Chapter Sixteen: Old Friends
Professor: Hello again everyone! In this chapter we get an update on Wendy and how she's doing in her Temple.
Thank you all for your support and reviews! Hope you like this chapter.
It was official. Wendy both adored and despised the ruins of the Forest Temple.
She adored it because of the feel and the atmosphere and the history that just seemed to seep out of the ancient stones. This place almost seemed alive and was just waiting for her to find all of it's secrets. The Temple was, for lack of a better word, mystifying and a little addicting. She just couldn't get enough.
She hated it because of the spiders, skeletons, monsters, ghosts, and weird music that seemed to be coming from everywhere. Not to mention the corridors that changed their layout and hands that dropped from the ceiling and…
Well, she was just hating anything creepy in the Temple.
It hadn't started off well either. The main room past the entrance to the Temple held a square platform that was surrounded by four torches. The torches were holding different colored flames. Red, green, blue, and purple. As they got close, four ghosts that matched the colors of the flames (Navi said they were called Poes in Hyrule) swooped in and stole the fire from the torches, causing the platform to sink into the ground like an elevator. That started a long trek through the Temple to find the Poes, return the flames, and bring back the platform so they could reach the Temple boss. In the process they had fought giant skeletons (Stalfos according to Navi) and found a bow and arrow, which Link had claimed.
But the good news was that Link and Navi said they were almost done. All they had to do was find the last ghost and they were in the clear. And, hopefully, it was behind this door. It was the last one they hadn't opened. Wendy was fairly certain that it led back into the main room, but they had searched everywhere else at this point.
The only thing in their way were two of the giant Skulltulas, although one looked strangely different than the others they had seen throughout the Temple.
Wendy and Link exchanged a quick glance before getting into a fighting stance. Wendy was a little low on magic again, but had enough for this fight. Link had shown her these tiny green bottles hidden in the grass and pots that, when you drank the potion in them, restored your magic power. It took quite a bit to get enough to completely refill her magic, but it was definitely better than waiting for it to do so naturally. When she had asked for the reason why these were hidden everywhere, Link could only shrug. So she could only assume the game put it there for the players.
Without another moment of hesitation they attacked, Wendy taking the normal Skulltula and Link taking the new one.
She pushed out her hand, sending a vine shooting straight towards the monster. She had found that, with some practice, she could use vines to stab and reach and tie around things. For anything Link's hookshot could do, really.
In moments her enemy was dead, words flashing up in front of her.
'Level 4.'
Wendy smiled as she felt all of her magic restore itself from the level up. This had happened a couple times before, shortly after they had fought the other Poe Sisters (as Navi had dubbed them). It was a perk of the game that she certainly enjoyed.
She turned to see how Link was doing and stopped short in confusion. Link stood with a similar expression while watching his foe try to climb away in a panic, seemingly to stumble over its own legs, yelling all the while.
"Don't kill me! Please don't kill me! I don't even wanna be here!"
Wendy's eyes widened in realization.
"Do you think she's part of that cursed family in Kakariko?" Navi whispered.
"That's my best guess." Link muttered.
"Carla?!" Wendy burst out, running towards the Skulltula.
"What?! Who's there?!" Carla yelled, looking around before her eyes focused on Wendy, "Oh my...thank Mavis you're safe!"
"What in the world happened to you?!" Wendy cried, kneeling next to her.
"I got turned into a thing!" Carla wailed, "A bug! I'm a bug!"
"Erm...a cute bug?" Wendy tried.
"Don't patronize me!" Carla snapped, "I'm a spider for goodness sakes!"
Wendy frowned in pity, "I'm sorry. If it's any consolation though, you really don't look that bad."
And that was true. The Skulltulas all looked like giant skulls with spider legs and while Carla did resemble that, there were certain 'Carla' qualities that poked through. Her eyes were definitely there instead of the typical empty eye sockets, as well as her pointed cat ears at the top of the 'skull'. On closer examination, Wendy saw that she was still covered in her own fur, it was just overlaid on the natural caracapiece of a Skulltula's body. But the icing on the cake? It was Carla's cute pink nose smack dab in the center of the spider's face, it's whiskers gently poking out around it.
Wendy struggled not to laugh and Carla could only huff at her.
Link cleared his throat, grabbing their attention, "Um, Sky? Do you know her?"
Wendy nodded, "This is Carla, one of the friends I was looking for."
Link smiled, "Oh, that's great! I didn't know that your friend was a Skulltula though…"
"I'm not!" Carla yelled, "I got turned into this against my wishes!"
