The tunnel was very dark and soggy as Zach trudged through. "Euch, this is so gross," he complained. His boots sucked into the ground with each step and the heat was suffocating, but the wolf-boy pressed on.

"So what can we expect from this 'boss'?" Midna asked beside him. She floated above the marshy path with lantern in hand, though her magic power was less than half now after boosting the flame and preventing Zach from falling during his battle against Ook.

The young man used his sword to cleave through the foliage in his way and answered, "It'll start out as two big plant mouths, then once they get damaged enough, the main plant will show up and we'll need to hit its eye until it dies."

Midna nodded and raised an eyebrow. "So how do we damage the mouths?"

"Well, there's Bomblings... if those aren't around, I don't know."

"You're very nonchalant about going into a major battle with very poor preparation."

Zach shrugged and said, "What's the worst that could happen?"

The Twilight Princess rolled her eyes. "You could be killed, for one."

"I doubt that, but go on."

"You could be crippled, mangled, crushed, smushed, bludgeoned, speared, gutted, debo─"

The wolf-boy sighed and waved his arm. "Alright, I get the point." His boots made a wet sucking sound as he pulled them out of the mud step after step. He had yet to wash off the muck, so his clothes were heavy and restricted his movements some.

As they continued on, Midna's magic began to dwindle and the passageway became a circular tunnel of wood. "How much longer?"

Zach leaned against the wall to catch his breath and answered, "We should have been there by now." Sweat had built up on his skin and clothes, so he took a bottle of water from his satchel. "I think so, anyway. I'm not exactly a cartographer."

"That's the person who makes maps," Midna said, "not the person who navigates."

After pouring some water down his throat without touching the bottle with his lips, Zach offered some to his companion. "Either way, it's not part of my skillset." He wiped some sweat from his brow and sighed. "Not many things are."

The Twilian lifted an eyebrow while she drank from the bottle. "I sense a depressing mood in that tone, and I will not have any of it. This is no time for angst." She sighed contently and wiped her mouth. "I feel like that marsh was a bit... I dunno, rushed. Like there was more potential there but we missed it or something."

"I agree," said Zach. "Feels like there was a lot that could have been, but it's not like anyone's gonna know anyway." The heat was getting to him and made it harder to breathe, while his heavy clothes weighed him down.

Midna lowered herself to the ground and rested against the wall opposite the wolf-boy. Her helmet was stifling and threw her vision off balance, making it difficult to determine how close or far an object was. She cricked her neck and said, "You never told me about your eye, by the way."

"I guess we're using our outdoor voices." He shrugged and ran a mucky hand through his short hair. "I'll tell you after we get this Fused Shadow. Like a reward, I guess."

The humidity was suffocating Midna and she fanned herself. "Very well, I will hold you to it." Her eyes widened and she pointed at the wolf-boy. "Your eye is bleeding!" True enough, there was a tiny trickle of blood covering his fake eye that sent shivers down Midna's spine.

Zach blinked and said, "Wha─ Oh, it does that sometimes." He took the water bottle and rinsed out his left eye. Once he was finished, it looked like a normal, functional sight organ once again. "Chronic Mucus Discharge, and it dries and scrapes against my eyelid occasionally."

"Ow!" Midna shuddered and rubbed her eye. "That can't be pleasant."

"Not as much as you think," he replied. "It hurts, yeah, but the annoying part is when it builds up so other people can see. That's the not-pleasant part." He shrugged and stretched his arms while Midna stared at the wall behind him.

She lifted up the Fused Shadow and felt the skin around her left eye empathetically. "That's... that's harsh." Scratching at her neck, the Twilian moved the shadow silk a bit to touch the sweat on her bare flesh.

"So what's the deal with shadow silk?" Zach asked quickly. "Is it like skin or something?"

Midna stared aghast at him and shook her head furiously. "No, it's not skin! You think I'd be naked around you?! Blech!"

Zach raised his arms in defense and said, "Take it easy, I was just asking. There's a very strong opinion from fans that the dark spots on your body is your natural skin."

