otherwise we'd be done for," he (who I can only assume is Sheik) says. It's the same voice, a mix between a male's and a female's. "Now, come on, Link. We need to get you a decent weapon." Sheik turns and walks off.

"Uh, Sheik," Navi says. "I don't think he remembers. . . . "

"Who are you?" I ask to Sheik's back. He freezes, and turns to me.

"Sorry," he says. "I forgot that you don't remember." He puts his hands to his face, and there's a flash of bright light. I cover my eyes, wincing. When I can see again, Zelda is standing where Sheik was with a sheepish grin on her face.

"Hang on," I say, beginning to figure it out. "You aren't saying. . . . "

"Sheik is my alter-ego," Zelda says. "That's how I hid from Ganondorf back in old Hyrule."

"Oh," I say.

"Told ya so," Navi says, sticking her tongue out at Zelda, who turns into Sheik again. I open my mouth to ask, but she stops me.

"After that Iron Knuckle, it's safer for me to travel like this," she says. I turn to the said monster and stare at it.

What was something like that doing down here?

Perhaps I aught to get a weapon.

Like a sword. . . .

"Hey," I say. "Where can we get a weapon?"

"Our best bet is the Temple of Time, where the Master Sword lies," Sheik says. "Unfortunately, I have no idea where that is. I don't even have any idea where we are."

"Kakariko City," I reply. "Hang on a minute, they said there was an old well here before this house was built."

"Then this is the bottom of the well," Sheik says. I nod. "Well then. That gives me some idea of where we are. Okay, here's what we'll do. We'll find a way out of here, and I'll try to get us to the Temple of Time."

"Sounds good," I say.

"For now, you'll have to do with one of these," Sheik says, throwing me a dagger. I almost fumble it, not used to having a real blade in my hands after all the wooden swords I used in karate. Once I've caught it, Sheik is satisfied. She turns to go, and I run back to the bonfire of planks and fish one that's not totally burnt up out of the pile. Even though I get the plank, I am rewarded with several burns.

"Ouch," I wince as I run to catch up with Sheik. "Hey, if you see any wood, lemme know." I motion to the burning wood. Sheik, looking sheepish as one can with a mask, turns to see the bonfire she started when the Iron Knuckle appeared.

We travel for a while, and just when I think that the wood in my hands is about to burn out, we emerge into a brightly-lit chamber. I look about, wondering where the light came from, but Sheik nudges me and motions to the ceiling, where a hole is. I go and stand directly under it, peering up. I can see blue skies, and I know that where ever we are, we've gotten out from the basement of the house.

"It's official," I say. "I have no idea where we are, only that we're out of the house." Sheik and Navi join me under the hole and peer up.

"I think I can fit through the hole," Navi says.

Goddesses, I think she's right.

"Try it," I say. "And see where we are." Navi flies up into the light and a minute later, I can't see her. "Do you think she'll come back?" I ask Sheik.

She nods. "I don't see why she wouldn't."

Sure enough, Navi returns moments later, shaking her head.

"I don't know where we are," she reports. "Sorry, Link."

"It's all right," I say, letting her perch on my shoulder. "Well, I don't see a way out, so we might as well get going." Sheik nods, and we set off again.

************************

The figure in the chair sat up straight. She began to fidget nervously, drawing attention from the other two occupants in the room. Jeak backed away from her, unaccustomed to his new mistress's behavior.

Dark Link frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked, watching her.

"He's coming closer," the figure said. "The Hero of Time. . . . " She closed her eyes, probing, reaching.

"Do you think she knows what she's doing?" Jeak asked, coming closer to Dark Link.

"I hope so," he said.

************************

"Stairs," I state. In the dim circle of light that Sheik's created with another fireball, I see stairs leading upward into the dark. I turn to my companions. Navi's hovering in the air a few inches away from me, and Sheik leans against the wall, looking positively worn-out. "You okay?" I ask.

She nods. "I think so," she says, suddenly reverting back to Zelda. She closes her eyes and slides down the wall, utterly exhausted.

"Sorry we couldn't find any more wood," I offer. Navi flies to her side, concerned, but she shakes her head.

"I should have kept the wood we had, instead of lighting it like that," she says weakly. The fireball must have worn her out more than I thought.

Well, she does have a point.

"Let's climb these stairs, and then you can rest for a while," I say. I wince-I still need to save Skye and Kenya, but waiting just a little bit won't hurt them that much, right?

I hope I'm right.

"All right," Zelda says, stumbling to her feet, the fireball flickering on and off, throwing the tunnel into darkness and bringing it back. I sigh. After the lighted chamber, we had a while before the light from the chamber ran out, and then we were back to fireballs for as long as an hour. Other than that, I don't want to think about how long we've been down here. I move toward the stairs, and the dagger Sheik gave me bounces against my thigh, tucked into the belt around my waist.

Then I hear it.

The same rumbling noise that proceeded the Iron Knuckle's entrance before.

"Navi, Zelda," I choke out, backing away from the stairs and groping behind me in hopes to find my companions. "I think we might have company. . . . " Navi stays perfectly still, listening. "Well?"

"I think you're right, Link," she says as Zelda listens. Her eyes are tired, but she changes into Sheik and faces the direction the sounds are coming from. "Hang on . . . " Navi says. "I don't think that you should fight it."

