Bit of a shorter one this time, but only a little. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Hyrule Ain't What it Used to be

Linkle grimaced. Right away, Castle Town was in an awful state. The buildings were rotting and collapsing, the place smelled of death, and the air was still and eerie.

Also, Death Mountain's smoke ring was crimson and swirling.

"That's bad." Navi blinked an alarmed yellow.

"Eeyup." Linkle pursed her lips. "...Okay, um… Let's just… go to Kakariko. Fast. I don't wanna be here anymore."

"Agreed. This place is maybe the creepiest one we've been to." Navi hummed.

Linkle didn't even bother trying to fight the Redeads, just darting along past them too quickly for them to even turn their heads toward, darting towards the exit. Luckily, Hyrule Field was more or less the same as it had been years back. The place was as wide and beautiful as ever.

It was a short walk to Kakariko Village. The place was bustling more than it had been seven years ago.

"Huh." Navi murmured. "Looks like most of the people in Castle Town fled here. I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to live with zombies."

"I'm glad they're okay, at least." Linkle hummed, glancing about at the people milling about, working or resting. It was peaceful here, almost like Hyrule hadn't been conquered by a wicked tyrant. An uneasy peace to be sure, but peace, nonetheless.

"...Uh… Hey Navi?" Linkle paused, eyebrows shooting up.

"What's up?"

"Did Sheik ever tell us where in Kakariko the thing we needed was?"

There was a brief pause.

"Aw, fuck ." Navi groaned.

It took a lot of searching. Anju the Cucco lady only had an egg to care for, the shops just had normal (and weird) things, Linkle had no way to play the shooting gallery…

"Huh." Linkle frowned, patting herself down as they ventured towards the graveyard. "...Where'd my slingshot go? And my sticks? And the boomerang, too?"

"They were made of wood. Maybe they just… decayed?" Navi began but paused. "No wait, the Fairy Boomerang was enchanted and magical, and also had a gemstone in it…"

"Did Rauru pick my pockets? If he did…"

Linkle shook a fist at the sky, only to trip and fall face-first into a gravestone.

"Ow." She mumbled, sitting up, rubbing her brow. Her eyes followed the grave to see that it had been knocked back by her fall.

Damp é the Gravekeeper

Once tended these very graves, now resting among the spirits he once cared for.

"That's a weird mix of dark and nice." Navi noted.

Linkle wasn't listening, because she had leaned in to try and pull the grave back into place, only to tumble into the pit that had been hidden beneath the stone.

"...Oh." Navi hummed. "We're back to this again, huh?" She sighed, before drifting down to follow Linkle at an easier pace.

Luckily, nothing was broken when Linkle landed.

It still hurt though.

"Ow." Linkle whimpered, in a heap on the floor. "I think I fell right on my shield, too." She cursed, rubbing her side where the metal had dug in hard.

"Oof. Looks like ya had quite a fall there, kiddo." A raspy voice giggled. Linkle jumped in fright, as a transparent figure began forming in front of her. "Heeheehee. Didja wind up here on purpose? Looking to rob my corpse? Or are ya here for my treasure?"

"I uh, didn't come here on purpose, but if there's treasure I will absolutely try to find it."

"...Oh, uh. Okay." Dampé blinked, surprised and confused. "So ya just kinda… tripped yer way into my crypt?"

Navi floated down, sighing. "It happens with this girl a lot. "

"I was gonna make you race me for it but now I just feel bad." Dampé grumbled, shaking his head. "C'mon, I'll take ya to it. Someone with that kinda weird luck deserves a handicap."

"Gee thanks." Linkle huffed, maybe blushing in embarrassment from the crash.

"Was that sarcasm?" Navi asked, sounding a bit thrilled. "From Linkle? Hallelujah, the girl might not be a lost cause after all!"

Linkle carefully examined Dampé's strange "treasure". A device with a grip, a sharp hook, and if you pulled just right…

The hookshot fired, bouncing off the stone wall of the room. "And it can hook into wood huh?" She mused, carefully taking aim at a little nook above, firing it into a wooden beam.

"Whee!" She giggled, as it hauled her upwards at full speed. She grinned, ripping it free, turning to the ghost of Dampé. "This thing is super cool!"

Dampé cackled. "I wanted to extend the range on it, but I couldn't get a chain long or strong enough to do the job. Still, have fun with yer new toy, kid."

Linkle waved goodbye to the ghost of the gravedigger, heading through the exit tunnel.