"They aren't! How else would I not be showing my sensitive bits?"

"I dunno, Barbie Doll Anatomy?"

The Twilian paused and tilted her head. "What is Barbie─ Nevermind! It's shadow silk, which is a fabric weaved from the shadows themselves. See?" She pinched her arm and lifted the fabric up. It looked like a screen that made things behind it look darker. "It's a very thin material, we mostly use it for fashion more than function. I almost never wear it except for special occasions like balls or royal meetings." She chuckled dryly. "Of course, the one day I decide to wear it..."

"So, where's your robe?" Zach asked. "You were wearing it at the end of the game, and when you were beating the shit out of me."

Midna gasped and pointed at him. "Watch your language, you are in the presence of royalty!"

"You did call him a bitch some time ago," Orochi reminded her.

"Hush, no one asked you." She cleared her throat. "My robe is gone, vanished into the same place the rest of me is being kept. I really liked it too, it was very comfortable. My sarong is there as well, come to think of it." For a spare moment, she felt the weight of her burden bearing down on her, but she shook herself out of it. "So, to sum up, my clothes are gone except for the shadow silk which preserves my dignity." Her stomach decided to growl at that moment, and it dawned on her that she was very hungry.

Zach opened his satchel and dug around a bit. "I got Beefaroni, beef jerkey, some biscuits, cheese, and some dried fruit. I think we should take a moment to catch our breath, anyway." He held the lantern around and discovered several rocks large enough to seat him, but not comfortably. The wolf-boy brushed off the largest one, only for Midna to dart in and sit on it. "Hey, that's my spot."

Midna rolled her eyes and pointed to another rock nearby. "Go sit on that one. It's common courtesy to give the lady the nicest seat." Zach sighed and brushed some moss off the indicated spot. It was not the most pleasant rock in the world, but at least it did not jab into him. The Twilian's stomach grumbled again and she frowned. "Please hand me some fruit."

"Oh, you can be polite about that, but not the seating arrangements," Zach muttered as he pulled out some food. "Here, I think this is an apple slice." He handed her a shriveled up piece of fruit that smelled vaguely like the one she had eaten while watching the wolf-boy fight the warrior.

She took it respectfully while he proceeded to wipe himself off with a rag, cleaning the dried mud and sweat from his clothes and face, though it was only noticeable on his face. "Thank you." The fruit was not very flavorful, but nourishment was nourishment, so Midna ate it dutifully. When Zach offered some more water, the Twilian gratefully drank it, leaving plenty for both of them afterward. "Well, this has been going pretty well so far. It's nice and quiet, too."

Zach nodded and ate a bit of jerky. "It is pretty quiet... Wait, why is it so quiet?" His shoulders tensed up as he pulled out his sword. "I don't hear anything, no birds, no bugs, no monkeys..."

"Calm down, I'm sure it's because we're so close to the Fused Shadow." Her eyes widened when she realized what she just said. "And you said we'd have to fight a giant plant... how giant, exactly?"

The wolf-boy stood up and jabbed the sword into the nearby wall, causing a tremor and a deep guttural growl to echo around them. "Giant enough to fit a grown man in its mouth..." He looked down at the rock he was sitting on and paled at its empty eye sockets. "That's not a rock, it's a skull!" Before he or Midna could do anything else, the 'tunnel' lurched to life, tilting upwards at an angle that forced them to begin sliding down. Midna clung to Zach's shoulders while he impaled his sword into the inside of the creature to keep from falling.

"Oh, not again!" the Twilian exclaimed just as the tunnel started to bend, the curve being just above her and Zach's heads. "Hey, we can climb up that."

"On it." He reached up to grab the smooth edge, but something wrapped around his leg. When he and Midna looked at it, they found a horrific, glowing yellow eye staring back at them from the stalk that was coiled around Zach's leg. Its thin, cat-like pupil contracted as it pulled at its prey. "Fuckfuckfuckfuck!" His grip slipped, and man and Twilian fell into the belly of the beast. Zach landed on his back and Midna collapsed on top of him, but the fall was just short of lethal. "...Ow..." He sat up and rubbed his head, then realized his sword was missing. Looking around, he spotted it on the other side of a poisonous lake filled with half-digested Bokoblin and monkey corpses, and the creature's eye loomed overhead like a grotesque uvula.