"I'll be fine," she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

"No," I say, stepping forward. "Zelda, take a rest. I'm going to fight this thing."

Goddesses, what am I saying?

"Link," Sheik says. "I don't think that you-" The Iron Knuckle comes into sight, carrying one axe on its back and another in it's hands. One of them has to be the axe of its fallen comrade. I pull out the little dagger and fall into a traditional fighting stance. I hear Sheik redouble her efforts to keep the fire going.

"All right, Link," Navi says, flying above me. "Just dodge the axe swings and hit it with the dagger whenever you can." She eeps slightly as I rush in, rolling under a horizontal swing and come up hard with the dagger. The weapon lodges itself firmly in the armor as the Iron Knuckle howls in pain

"You'd think the armor was a part of him," I mutter.

"It is," Navi says. I wrap my hands about the handle of the dagger and pull, trying to remove it from the thick armor. "Look out!" I look up just in time to see an iron hand grab me and hurl me away from it, just barely in range for a vertical swing, which it prepares to deliver. The impact of the ground knocked the wind out of me, and I can't recover enough to dodge. Sheik screams my name, and I close my eyes, wondering how it can be over this soon.

Instead of feeling pain, I hear something that sounds like a rubber ball bouncing off a mat repeatedly. I hurriedly open my eyes and see Navi hurling herself at the Iron Knuckle, that's dropped the axe in favor of grabbing at Navi. I want to go for the axe and deliver a killing blow, but I know that I would never be able to lift something that big and wield it effectively.

"The dagger!" Sheik yells. I nod, even though she probably can't see it, and get to my feet, praying that the Iron Knuckle doesn't want to play baseball with Navi as the ball. I get close, ducking under the wild grabs, and lunge for the dagger. I give an extra-hard yank, and the weapon comes free while the Iron Knuckle roars in pain. Before it can turn its attention to me, Navi resumes hitting it. It growls, a low metallic sound echoing from the bottom of its throat, and grabs at her again. I slip around behind it, all the while praying to the goddesses for myself and Navi.

"Okay," I mutter, holding up the dagger. "Now where do I stick this?"

Ah-hah!

There's a weak point in the armor where the helmet begins, and I see something that resembles flesh exposed. Swallowing hard, I lift the dagger and drive it into the back of the Iron Knuckle's neck. I hear it enter the flesh and wince-I never liked the sound. The Iron Knuckle falls forward, dead and I swallow hard again, the adrenalin rush that must have fueled me during the fight wearing off.

"That was . . . different," I say finally, turning to my friends. Sheik's breathing just about as hard as I am, and Navi's crawled up under my hat, announcing that she's going to take a nap. I shrug-it doesn't feel that strange to me.

"There could be more," Sheik says, looking around nervously. "Let's go." She motions towards the staircase and begins to climb it. I retrieve the dagger from the dead Iron Knuckle and follow.

We climb for about an hour before some sort of light begins to shine into the tunnel. Sheik lets the fireball go out and the stairs are thrown into semi-darkness. She's still breathing hard, but at least she doesn't have to keep the fire going anymore. Navi's snoring quietly under my hat, and we pause for a minute, listening to her. Sheik shrugs and trudges on, me close at her heels. Eventually, we come into a large chamber.

"Woah, where are we?" I whisper, awed. The place is made of a marble-like stone that could actually be marble for all I know, and it must have been grand when it was new. As of now, the roof has completely caved in, letting sunlight shine onto the odd piles of rock on the floor. The walls still stand, but time has chipped away at them, reducing their height by who-knows-how-much.

This place is beautiful.

And eeriely familiar.

There's a raised platform in the middle of the room we stand in, and I can see another room through a doorway on the far side from us. On the raised platform, there seems to be something sticking out of the ground, almost like a flagpole, but this place feels too sacred, too ancient to have a flagpole randomly sticking out of the ground. I take a step, and dust rises from the floor, surprising me. Because of the exposure to the elements, you'd think there wouldn't be any dust.

It's almost like the goddesses reside here. . . .

"Where are we?" I ask as Sheik changes back into Zelda. She walks until she's abreast of me, ignoring the dust clouds that rise at her feet. She looks around, almost as if she knows the place but can't quite name it.

"We can't be," she whispers. "There's no way that tunnel could have led us all the way here." She turns to me. "Link, I want to see something-to see if I'm right in my guess of where we are." She takes a step.

"Wait!" I cry, grabbing her shoulder to stop her. She faces me, her eyes full of impatience. "Something . . . something powerful resides here. I can feel it. And I don't want to disturb it."

"We won't," Zelda says. "Trust me." She begins to walk again, and I follow, keeping one hand on her shoulder-just in case. Eventually we reach the door that I had seen. There's an alter flanked by two sets of stairs in front of us. We walk around the alter, to the front of it, where I can see some writing inscribed underneath all the dust. "Look-there's writing," I say, using my hand to dust off the words. I pause when they're uncovered. They're in an old form of writing.

That I can't read.

Dang it.

"What's it say?" I ask. Zelda leans in close, reading it to herself. Navi, awakened by my earlier cry, peers out from under my hat. She frowns as she reads the words.

"It says, 'The Ocarina of Time opened the door. The Hero of Time, with the Master Sword, descended here,'" she reads. She turns to me, eyes wide. "Link, we're in the Temple of Time."