Chapter 14
My Dear Boy…

Empty black eye sockets, head crawling with worms, torn red evening gown…the decomposed woman and all her hideousness stood in the now open doorway before them. Nabooru's eyes widened and she had to forcefully stop herself from emitting a scream of disgust. She went into immediate action and took the vine in her hands as she began to quickly ascend up it.

"You too boy, hurry now!" the fairy shrieked.

Link wanted to move and climb up that vine, away from the reaches of the black abysses that acted as the woman's eyes…but he found himself paralyzed, rooted to the spot.

"Come to me my dear boy," the decomposed woman hissed. Link found himself taking a step forward without his consent in the matter. "Yes, that's it," she cooed.

"Link you idiot!" Nabooru snapped.

Link only found himself taking yet another step towards the woman against his will. Being controlled could definitely be called rather unpleasant, it was as if his will power had been sucked dry as he was forcefully made to walk towards the decomposed woman.

Meanwhile, Nabooru and the fairy somehow slipped out of the room totally undetected as Link was being used as a monkey…er distraction.

"That's it my boy…come to me…" As Link approached her, a twisted smile crossed her face as her lipless mouth spread wide. "You must be tired…sleep is the only cure for that…Sleep my dear…sleep the endless sleep in which you will never wake up from…"

Link then found his eyelids flickering shut as the woman whispered to him…just before the accursed sleep overcame him, there was suddenly an unnatural shriek emitted by the woman and Link was immediately snatched away from the realms of sleep and her control as he staggered away several paces to greaten the distance between himself and that vile and despicable creature that was grotesque in every way.

Nabooru's scream was then heard as she had smashed a rock into the woman's head, who had only retaliated by sending Nabooru flying into a wall someway or another…

"These people have done you no harm, Terra…you should allow them to leave in peace!" the fairy snapped at the decomposed woman…whose apparent name was Terra.

"But they have entered the land of the dead! It would not be pleasing to the dead souls that haunt this place to let them go!" Terra hissed in return. Where she had been struck in the head, sickening black puss oozed out where her head caved inward…Link wasn't happy at all that his sight had returned from being hazy to see such a ghastly thing.

Terra seemed to just notice the puss as it dribbled down her forehead and she gave a high pitched wail, "What have you done to my beautiful complexion?" and with that, she vanished in a puff of black smoke.

Link tottered over to Nabooru and helped her up, the fairy flew down to them both and stifled a giggle, "You sure showed her, that oughtta keep 'er busy for a while."

"She thinks she has a beautiful complexion?" Nabooru asked with a laugh.

"That would be called heck no…" Link muttered, rubbing his forehead as the sensation of being controlled still seemed to linger a little bit. "What exactly happened?"

"We snuck out simple as that, I came up and gave that witch a slight bop on the head and then the next thing I know, I'm eatin' wall."

"Are you ok?" Link asked.

"Yeah…I think I'll be fine…just as soon as the room stops spinning…" Nabooru muttered.

"Terra will be back soon, we need to get movin'…" the fairy piped up.

"You're right. By the way, what can we call you?...And how do you know that freak of nature's name?" Link queried.

"I'm called Vera…Terra is distantly related to me…that's all you need to know despite the fact that that may seem strange." she explained bluntly as she flew out the door not waiting for Link and Nabooru to get their say in. "I already know your names!" she called back.

Link and Nabooru quickly hurried after her and out into the hallway, Vera's light disappeared around the next bend and that's when Link and Nabooru were struck from behind…

A massive paw nailed them each on the back and sent them each sprawling…

Link abruptly stood, but Nabooru wasn't quite so fast…they both turned to face the creature Link had previously been as it loomed up before them…the creature from Link's nightmare. And then to add on to their problem, more crap happened in that moment…

Zen's all too familiar maniacal laughter suddenly echoed around them followed by Zelda's shrill scream of agony…and then his creatures appeared, summoned to destroy them…

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"My blasted mother obviously led him in the direction of this temple for a reason and I'm gonna make sure Terra can't fail me…" Zen ranted to himself and the unconscious form of Princess Zelda slumped over on the floor. …

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Surrounded…that's the single word that could be said to easily describe their predicament. And every creature that surrounded them no matter how huge or not so huge they were, had lethal claws and abnormally sharp fangs prepared to shred their bodies to a bloody pulp.

Link gulped visibly as his mind raced trying to formulate a plan…but a plan did not come to him unfortunately and any minute now, he knew the ravenous wolf thing and Zen's creatures would attack…and inevitably rip them apart…

"Running sound like a good idea to you?" Nabooru whispered.