Midna tilted her head drolly and muttered, "Well, this looks difficult. Got any ideas, Hero?"

"Working on it." After several tense seconds of silence and waiting, Zach spoke again. "With my expert knowledge, I have come to the conclusion that we, uh..." he shrugged, "are screwed."

"... Ask a stupid question..."

"There are multiple ridges along the inside wall of this beast," Orochi said. "You or the boy can climb over and retrieve his meager toy."

"Was he right?" Midna hopped off of Zach and scratched her neck. "About the Fused Shadow?"

"... Yes. We can sense our brethren all around us."

The Twilian narrowed her eyes. "You couldn't sense it before the thing decided to swallow us?"

She heard what almost sounded like a chuckle. "We did not want to cramp your style."

"Ha ha ha." She clambered to her feet and dusted herself off. "I wish he wasn't right. It's just embarrassing."She turned her attention to her companion. "Zach, I've got an idea. There're ridges along the wall, one of us can climb over to get the sword. After that, I got nothing."

Zach nodded and stood up, shield at the ready. "Its eye is its weakpoint. We destroy that, we destroy the whole thing." He almost jumped for the ridge Midna and Orochi identified, but there were two Deku Babas in the way. With his shield raised, the wolf-boy edged toward the closer one at an angle, and when he was near enough, it lunged at him. He hopped to the side and ducked when the second Baba shot out, causing it to chomp down on the first's neck and decapitate it. Midna took the lead and used the newly formed Deku Stick to whack the second Baba across its neck stalk. Zach put it in a headlock and tugged hard, and eventually the head popped off like a bottle cap.

With another Deku Stick in hand, the duo approached the ridges and Midna jumped first. She dug her claw-like fingers into the soft wood and climbed sideways over to the sword, Zach closely following. The beast shuddered and sloshed its poisonous contents around, but it was hard pressed to shake off its attackers. Zach was having trouble keeping his grip, however, and winced at the pressure in his fingers that were not accustomed to such physical labor, but his gauntlets protected them from blistering at least. That did not stop him from slipping, however, and he quickly found himself tumbling towards the gastric juices of the Fused Shadow's incarnation.

As he fell, Zach saw the eye stalk look at Midna, and then it lunged at her. Without hesitating or pausing, the wolf-boy jumped from the wall and grabbed onto the eye, causing it to slam into the wall beside its target. The creature bellowed in pain while Midna looked at Zach in surprise and worry, but then the eye he was clinging to lurched up the neck of the beast and spat him into a small pool of murky purple water.

Midna continued on and leapt from her position to where the sword had landed. "Zach, are you alright?"

"... This thing is a lot bigger than I thought it was..."

"No time for staring, Zach! I'll be right out!" The poisonous water began to rise in the 'room'. Midna did not have a specific plan in mind for escaping, but thankfully Orochi spoke up.

"We can draw a bit of the inherent dark magic that gives this creature life," the spirit said. "It will not be enough to rejuvenate you or wound the beast, but it will enable you to fly for the spare seconds you need."

Midna nodded and felt magic flow into her body while the neck of the beast flailed about wildly. She aimed at her exit, counted to three, and catapulted herself up the shaft with the poison water following rapidly behind her. After compensating for the twisting tunnel, the Twilian was spat onto dying brown grass in the shade while the water was compressed into a steady stream aimed at Zach, who ran out of the way and kept his shield up the whole time. His clothes were stained from the water he fell in, but he seemed to be no worse for wear... until nearly a dozen Bokoblins came upon him.

"Oh, fuck me..." The wolf-boy swung his Deku Stick about, catching one rather dimwitted Bokoblin in the chin and upsetting the rest. "Midna, I need that sword!"

