Disclaimer: Whoopsie! I forgot this the last time, but do I really have to put one each chapter? It gets really redundant to say I don't own The Legend of Zelda. A/N: Thanks for the review Arnath Nightblade. It's kinda weird, the Mirror Shield thing
you were talking about was something I was going to do later on in the story. Maybe you can read minds or something. Ha ha ha! Anyway here's chapter 7.

Top of Form 1Chapter 7

BOOM!

The door slammed shut after this second crash. Lira shrieked. Link followed her shaking finger to one of the ugliest creatures he had ever seen in his life. It crawled around like a lizard on all fours, but could stand to its full height on its hind feet. Its skin was a mud brown and lumpy, some lumps seemed to be pulsating, a fact that totally grossed Link out. Its tail was long and snake-like with a spiked ball at the end.

There were at least seven eyes all bugged out and yellow. Two vicious-looking silver horns, at least five feet long each, protruded from its ugly head like antennaes. A row of smaller, about three feet, silver spikes went down its back and stopped where the tail began. Its hands and feet were three-fingered, with large, thick dull gray claws that were stained with old blood. Its mouth was huge, stretching from each side of its head and was filled with rows of sharp yellow teeth and a slithering pink tongue.

It emitted a horrible cry and rammed into the tree headfirst. Link lost his balance and nearly fell off into it waiting mouth, but Lira caught his arm and pulled him back up. "What is that?" Link asked in horror. "I don't know, but I have a feeling this is its nest and we are intruding!" Lira turned to him with a determined expression on her face. "Link, do you have a long range weapon?" Link nodded. "Arrows," he replied. "Good. Cover me while I try to take it down or at least pacify it."

She leapt off the branch, transforming in midair, and dive bombed the disgusting creature. Link strung an arrow and aimed at one of its eyes and let it fly. It struck true to its mark and the monster cried out in pain.

Link was stringing another arrow, when he heard an odd sound behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a most horrible sight. Some creature was pushing through the stomach of one of the girls hanging from the ropes!

When the opening was large enough, it shot out of its encasement and latched onto Link's face. "Augh!" The Fairy Bow slipped through his fingers and plummeted to the ground below. With his hand now free, Link took hold of a good chunk of the baby creature's flesh and tried to remove it with little to no success. He could feel its little suckers on its "hands" and "feet" which were on either side of Link's head, pulling at his skin.

He suddenly felt greatly fatigued and he fell back against the trunk, his feet dangling off on either side of the thick branch. 'This thing...' Link thought groggily, 'must be sucking away at my energy.' With his last few bits of vitality, he stabbed the arrow that he had still held in his hand deep into the creature's slimy body. It screeched and released Link, falling to its death on the ground below.

The Hylian breathed heavily, as it had been difficult to obtain air with that wretched thing on his face, and felt his head for any wounds. He glanced over at the other bodies and saw similar things happening to them like the first. Link swore harshly. He didn't want to do it but he knew he had to if he didn't want another one of those things latching onto him.

He unsheathed his Gilded Sword and chopped up the remaining bodies, dicing up the sick creatures as well. He swung his blade to flick the blood off and nearly fell off the tree again when it shook violently. He got down on his knees and looked down at the battle elow. He gasped when he saw Lira in dragon form slumped against the base of the mammoth tree and the ugly monster advancing on her.

"Damn! It must've gotten the best of her because I wasn't distracting it!" Link swiftly leapt off the limb and descended rapidly to her rescue, hoping she wouldn't be angry with him later. He landed feet first on the abominable lizard monster, bursting several of its lumps and had the unfortunate mishap of being doused with green ooze.

"Ugh!" He brought his sword down, tip first, into its back and held on tight as it squirmed and shook itself trying to rid itself of the giant toothpick in its back. Link had to force himself to block out its horrible screams ringing in his ears.

Fully immersed in the task at hand, he didn't notice the hand of the creature closing around him until it was too late. The hero lost his grip on the golden sword and was lifted high into the air before being leveled with its face. Its horrible, horrible face.