"How the heck would be do that? We're blocked in on all sides?" Link questioned also in a whisper.

"I'm sure you're agile enough to get by them, I can't do much with my foot the way it is though…"

"What? Are you saying you want me to leave you here amidst all this!"

"I'll be fine…just go find yourself a weapon and maybe check out that treasure chest in that room I can see from here…"

"But Nabooru---…"

"No buts, just go!"

Link regretfully complied as he braced himself to get past all these things…the wolf thing's eyes however stared into his own and seemed to suck the courage from him for no reason at all as it prepared itself for a charge, its nostrils flaring as it breathed heavily.

Link then changed direction and dashed forward the opposite way, gaining a great amount of speed in such a short distance. In one quick push off the ground, he front flipped up into the air and then came down hard on the heads of some of Zen's creatures. He ran across this sea of heads, making sure to pound down on each as hard as he could possibly do it with out falling. He soon reached the other side, outside the ring of enemies.

He cast one last regretful look back at Nabooru who only mouthed 'go.' Still none of the creatures had attacked, astonishing as it was, but Link had a feeling such odd behavior as this wouldn't last much longer. As much as he despised the thought of leaving Nabooru to fend for herself without any apparent weapon, she told him again to go…to go find weapons was what he intended to do and he intended to find these weapons fast.

He ran into the room with the leftover wolfos carcasses only to be overpowered by an awful stench as he slammed the door shut and leaned back against it trying to get his bearings straight…of course it didn't help when several of Zen's creature's claws pierced straight through the door, nearly slicing his head open in the process.

He immediately jumped away…more and more of the creature's claws ripped through it in an attempt to break the door down…their antics really makes a person wonder if those stupid things had ever heard of a doorknob…or they were bored and found breaking things to be highly amusing.

The door gave a violent shudder as something large slammed against it, Link assumed it to be the wolf creature. The good news was if the creatures were going after him then Nabooru would be safe for the time being, the bad news was…the creatures were going after him!

Link nearly tripped over something but managed to catch himself as he staggered back a few paces…only to find himself almost to the point of throwing up upon seeing what exactly the object was he had stumbled over. It was indeed the remains of one of the wolfos he had devoured in his previous form…crusted with dried blood with all manner of bugs already scavenging over it for the tastiest bits.

This wasn't the only leftovers of wolfos and Link did throw up in that moment only…not what you would call human 'throw up'…more like hairballs…nasty…wads…of…black…hair…

Once he recovered from this, the ever presence of the door continuing to be shredded brought him back to focusing on his task at hand. He went straight to the treasure chest that rested against the wall; in the precise same spot he had seen it in as a werewolf. He cautiously opened it, wary of it possibly being some sort of trap. When nothing happened he took a look inside to find a pair of gauntlets laying there on the bottom. He knelt down to pick them up and take a closer look.

The gloves were reddish in color and held the triforce symbol on the back of the left hand…one would think these had been made just for him if it wasn't for the little fact that it was the power piece that was bold…but then again it was a huge possibility considering the fact that when he slipped them on they fit perfectly…but what could he do with a pair of gloves…?

There was a sudden giggle that broke the silence he had not even realized had come to be until now. Before he could even think of turning to see who was in the room with him, the next thing he knew he was sent pitching forward head first into the treasure chest.

He hadn't even fully comprehended what was going on, but he knew enough to know that he should have been knocked senseless by this point someway or another yet here he was still falling…falling towards what was still the bottom of a chest…but then before his very eyes it morphed into tiled floor . He curled up into a ball and rolled when he hit the ground to create as minimal of damage as possible.

He pushed himself up and looked about in total confusion…he was in the Temple of Time? But…how the heck did he wind up here?

Link gave a short scream of surprise as a little girl popped up beside him out of nowhere.

"Golly, you sissy boy! For bein' the Hero of Time, you sure are pretty wimpy," the girl giggled as she teased him. She appeared to be about the age of ten, thick waves of abnormally colored blue hair rippled past her small waist, and her childish deep blue eyes that could be called even bluer than blue bored into him with such childlike innocence. Her pale skin seemed to radiate from some unseen light and just like her hair and eyes, she was dressed in…well, blue.

"Uh…who are…you?" Link asked timidly, slightly annoyed by her teasing.

"Why I'm Nayru…or goddess of wisdom as some people call me but anyways, that's not important."