"Ha! So you are cursed!" Navi yelled triumphantly.
"I'm no-wait, who are you?!"
Wendy jumped back in, "This is Link and Navi. They've been helping me. We're friends."
Carla humphed again, "Very well. Nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my charge."
"Anytime." Link said, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Now that I've found you," Carla said, turning her attention back to the small girl in front of her, "We can leave."
"What?!" Wendy cried out, "But, we're still in the Temple! And we haven't found everyone! We-"
"We'll do that on our own," Carla said calmly, cutting her off, "I've been in this place all day and I can guarantee that none of our friends are here. It's too peaceful for one."
"But Link and Navi-"
"Can take care of themselves I'm sure."
Wendy clenched her fists together and turned to her newest friends, "Go on ahead. I'll catch up."
"You sure?" he asked.
She nodded and after a moment's hesitation, he and Navi left, heading through the door where they had hoped to find the last Poe Sister, whispering to themselves.
Wendy turned back to her oldest companion, "I'm not leaving."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not leaving." she stubbornly repeated, "I'm going to help Link and Navi who are going through this Temple. I already know that Gray and Lucy are ok and working on their own. And besides, the Hero is supposed to go through the Temples, and we're at one of them. So, we stay until we know whether or not he's coming! I'm a Fairy Tail Mage! I fought dragons and dark guilds and survived the Jiggle Butt Gang! I've seen Erza at her most terrifying and made it through a brawl in the guild hall! I can handle this job!"
Carla looked at her, completely stunned from the outburst.
It didn't take very long for Wendy to break down from it. She bowed her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "I'm sorry Carla. I-I didn't mean to yell, I-I just-"
"I understand," Carla said softly, "I understand Wendy."
"You...do?"
The spider somehow nodded, "You're right. You aren't the little girl who hatched me anymore. You are...a Fairy Tail Mage. Mavis knows I won't be able to stop you from doing anything now."
Wendy let out a little sob, "Carla…"
"Well," Carla sniffed as if hiding her own tears, "Don't expect me to stop watching out for any dangers. I refuse to budge on that."
Wendy giggled a little, wiping her tears away, "Ok."
Carla smiled at her and the Kokiri girl smiled back.
"So," Carla asked, "About this Hero-"
"Yes?"
"Are you sure it isn't Link?"
Wendy nodded, "The Hero is a Kokiri, like me. That's the race I chose. Kokiri never age, and they can't leave this forest without dying. So-"
"We have to kill a child." Carla whispered in horror.
Wendy could only nod sadly.
"What kind of job did we take?"
'Exceed-girl has joined your party.'
The words popped up in Wendy's vision as she and Carla walked in to find Link delivering the final blow to a purple ghost. The Poe's flame flew to it's torch and the platform rose back up.
"Wow, that was fast." Wendy said, slightly in wonder.
"The toughest Poe battle yet, but she gave herself away by spinning." Link shrugged, "Are you two ok?"
Wendy gave a quick glance over her shoulder at Carla. The Exceed-turned-Skulltula had wrapped herself around Wendy's torso and arms, latching onto her back. Some of her legs were around her waist, giving it the appearance of a very gothic backpack and matching belt. It felt very strange, especially the texture of Carla's spider legs brushing against Wendy's skin, but the mage was ok with it. It felt surprisingly reassuring to have Carla settled onto her back like that.
"We're good," she smiled, "Carla's coming with, is that ok?"
"The more the merrier." Navi chirped.
"Thank you." Carla said softly.
"So, what's next?" Wendy asked.
Link looked at the platform that had risen up, "I'm guessing that leads to the boss for the Temple. I don't know what to expect though."
"Well, my vote goes to resting." Navi siad, "We've spent hours in here. We're tired and hungry and you two are in no shape to fight anything else tonight."
"I agree." Carla said immediately.
Link chuckled, "I guess I'm outvoted?"
Wendy smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."
He smiled back, "Let's eat."
Link began to pull out some travel supplies (and lots of milk for some reason). An idea played around in Wendy's head as she watched him prepare the food. Slowly, she cupped her hands together and pushed her magic out. It was slow going, but eventually she felt something grow in her hands. A little more pushing and she held a bright red, fully grown apple in her hands.
"Woah!" Navi said.
"That's a great trick." Link smiled at her again.
She grinned and got to work on another.
Within half an hour, all four of them had eaten their fill of Link and Wendy's food.
"Alright, bed time." Carla barked.