The distance was great and the opposition greater. Midna knew it was more likely she would hurt Zach by throwing the sword, but what choice did she have? He was surrounded by too many monsters to fend for himself, and their clubs looked very painful indeed. "Heads up!" The blade sailed in a beautiful arc, cleaving through the air majestically. Zach caught sight of the spinning blade just as he ducked under an attack, and with a mighty and desperate cry, he leapt off the nearest Bokoblin and extended his arm as far as it could reach. Midna's aim was true, and the sword was caught by its hilt in the wolf-boy's grasp. Zach used the in-flight momentum to convert his energy into a Spin Attack that cut down four of the eleven Bokoblins present. He toppled over from the imbalance and dizziness, however, and gave the still-standing enemies the opportunity to slam their clubs on his body. Midna had to use the last morsel of magic she had to create a minuscule shockwave that sent the remaining Bokoblins reeling, and now her lungs and skin burned from the exhaust.

A vicious roar like nothing Midna had ever heard before rumbled throughout the marsh. It was then the Twilian took a full look at the creature responsible for nearly eating them. It was extremely large, almost as tall as the tree it had latched itself onto, with thick scaly skin and a deceptively alluring aroma. Its neck was serpentine and flexible, and its three-jawed mouth opened widely to spew venomous water and juices at Zach, all while the glowing yellow eye watched from the center. Overwhelmed by the sheer size and reality of the beast, Midna crawled backwards into the wall and stammered, "Wha-what is that thing?!"

"Twilit Parasite," Orochi said.

"Diababa," Zach finished without realizing. He rolled awkwardly beneath the deadly stream and threw a nearby skull at the foul creature, but it bounced harmlessly off its carapace. "We need to strike the eye, but I can't hit a target that small." He ducked under another stream and clutched his burning side. "I don't know if I can last..." The wolf-boy panted and leaned on his knees, his muscles and bones aching from his injuries and loss of stamina, only to perk up and point behind Midna. "JUMP!"

Midna obeyed immediately and leapt to the side just as an enormous bulb lunged past her, but it was not the Diababa itself. It was a Deku Baba a size that put the Shadow Baba to shame with angry red scales growing around its carapace and mouth. Joining it was a similar Baba, and both of them looked very hungry for Twilian blood. She tried to run to Zach to regroup, but her escape was hindered by the sunlight flooding the open area. The scant amount of shade Midna was in essentially caged her with the twin Baba heads, and the only weapon she had was a long stick. At least one of the heads was too far to be a real threat since it seemed to be attached to the other side of the main beast. "Uh, Zach?" she asked as she hefted the stick like a staff. "I'm open to ideas about these two things..."

Zach looked over and cursed under his breath. "Those need to be exploded from the inside," he said as he pierced an unconscious Bokoblin with the Ending Blow.

"You may also sever them from the parent," Orochi suggested. Midna sighed and cracked her neck. She certainly could not cut the thick neck stalks with that measly little Deku Stick, nor did she have time to formulate a plan as both heads shot at her. She dodged the first and only escaped the second by jamming the Deku Stick between its rancid jaws, but the plant quickly snapped it in twain.

Midna was at a loss. She had never encountered anything of this size before, and with her imp body, the difference meant that much more to her. She was no coward, to be sure, but it was not an easy task to defeat a creature of such magnitude, especially with no magic power left. Her vision was cloudy and sweat made her skin shiny and slick, and her magic hair was as useless as it was dim. She looked over at Zach to find him trying to fend off the remaining Bokoblin horde, though he was not faring well. He was waving the sword about in such haphazard ways that he was more likely to skewer himself before the others could. Did he not receive basic training from that warrior? "Zach, that is not a toy!"

"I know what I'm doing, I got 'em on the ropes!" One of the Bokoblins swept his feet out from under him while the main Diababa turned to glare at Midna.