Link's mouth immediately went into the action of hanging agape and his own set of blue eyes widened in shock.

"Might wanna shut that mouth of yours before a bug flies in," she giggled yet again as she skipped away and went pass the stand that had once held the spiritual stones in another time. "Now tell me what are you doin' without your sword or shield, huh huh huh?"

"My sword kinda disappeared and I prefer to travel light without a shield…" Link explained bluntly, his shock had faded more into disbelief that this was the goddess of wisdom…or at least a form she had taken to come here…

"Blah blah blah, boring! Your sword is right through this door silly!" she exclaimed right as she somehow walked right through the Door of Time.

"What?" Link was left dumbfounded for a moment as he walked up to the Door of Time and just stood there staring blankly at the spot she had been in a moment ago.

"You really are one silly boy, come on slow poke!" Nayru's voice echoed all around him.

Link placed his hands against the door trying to figure out how the heck he would be able to join her when the wall suddenly gave way…well more like he passed through it as Nayru had…just not quite as gracefully as he ended up sprawled out on the other side.

"You're funny…" Nayru said taking his arm into her small hands and struggling to pull him up.

Link stood and Nayru trotted up to the Pedestal of Time where the master sword rested in all its magnificence, a ray of light illuminating it to stand out from the dark corners of the bland room.

"Come over here!" Nayru snapped impatiently, hands on hips as she pierced him with that gaze of hers. "The power gauntlets you now wear are a gift from my sister and this sword is my gift to you!" she exclaimed cheerily. "Go on, take it!"

"Nothing bad will happen?" Link queried, cautiously placing his hands around the hilt that felt comfortable within his grasp.

"Nope, the king of stupid won't escape and time will not be altered in any way!" she grinned.

"King of stupid? That certainly sounds like a good name for 'im," Link couldn't help but laugh. He took a deep breath to calm his bouncing nerves as he withdrew the sword from its pedestal.

When nothing happened, Link breathed a huge sigh of relief and this only received another giggle from Nayru, "Told ya so, dufus!"

"Yeah…ya did…heh…"

"Got that right, now for a shield…" Nayru then went into deep thought as she pondered over such an object. "I've got it!" she then exclaimed.

She blinked and Link practically jumped from surprise as a shield suddenly appeared in his hand…the center was a dark blue, darker than the darkest depth of the sea, and as it stretched further out, it became lighter and lighter with the very edges as light blue as the sky.

"Uh…thanks?" Link said slowly. "But doesn't it look kinda…girly?"

"No! Of course not, you better be happy with what you get so hmph, how rude." she huffed.

"Sorry…but why…why are you doing this?"

"Din interfered with worldly matters so that means I should getta help too!" she said joyfully but then she soon became grim and unbecoming of her peppy manner, "I must go now, good luck on your quest...!"

Link felt himself being pulled backwards by some invisible force and the room was beginning to fade away. Just before the room completely faded away from his view, he saw Nayru morph back to her goddess form, no longer a child, and then disappear from sight along with the rest of the room.

In no time, he was returned to standing in front of the treasure chest within the Moon Temple…the master sword and Nayru's shield had already been strapped across his back in the manner he liked to wear it somehow…talk about convenient…

He stared down at the gauntlets on his hands, "Power gauntlets huh?" he said aloud to himself but then a certain thought came to him…so far two out of the three goddesses who had created Hyrule had aided him someway or another, yet the one he had once possessed the triforce piece for had not made their presence known to him in the least bit…in fact he had felt his courage dying down…but maybe that could be blamed on not previously having a sword at hand when things got rough?

He didn't ponder any of these thoughts long as urgent thoughts of Nabooru came sweeping across his mind of the dire situation she was possibly in. He immediately turned and ran to aid her…he didn't even have to open the door as it was so battered that it crashed down before him and he was able to run right over it and out into the hallway, drawing the master sword and ready for an intense battle.

What he saw however, was an empty hallway.

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I decided to portray Nayru as a child in the worldly realm thing cuz a lot of times children seem to know and see more things than adults…so I hope you liked this chapter…yup…

Thank you so much reviewers! I have an important message for you guys: Since I don't like the system this site has set up for reviewer replies you may view replies starting at chapter 13 for this fic at www(dot)journals(dot)aol(dot)com/blondiegirl2991/FanfictionWriter/ so yeah…be sure to check it out and be sure to read the subject line and look for your user name: )

-blondie91

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda…blah blah blah…lol.