It opened its jaws slightly, breathing toxic waste smelling breath, and gave Link a front row view of its, at least, eight rows of teeth. Link struggled with its grip and was rewarded with it tightening its hold. Its many eyes blinked at him consecutively instead of all at once, dizzying Link greatly.

It seemed to enjoy watching him writhe in pain and clenched him tighter once more. It leaned its head back when Link showed it just how powerful his lungs were, giving his trademark yell.

He was slowly slipping into unconsciousness. He felt like all his bones were being crushed to little pieces. It was extremely hard to take in just a bit of oxygen to satisfy his burning lungs. Just when he felt the last of his consciousness slipping slowly away, the grip loosened and he felt like he was falling, falling and suddenly realized he really was falling!

He felt something warm and liquidy splash on his face and seep through in-between the monster's fingers to soak the rest of his body. His eyes were closed at the moment but he could hear the vague screams of the monster that had been trying to kill him. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he recognized that he was on the ground along with the creature's arm. It registered in his mind that the creature had been dismembered! By who, he wasn't sure and he squinted up at the rest of the monster as a black blur chopped the rest of it into pieces.

He closed his eyes again and blacked out for a few minutes. He awoke when he felt someone shaking him by the shoulders. Sound was the next sense to be revitalized and Link heard the familiar sweet sound of Lira's voice calling his name.

"He's coming to," Link heard another familiar voice, this one was deep and manly, that he couldn't quite discern just yet. He opened his eyes and was met with Lira's concerned ruby red gaze. She helped him sit up and he coughed up blood, some of his own and some belonging to the creature. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, only succeeding in smearing more blood on his face and tasting its acrid and metallic taste.

"Link, are you alright?" Lira asked, brushing a blood-soaked strand of his hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, I think so," he replied, his voice sounding raspy for being oxygen-deprived for a few minutes. He glanced upwards and saw Firagaht standing before them, regarding him with a disdainful expression, his arms crossed over his chest. At his side was a large wicked scythe that stood on its own. The hilt was black and the blade was a shimmery sapphire, like a pure stream of water. Droplets of blood dripped from the blade and splattered on the floor. Link noted, also, that Firagaht was covered in not a single drop of blood himself, while he, Link, was drenched in it.

"It was you!" he mumbled weakly. Lira rested his head in the crook of her arm when he started to drift off. "Yes, Firagaht-sama did save us," Lira clarified for her future husband what Link was trying to say. The dragon leader in turn narrowed his eyes. "You could've been killed, Lira. Why were you in here?"

Lira avoided his stern gaze and stared at the ground. "I apologize, Firagaht-sama. I found a key and I thought it would open this door and I tried it and it did-"

"So you would disobey my orders just to satisfy your own curiosity?"

Lira opened her mouth to speak, her face red with embarrassment, but no sound came out.

"Boy."

Link met the dragon leader's gaze, assuming he was referring to him. Firagaht reached into his cloak and retrieved Link's blade from it. "I'm assuming this belongs to you," he said smugly, tossing it at Link's feet.

Link lifted the sword into his hands with slight difficulty because he was so tired, and with Lira's help he stood up. "Thanks," he mumbled. Firagaht turned his back on them and started walking towards the exit. "Come. Let us not spend much longer in this room."

They followed him out silently and he stopped them when they reached the lit hallways. He turned back around to face them. He regarded them for a few moments before finally deciding to speak. "Lira, take him to the baths. He will not drip blood on my floors," he said, disdain dripping from his voice. Although it appeared Firagaht hadn't a single inkling of concern in his speech, his face betrayed him. "When he is finished, you will both come to the conference room."