"Y'know, for such a weird, eccentric, kinda-creepy looking guy, he's pretty friendly." Navi hummed as she floated next to Linkle.

"Don't judge by looks." Linkle scolded. Navi just grumbled as the duo made their way along the passage.

They emerged in a room that appeared to be spinning.

"Uh…" Linkle blinked.

"Oh, the windmill!" Navi hummed. "That's a surprise."

"RRRRAGGGHH!" A shriek suddenly jarred them both, and Linkle found herself falling for the second time today, crashing down on the spinning centerpiece of the windmill. A man was there, furiously cranking a music box, stomping wildly, his eyes wide and nearly pure white with insanity.

"WHERE'D YOU COME FROM?!" He screeched, as Linkle spun past him. He had to pause his ranting every few seconds as she continued to whirl around, trying to stand up, swinging past him every now and then.

"This windmill-!"

"Spins so much-"

"But oh-"

"One day-"

"Some little punk girl comes-"

"With her funny little ocarina-"

"And plays this song-"

"And the song is okay-"

"I like it a lot in fact!"

"But then! BUT THEN!"

"It makes a huge storm come!"

"And the whole windmill goes-"

"APESHIT!"

"AND NOW I'M GOING APESHIT!"

Linkle flung herself off the platform in a heap, doubling over as she struggled not to puke. The man continued shrieking and rambling, still playing that song. Linkle paused, memorizing the notes, but decided maybe playing it in front of a raving lunatic who seemed to love and hate it in equal parts was a bad idea.

She did play it outside though, and gasped in awe as a thunderstorm began to brew above them.

"Okay, geez." Navi sighed. "Let's just get to the forest before you go mad with power again."

"I AM A STORM GODDESS!" Linkle crowed as she marched off, fists high in the air. "FEAR ME!"

She was hit with a bolt of lightning, and spent the next few hours curled on the floor and whimpering in pain.

Kokiri forest was… Off. It didn't take a genius to tell right away that something was very wrong. It was far too quiet, far too empty. The air felt heavy and oppressive, not like the gentle, welcoming place that had long been Linkle's home.

"Where… is everyone?" Linkle looked around, peering about. Navi floated closer to her head, slowly turning from white to yellow.

"Linkle… Be careful. I think there's monsters here. I can feel them."

" Here? " Linkle blinked, before turning to find herself face-to-massive open maw with a huge Deku Baba.

"YEEK!" She yelped, smacking it with her fist, punching it flat to the ground. It lay there for a moment, groaning.

"Ow. That was- ow! Bitch!" It cursed, rearing up and lunging to bite.

Except Linkle had taken a single step back and was now out of reach. The plant fruitlessly snapped and nipped the air, just barely unable to get its maw around Linkle.

"Rrh! Curse you! Get over here! Let me just bite your face off a little! I'm bigger than you, I'm higher on the food chain here!"

Linkle watched in amusement now that she had recovered from the initial shock as the plant monster thrashed and tried to reach her, smiling a bit as it failed to bite her.

Linkle calmly drew out her new toy, firing the hookshot neatly into the Baba's mouth with a wet squish , causing it to collapse and twitch violently. She nodded in approval at the device's effectiveness as a weapon.

"Ew." Navi groaned, as Linkle retracted it with a smirk. "I guess without the Great Deku Tree, and Ganondorf causing issues in the Temple, monsters are forcing everyone to stay inside."

"Then we'd better go and do something about it." Linkle turned, scanning until she found it where she remembered it.

The passage to the Lost Woods.

Finding their way… took some doing. There was no music guiding them like before, so Navi was navigating by memory. If Linkle took the lead they really would be lost forever. No doubt with her navigational skills, they'd wind up somewhere like the Gerudo Desert or something. Or wind up as a Stalfos and a little tiny fairy Stalfos.

Also the Skull Kids were no longer the weird, but mostly friendly pranksters the pair had known before; they did not seem to be very keen on adults, because they kept firing darts at Linkle on sight. Fortunately, they were much too lazy to give chase. Linkle hummed as she rounded a corner to see Mido, her humming fading to a dead halt, and she felt a bit of irritation at the sight of her childhood bully.

Although now she was several feet taller than him. He jumped, putting both shaking hands up.

"H-hold it! Nobody's going to the Temple! Nobody! Saria went in and she hasn't come back! So, so so… um…" He didn't finish, as Linkle simply picked up the much much smaller boy, turned around, and set him down away from the tunnel. "...Or not… Whatever, it's your funeral!"