The closer Diababa head spat a thick sludge at the Twilian and got her foot stuck in the foul-smelling substance. "Zach, I am trying to be calm about all this, but I'm stuck in some goo, there's a giant plant that's about to eat me, and you are showing no competence with a deadly weapon." She yanked and tugged, but there was no getting out of the glue. "Listen to me. Please?" Both Diababa heads, large and small, tried to devour her, but they slammed into each other at the last moment.

The wolf-boy looked at her and realized how close he was cutting it. "Okay. Tell me what to do."

"Roll!" He did so, just barely dodging a club aimed at his skull. He stood up and waved the sword at the Bokoblins. "Stop doing that! Both hands on the grip, steady..." The Bokoblins approached slowly. "Steady... Parry!" Zach blocked a club swing successfully. "Parry!" He blocked another. "Now thrust! Thrust!" He did so, piercing the monster in the abdomen. "Good! Leave the rest and try to help me out of this." The wolf-boy checked to make sure there were no creatures in his way and then made a mad dash over to Midna.

"Stick around, darlin'," he said, then grabbed her by the arms and pulled, managing to free her just as the smaller Diababa head chomped on the gunk she had been stuck in. She flopped unceremoniously on top of him and yelped in surprise when he held her close and rolled out of the way of the bigger Diababa maw. Carrying her in his arms, the wolf-boy sprinted to another shaded area free of Bokoblins. "You hurt?"

Midna shook her head. "I'm fine, but I have no magic power at all. I'm completely drained."

"Wait, then how did you talk to me with your mind?"

"Eh, it's like removing a river blockage. Our minds are connected unless I use magic to sever that connection."

"Oh. Well, this ought to help." He reached into his satchel and pulled out a bottle of healing water. "It's not magic power but..."

Midna took it gratefully and guzzled it down. Her magic power was rejuvenated, though not by much. "It's perfect. Thanks. How much is left?"

"One bottle." Zach grabbed her and dodged a blast of poison from the Diababa. "Fucking A, how are we gonna explode those heads?"

The Twilian looked at the base connecting the two smaller heads. "We could try severing them."

Zach stared at her and said, "Are you insane? That's not how it happened in the game."

"Forget how it happened in the game!" Midna yelled. "Pay attention to what is happening now!"

"Alright! I can try to cut one head off, but I'll need a distraction." He wiped some Bokoblin blood off the sword and wiped his own blood from a cut on his forehead. "How about this; you distract two heads, I'll cut off one and then throw the sword to you."

Midna nodded and darted into the shadow dimension, then slithered across the marshy floor towards the smaller Diababa head on the left. She popped out and waved at it with her magic hair. "Here, planty planty planty..." The head chomped at her, but she was already back in the shadow and moving.

While she kept one head occupied, Zach wiped more blood from his brow and frowned. "Yeah, I'll just cut off a fucking Boss' head. That'll work." With a shrug, he drank some healing water and sprinted to the other Diababa head, rolling under the poison spit of the main creature. The bud growled viciously and lunged at him, knocking him backwards. He rolled to avoid another bite and tried to slash at its neck stalk, but it swung around and smacked him into the wall. He gasped in pain and collapsed to the ground for a moment, then wiped some blood from his lip. "Alright, now you've really pissed me off." The wolf-boy stood up and marched to the offending Diababa mouth. "I'm gonna beat you with a crowbar until you go away." He dodged its next attack and jumped onto its neck stalk. The creature roared and lurched wildly, but Zach found a secure grip and started to saw at its stalk. After a few moments, he decided that it was not fast enough, so he chopped at it instead. The Diababa head bucked and nearly forced Zach off, but it was its own doom; the momentum it had gathered served to aid the sword slicing at its neck, and man and plant crashed to the ground. The head feebly twitched before it exploded in a cloud of black smoke, and now the main Diababa was staring at Zach in anger. "Midna, I got one head down. Standby."

"No hurry!" she yelled while ducking another attack. "Ready when you are!"

Zach wiped some blood from his sword and aimed carefully. "Strange one!" he called, then threw the sword with all his might. As it did when Midna had thrown it, the Ordon Sword sailed through the air and its intended target emerged from the shadows to catch it. When she did, she charged it with as much magic power she could spare, turning the blade black for a moment, and sliced cleanly through the second Diababa sub-head.

