A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

A Pair of Time

Chapter 34- Minuet of Forest, Part 2

Forest Temple; Day

Malon and Link could feel it as soon as they step inside the temple; the spirits touching with their own. And they could hear them… They could hear them whisper around them. It gives a sense of mystery and eeriness to the forest within the temple.

"I hope Saria's okay…" Link said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine… right?" Malon reassures.

"Yeah, maybe."

Grabbing an early Small Key by the entrance, they enter the inside of the temple. The main room consists of many doors, and, in the middle, is an elevator of magical sorts. Surrounding this elevator are four torches, each with the flames its own color: red, purple, yellow, and blue.

Very strange…

When the Heroes of Time try to approach the middle, however, the torches dissipate. A Poe appears on each one of the extinguished torches; its color and flame in correspondence with the torch each are hovering over. Then, they slowly move away, from each other, in a sort of polar directions. As the flames they're carrying move farther from its torch, the magical elevator begins to descend into the ground, until it becomes part of the floor itself. The room then becomes dark with no light to attack it. Finally, the flame-holding Poes disappear through the walls with nothing more than laughter.

"Hey, those Poes took the flames!" Malon runs down the steps to the middle of the room. "It looks like those flames are needed to use this… platform."

"Great, these Poes just have to come in and take the fire." Link examines a torch.

"Hmm…" Navi flies out and scans the area. "I believe those are the Poe Sisters, from an ancient forest myth. Troublesome, they are."

"Well, we need to get those flames back!" Malon declares.

Finding another Small Key by draining the water in the temple courtyard, the two find themselves barred in a room north of the main one. Suddenly, two skeletons in heavy armor, wielding a wicked sword each appears, completing the trap.

"Stalfos!" Navi reveals the monsters' identities. "Highly-skilled undead swordsmen! Lure it close to you and watch its movement carefully! Attack when it drops its guard!"

"Damn," Link curses as he wields his weapons.

"Yeah, uh…" Malon still doesn't have a weapon, however, "well, I'll just stay behind you, right, fairy boy?"

"Just don't block my back."

Link side jumps to avoid a slash, then counters back with a Jump Attack. The first Stalfos groans and breaks into pieces. Now, all that's left is the seco-

"AH!" Link feels metal driving itself into his shoulder, into flesh. The other Stalfos continues to push the blade down farther.

"Link! Urgh!" Malon kicks the Stalfos in the rib.

Whether or not skeletons feel pain, the Stalfos jumps back like it did. Link falls to the ground, blooding spurting out of his shoulder wound.

"Link!" Malon cries. "Tell me you're okay!"

"Ugh… Don't just stand there… Take my sword! Take the sword!"

"Uh, right!"

Arming herself with the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield, she feels the rush of adrenaline and courage. The Master Sword in her hand vibrates with energy, waiting to touch evil and dispelling it. She can do this; all she needs is faith to believe in herself.

"Whoa!" she blocks an attack coming at her.

The Stalfos laughs eerily, mocking Malon's weakness. It goes in for a charge, determined to finish her easily.

Oh, man… Wait.

Malon sidesteps out of the way and lets out a foot. The Stalfos trips over and smacks against the wall, stunned. Malon doesn't hesitate to do a Jump Attack and finish it off for good. With it gone, she lets out her relief in a sigh.

"Link!" Malon finally realizes why she did all this. She rushes up to him, lying on the floor. Blood is gushing out of the wound. The sight of blood provokes fear and urgency in Malon. "C'mon, hang on, Link…" She begins to search through their inventory.

"Oh, goddess…" Link groans through heavy breathing, "that hurts."

"Quiet…"

Where are they! Where are our medical supplies! Malon begins to panic. Through the stuffed packs they have, it would be impossible to find anything.

"Um… hello?" a voice speaks.

"Huh?" Malon turns her attention away from the search.

A small entity flies out of a nearby jar. Seeing the two, it flies over to them.

"A fairy?" Malon recognizes its form.

"Um, yes, I'm a fairy."

"Hey, could… could you help us here? My friend… He needs to be healed."

"Oh… Um, yeah! Sure!"

The fairy scans Link's body, then settles itself on the shoulder wound. Shaking itself, dust falls down on the bloody mess. In no time, the wound comes together, healing itself rapidly. Link's shoulder is anew, looking as if nothing ever touched the skin at all.

"Thanks!" Malon shows gratitude. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

"You welcome!" the fairy returns before disappearing.

Link takes a deep breath, feeling refreshed. He sits up, bringing sense back into his head with a shake.

"You okay, fairy boy?"

"Ugrh, yeah…"

"That's good… Here, your weapons…" Malon hands them back as Link stands up. "I seriously need one of my own."