Linkle continued on her way, reaching the outskirts of the Sacred Grove.

There was a loud squealing, sounding rather like some kind of pig or boar, and a loud fleshy ripping noise.

"Well that sounded horrifying." Linkle peeked around the corner of the maze, to see a monster torn in half. "...Wha?"

"That's a Moblin." Navi bounced, blinking. "Er, that was a Moblin… they're Strong as heck, but they aren't too smart. What could have done that? " She jerked as another bellowing squeal echoed out, and a Moblin's head was flung over the walls.

"Uh…" Navi nervously edged close to Linkle. "Move ahead slowly. "

Creeping through the corridors, witnessing the carnage ahead, Linkle felt a dread begin to rise in her stomach, keeping the master sword readied, when she walked into the main part of the Grove and saw…

"Gohma!" She announced in delight. The hulking beast twisted around, her limbs poised to attack, then froze.

"H-hey! Kid! Is that you?! Where the hell have you been?" She scrabbled up, eyeball darting as she looked Linkle up and down. She tried to sound annoyed, but a hint of delight was seeping into her voice.

"Uh… Apparently sealed away in a sacred realm? I guess I was asleep, kinda?" Linkle sheepishly smiled, rubbing the back of her head.

"Jeez, you gave us all a scare. Thought you got disintegrated ." Gohma shook her head. "After you didn't show up, we just kinda went around and tried to slow Ganondorf down. It uh… Didn't work, obviously. I've been trying to cull the monsters so they don't eat the whole forest but they just keep coming..."

"Well, wanna help us save the world? For real this time?" Linkle smiled sheepishly. Gohma nodded.

"Mmh, I've been waiting for a round two with that bastard." She chuckled darkly, carapace rustling as she twisted about, looking around. "I'll bite his stupid face clean off!"

"Do you know where the others are?"

Gohma shrugged. "Probably not far from where we first met them. We can round them up once we do… whatever you're here to do."

"That's my cue." Said a smooth familiar voice. Well, familiar to Linkle. Gohma jolted in alarm and turned, half-ready to fight.

"Whoa! Ninja!" Gohma blinked, surprised. "Where'd you come from- oh, wait, ninja."

"Correct." Sheik might have smirked behind his facewrap. "I'm here to give Linkle another useful song. And a bit of advice."

"Advice?"

"Yes." Sheik turned, crossing his arms a little. "Rauru only gave you a partial explanation I believe. Because there's more to this then just finding magic. You also must awaken the Sage of the Forest."

"Uh… Does it involve doing anything different than what I did to get the spiritual stones?"

"Well… No, not really, no." Sheik awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "But it is important. The sages are the ones actually harnessing the Temple's power- in this case, the powers of all the forest and the magic within it."

"Oh… So by clearing out the monsters and forcing all of the evil stuff out…" Navi mused. "We're making it safe for the Sage to stay and use this power?"

"It's a little more um… metaphysical than that, but that's close enough for us." Sheik walked towards the central pedestal of the chamber, where the mark of the Forest was emblazoned. "But also I felt I should tell you who it is, although Linkle should probably know her…"

"I should…? Oh wait." Linkle's face paled. "...That's uh… Saria, huh?"

"Oh." Navi went stark white. "Well uh… That could be… Maybe don't let her see the Ocarina of time, Linkle."

"Yeah, uh…" Gohma scratched the earth nervously. "Ganondorf sort of smashed your old ocarina to bits; we found the shards. I think he wasn't too happy to realize he grabbed the wrong one."

Sheik chuckled. "Heh, that idiot." He hummed smugly. "Anyway. Here, let's hurry and teach you the Minuet of the Forest so that you can get your ass into the temple and do your hero work."

Once more, Sheik stepped back, but this time Linkle and Navi were ready to quickly cover their eyes.

Gohma was less lucky, and was reeling on her back, groaning as she was blinded painfully, whining slightly.

"Ow, ow! Blind again! Why?! Why must I have a gigantic obvious vulnerable eyeball?!"

She slowly rolled back to her feet, sighing weakly, nursing her eyeball. "Gah… Is he gone?"

"Maybe." Navi looked around for a moment. "You can never prove the absence of a ninja, only their direct presence."

Linkle sighed, raising her hookshot. "Well… Let's go in and beat up the bad guys!"

I never understood why the hookshot didn't just kill stuff; it's a spring-loaded metal spike, I mean it seems pretty lethal.

Anyway, goodnight everybody!