The beast roared angrily and spat up more poison, though it was so enraged that its aim was far from precise, coating the charging Bokoblin horde and disintegrating them in seconds. "Okay, now we just have one head left─ Zach, look out!"

The Diababa swung its head around and collided with the wolf-boy, bringing him up high over the marshy land that was the Fused Shadow's domain. "FUCK! I think I broke a rib..." He managed to grapple the creature's head and held on for dear life as it bucked wildly. "OW! Yeah, definitely broke a rib..."

Midna staggered and held her throbbing head. I need to hit that eye... How can I hit that eye? It's too far away... The answer came to her immediately. She summoned the bow Zach had found in the chest and looked it over. It was vaguely like the bows she had trained with during her self-defense lessons, and while it would be small in her normal body, it was the perfect height now, being slightly taller than her. She had no arrows with which to strike the Diababa, but there was a perfectly sharp sword in her hand.

"Do not overestimate yourself. You are but an imp in this state."

Eyes narrowed, the Twilian retorted, "I will not let this minuscule body hold me back. He needs my help, and as per our agreement, I will help him." She drew a line in the dirt for where the sword would be shot and then turned so that the left side of her body faced the Diababa. She sighted from the target to her feet and shifted her feet so that the distance between them was about half her height. Normally they would be equal to the length of an arrow, but with her diminutive stature and the ammunition being a sword, she decided to forgo that particular step in her training. Her feet shifted again to be at sixty degree angles outward from each other to ensure balance in both feet.

Midna aligned her pelvis and shoulders to be parallel to the line she had drawn and straightened her back to form a perfect line from shoulder to foot. She gripped the bowstring with her right hand, sword balanced against the string and along the gap between her thumb and index finger, and held the bow with her left, and she turned her head to gaze at her moving target. She raised the bow above her head and brought it down while spreading her arms, pushing the bow with the left hand and drawing the string with her right. She continued the movement until the full draw was achieved with the sword's hilt placed slightly below her cheekbone so it would not catch on her long ear.

The Diababa was in a moment of pause, apparently after having struck its head against the enormous tree with the strange facial markings in its bark, and Zach panted from atop it. Midna adjusted her aim and took a deep, concentrated breath, then released the bowstring. She remained in that position as the Ordon Sword flew awkwardly at the Diababa, but no amount of training could compensate for shooting a steel sword instead of a wooden arrow. She missed her mark and the sword just barely missed Zach's head, embedding itself in the tree behind both the wolf-boy and the giant plant.

Zach stood up and glared at Midna. "Are you trying to get me killed?!" he yelled, but it was more of a panicked reaction than it was angry. He grabbed at the sword, but it was stuck fast in the wood of the tree, and the Diababa shook off its disorientation at last. The wolf-boy held onto the sword and dangled far above the ground while Midna clamped her hands together to stow the bleeding that was caused by the Ordon Sword's blade. It was fortunate she had not sliced her thumb off completely. "Uh... Midna, you wouldn't happen to have another sword on hand, would you?" The Diababa reared about to stare at its helpless prey, and faster than Zach or Midna could react, it snapped its three jaws around Zach's legs.

A scream filled with pain and agony echoed across the marsh and even into the calmer forests beyond, and blood seeped from the wounds the Diababa had inflicted on its meal. It made what could be mistaken for a pleased sound and yanked on Zach, freeing the Ordon Sword from its temporary home at the same time. The wolf-boy screamed again, this time in a combination of pain and rage, and stabbed his sword into the pupil of the Diababa's exposed eye. Viscous black fluid oozed out of the wound as Zach buried it to the hilt, and the foul beast released its prey. He landed harshly on his leg and tried to crawl away, but his strength was fading.