With that being said, he turned on his heel and was gone. Lira smiled at Link. "I think he was worried about you," she said. Link snorted. "Fat chance." Suddenly remembering he had left something else back in that locked room, he stopped Lira from ushering him and tried to go back. "What are you doing, Link?" she asked when he started struggling with her. "My bow and arrows!" "Don't worry. I have them right here." She gestured to her back where Link's Fairy Bow and quiver were strapped onto her. Link sighed with relief. "Oh, good."

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Link let out a deep breath he had been holding in and sunk deeper into the steaming hot waters of the indoor hot springs. A mini waterfall at the other end of the pool poured more water in but since there was a drain at the bottom, the amount of water entering and the amount exiting balanced out. The pool was in the shape of an oval and was about twenty feet by ten. Trees that ranged from four feet to seven, were scattered around the pool, giving it an outdoorsy feel. The bed of the spring was made of water-smoothed rocks and there were stairs made of the same type that descended into the pool. Steam rose from the water mystifying the whole room.

Link closed his eyes contentedly. Nothing felt better than this. The hot liquid eased his tense muscles and totally relaxed his whole mind and body. When he at first stepped into the spring, the water had turned a nasty red color from the blood that he had been covered in, but now, since there was a drain, there was no sign of the thick crimson liquid anywhere. With the blood that had been washed away, his worries had followed.

He opened his eyes just to slits when he heard the sound of water being displaced. Across the pool, he could make out the figure in the fog of a person entering Link's bath. Arching an eyebrow, Link wondered who it could be, when the mist thinned out and their identity was revealed.

"LIRA!" Link exclaimed, diving under so the water came up to his chin. He had startled her and she was staring at him with wide eyes and a surprised expression on her face. "Wha-what are you doing in here?" he demanded. She treaded water, coming closer, much to Link's dismay, and rested against the wall five feet away from him. "What does one do in a hot spring?" she asked, a little annoyed by his question. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun to keep from getting wet and she was wrapped up in a white towel that skirted her knees, unlike Link, who was completely naked.

Link made a face that she didn't see because she had closed her eyes. "I mean why are you in here? Isn't there another-" He paused when he saw the look of hurt on her face. "You don't want me in here?" she interpreted. Link shook his head vigorously, waving his hands in the air. "No! No! That's not it at all!"

She turned to face him now. "Then what is the matter?" Link sighed trying to figure out a way to explain to her how inappropriate the situation was. "You see, where I come from, men and women do not bathe together," Link began. Lira tilted her head to the side. "Why?" she asked. Link reddened. "Uh, well, because men and women prefer to have, uh privacy, and um...stuff," he stuttered. "Well, if they wish to have privacy, they can just not look at each other. There is no need for separate rooms for each gender," Lira replied matter-of-factly. "And, what if the man and woman are married. Do they still not bathe together?"

Link avoided her gaze. "Well, I don't know. I guess if they wanted to." He was getting really uncomfortable with this topic and even more uncomfortable because Lira was moving closer. "And you know! We're not married, so uh, we shouldn't bathe together!" Link blurted out in a panic when she was merely three feet away. Lira halted immediately in her tracks as soon as he said this.

Before Link could take it back or even realize the effect of his words he saw the result. Lira lowered her head so her bangs cast shadows over her face, leaving her expression to be a mystery to Link, though he could probably guess. "I apologize if I made you uncomfortable, Link. Please excuse me then." She bowed quickly, turned around and walked as quickly as the waist deep water would allow her to leave. Stunned was Link, that he didn't even react until it was too late and she was gone.

Link sighed. "I'm such an idiot," he mumbled to himself.

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Oooo! Another cliffie! I'm on a role! Actually the reason I left the chapter here was because it was getting kind of long, so I just decided to end it there. But I know you love me anyway, right? Right?

(Turns around and there's a mob of readers with pitchforks, torches, and shotguns)

Ok, maybe I was wrong.

(While running) Well review to your heart's content, whatever that means, and tell me what you think of the story!

If you like romance and angst, check out my other fic Guardian Angel. It's really nice in my opinion, I just hope you think so too.

(Trips over strategically placed crack) Mommy!

-LunaRyuu