"Well, what happen to all those Deku Sticks I let you handle?"

"Oh… Uh, about that… I… I… I lost them."

"WHAT? You lost all of… those RARE, EXPENSIVE sticks?"

"Y-Yeah… You see, I… forgot and left them back at Kakariko…"

Link slowly lets a hand cover his face as he continues shaking his head. Malon's going to have to be behind his back again.

After shoving huge blocks in a corridor-filled room, they advance on to a long hallway. However, looking straight ahead, they find it twisted, not in direction, but as in the hall is twisted because the end of the floor on the other side is not on the ground, but to the left.

"Whoa!" Navi exclaims as she examines the hallway. "This corridor is all twisted! The laws of physics have gone haywire here!"

"Yeah…" Malon twists her head to level her vision to the end of the hallway.

"Well, let's see…" Link continues forward.

"Wait, fairy boy," Malon calls out. "Maybe it's just twisted like that. I don't expect us to bend to the direction of the hallway."

Contrary to her expectance, Link, as he walks down the corridor, doesn't fall off. Instead, his feet keep onto the floor, as if he's stuck to it. In Malon's eyes, when Link reaches the end of the hallway, she sees a green figure looking back at her from a sideway position. It looks as if Link's glued to the wall. Navi then begins to fly over to him. Again, instead of keeping the original position, Malon sees Navi turning in correspondence to her place in the corridor. In the end, Navi too is staring back at her sideways.

"It looks fine to me, Mal!" Link assures.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…" Malon mutters as she walks on.

After the strange overview of the bended proportion of physics, Malon and Link enter a stairway, filled with portraits. During one of their descent, they spot one revealing a painting of one of the Poe Sisters, the one that took the red flame. As they approach it, however, the Poe in the painting fades away with a snicker.

"Navi," Link calls her out, "what do you make of this?"

"Hmm…" Navi scrutinizes the frame. "I think… I think this Poe is using these portraits in this stairway as a means of a hiding place. She switches between the frames when you get too close."

"So… how do we get her, then?" Malon questions.

"Uh… A projectile, I might recommend. Something sharp and fast."

"Well, that leaves the Hookshot out," Link counts his options.

"Let's go!" Malon runs ahead. "Maybe something in this temple can help us."

Link and Malon find another torch, similar to the one in the beginning of the temple. Ignoring that, they pass through to find a large chamber, a large hole on the floor. Another trap, they realize, as the doors in front and behind close off and another Stalfos comes out and attack. After dealing with that one, and the ones after when the platform above gave way to fill the hole, a large treasure chest appears.

"Mine!" Malon calls. "If it's something I can use, it's mine!"

"Okay, then." Link rolls his eyes.

With a shove, Malon opens the chest. She grabs the item and brings it out for them to see.

"A bow!" Malon shouts in excitement. "A Fairy Bow!"

"Fairy Bow…?" Link shakes his head. "Great… Why did they add the name 'Fairy' to a slingshot, an ocarina, and now, a bow…?"

"Well, unless you really want to go back in time and ask the makers…" Navi begins.

"No."

"Here, fairy boy." Malon hands over… another Fairy Bow? And… another quiver?

"What the…?" Link views the large, carved weapon in his hands.

"Yeah, the chest has like, 20 of them," Malon points out.

"20? Why would there be…?"

"I dunno." Malon shrugs. "I was kinda thinking we should carry some to sell, but it's just gonna weigh us down."

"You know how to use a bow, right?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't be too hard. It's just like a slingshot."

"Well, guys, you can take care of that Poe in the portrait in the previous room with arrows," Navi reminds. "Just snipe the paintings from far off."

As the paintings with the red Poe on them are ruined by arrows, they disintegrate, leaving less of a hiding spot for the flame thief. Soon, the last painting is pierced. As it burns away, the red Poe, nowhere to go, flies through the stairway to the bottom floor.

"Okay! This Poe Sister is Joelle!" Navi informs when Malon and Link corners the Poe. "She'll disappear often, but aim for her when she reappears!"

Joelle, however, stays in disappearance for such a long time. Using this to her advantage, she tries to strike down whomever she sees with her torch. But, as she grows tired from her failed attempts at the living attacking her, she makes her body visible, which is a deadly mistake as Malon shoot holes in her with arrows from behind. She shrieks, then her body is consumed in her own red-orange flame, ending her time here. Suddenly, the dry metal torch nearby lits up with Joelle's flame.

"The torch is lit…" Navi examines, "that means…"

"It should be lit in the main room, too," Link finishes.

"C'mon!" Malon rushes ahead. "We've got more Poes to hunt down!"