The Diababa, its eye now mortally injured, flailed around and roared desperately as shadows began to crawl up from below. They slithered like serpents over the creature, who soon dried up like any dying plant, and gave a final, pitiful cry of pain before the shadows consumed it. Midna ran over to her companion just as the Twilit Parasite exploded into particles reminiscent of her beloved Twilight Realm. The particles hovered in place for a moment, and then they drew together to form the second piece of the Fused Shadow set: an elegant chest and neck guard that connected to the front of the helmet Midna wore. Zach temporarily forgotten, the Twilian held the artifact in her hands, though it floated of its own accord anyway.

"Ahh... Our power..." The Fused Shadow's etched runes glowed slightly with a serene teal light. "Do you feel it, Midna? The power of the Fierce Deity!"

Magic flowed into her body, more than she had known since her usurping, and filled her with ancient knowledge of a dark glory bathed in bloodlust and tyranny. She saw the beginnings of her people, of a powerful warrior cleaving through enemies like wheat, wielding a massive sword with intertwining blades and a discus of pure energy. With all this new information, Midna was quickly overwhelmed and collapsed beside the wheezing Zach. She stared up at the afternoon sky and panted heavily as she processed the rush of adrenaline and knowledge, but she soon noticed a warm substance touching her leg. Looking down, she discovered it was blood from the bite wounds Zach had sustained just before he killed the Diababa.

"Zach! Are you alright?" she asked, but when she tried to touch him, a bit of sunlight caught on her hand and she recoiled sharply. She assumed her shadowy form and zapped Zach with her telekinesis, and then carried him into the shade so she could assess his injuries. The area where Diababa had once occupied was now a calm and serene spring filled with crystal clear water that began to purify the marsh outside, but Midna paid little attention to it. She reached into Zach's satchel and pulled out several clean cloths and the single remaining bottle of healing water. After dousing one of the cloths, the Twilight Princess dabbed at the bleeding wounds in Zach's thighs, and she was getting more than a little worried at his lack of reaction to what must surely be painful to him.

Midna looked up at his face but she did not like what she saw. His skin was pale and his good eye was slightly glazed, though he was thankfully still breathing. She felt his forehead and winced at the hot touch of it. "He has been poisoned by the creature," Orochi said.

"He's gonna die?!" The Twilian feverishly tried to use a healing spell, but she was inexperienced and could not get it to condense properly. "He can't die, we just got one Fused Shadow─"

"Calm yourself, child. He is poisoned, yes, but the parasite was vanquished before it gave him a lethal dose. It can only do so much, however, so he will have to pull through the fever on his own."

"And how long will that take?"

"The boy is stubborn. He will recover in good time. For now, see to it he does not bleed out first."

With a nod, she focused on getting his leg wounds healed, then noticed that his left femur and kneecap had snapped and shattered respectively when he landed, so she had to pour some of the water down his throat to knit the bones back together from the inside. It took the better part of an hour, but Zach was healed and cleaned, though he had yet to awaken. After healing her own injuries, Midna's adrenaline gradually wore off, and the shock of it all started to press in on her. "We did it... Zach, we did it... One Fused Shadow down, two more to go..." She nodded to herself and dabbed his forehead with a damp and clean cloth. "I-I think we've earned a bit of rest..." She pulled a blanket from the satchel and draped it over the now sleeping Zach, using a towel for his pillow. His clothes were in tatters, especially around the legs, so Midna set some clean ones aside for him to change into when he woke up.

As the sun began to set, Midna brought some firewood and started a fire in a freshly made pit. The suffocating heat of the marsh had lightened considerably, so she did not mind the warm and comforting flame's light very much. She drank some water and then curled up in a blanket of her own. The Fused Shadow they had acquired had been put in a pocket dimension for safekeeping, while Orochi's helmet sat near its possessor. The Twilian would fall asleep in less than an hour, but until then, her thoughts dwelled on the events of the day and what the coming days would bring. All she knew for certain was that the next two Fused Shadow artifacts would certainly not be this easy.

Author's Note: I absolutely hate asking for reviews, but now would be a good time for a few. I need critiques, I need to know if I'm doing good or not, if the development is good or not, if the characterization is good or not, etc. Please? If you have negative things to say, please share them anyway.