Link rolled his eyes while Navi asked, "Did I just get replaced as the 'mother' of the group?"
"Never." he said.
But they did as they were told anyway. Link shared an extra blanket with her and before she knew it, they were falling asleep in the main room of the Temple.
Or, at least the others were. Link and Navi were out like a light, Carla following not long after. Wendy felt herself dropping off when a flash before her eyes made her wide awake.
'New private message from Celeste:
Wendy, it's Lucy. Say something like 'user screen open' so that we-'
The message's preview cut off there and disappeared a moment after. Wendy glanced nervously towards Link before risking it.
"User screen open."
A transparent blue square popped up in front of her as soon as she said the words, startling a yelp out of her. Quickly she slapped her hands over her mouth, watching to see if Link had heard anything. After a few moments with him still snoring softly, Wendy slowly lowered her hands and turned back to the screen.
There was a big list of options to the left, but one of them was lit up with a number one next to it. Quickly, she clicked on that and found Lucy's message.
'Wendy, it's Lucy. Say something like 'user screen open' so that we can talk. I'm with Gray and we've settled for the night, so message back as soon as you're done.'
Wendy quickly hit the reply button, typing it as quickly as she could, 'I'm good, I can talk. I didn't know we could do this.'
Lucy's reply came only moments later, 'It's new to me too. Luckily Gray has some experience with games and knew what to look for. You can message anyone as long as you know their username. Good job on yours by the way. Knew exactly who Sheik was talking about.'
'Thanks, you too. Who exactly is Sheik though? My meeting with him was...pretty unique. I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he knew you, but I still don't really know what to expect from him.'
'He is a mystery all in his own, that much is true. Suffice it to say, I trust him, so you can too.' Lucy wrote.
'Good to know.'
'He's also a member of our party. Speaking of which…'
Wendy had barely finished reading Lucy's response when something else popped up.
'Celeste has invited you to join her party. Do you accept?'
Wendy hit yes and suddenly had more notifications flooding in.
'Celeste has joined your party.
Ice has joined your party.
Sheik had joined your party.'
She could only assume that Lucy had received similar messages because the next one from her was, 'Guess we didn't get a full update from Sheik then. Who's Exceed-girl? Is Carla with you?'
'Yeah,' Wendy sent, 'I found her in the Forest Temple after Sheik left so he didn't know. You'll never believe what her race is. I wish I could send a photo. Do you want me to wake her up to talk too?'
'You went to the Forest Temple? Ok, really gonna need an update on that one. Are you with the Hero? I know you're with someone named Link, is it him? I hope not cause we can't hurt party members. There is stuff like a voice chat and a video chat option, but Sheik is a really light sleeper so I don't want to risk it. He woke up when Gray did nothing more than shift around. We're lucky that these messages are silent. Wake her if you want. Use your best judgment. What is her race? Also, now that we are in a party, we can do a group chat. Gray's getting it set up so give us one moment.'
It didn't take very long after that and she was quickly talking with both of them, explaining how she got to the Temple and found Carla.
'Ice: So you're sure this Link guy isn't the Hero? Why is he at, and going through, a Temple then?
Sky: I don't know. The Hero is a Kokiri though, and Kokiri don't grow up. We're looking for a child.
Celeste: What if he's another vigilante? We are in a video game, so it makes sense to have NPCs like that.
Ice: I still think it's weird that he's there. I don't trust him.
Celeste: Could he be Wendy's tutorial person?'
Wendy shook her head before remembering that they couldn't see her.
'Sky: Trust me, my tutorial person was definitely not Link or Navi. In fact, it wasn't much of a tutorial. He ended up standing guard. But I got a house out of it is so…
Celeste: A house?
Sky: Long story.
Celeste: Expect me to be breaking into it.
Sky: Why?
Celeste: REVENGE!'
Wendy sweatdropped at the blonde's enthusiasm.
'Ice: House aside, something's not right here. There's more going on with this job than we were told.
Celeste: I agree. It's like we're missing stuff, stuff that Mr. Dragmire didn't tell us. I haven't played a lot of video games, but I do know that stories typically don't have this many moving pieces. I can't see how they all connect. What's your suggestion?
Ice: Beat the game. Kill the final boss. See if that clears anything up.
Sky: Um, Gray? You want to beat the game?
Ice: Yeah, I wanna see if that gives us any more info. Plus, the Hero will go there, so we'll definitely find him. Maybe if he sees the credits rolling than we can convince him it's a game and get him to log out. That way we won't have to kill a kid.
Sky: Well, I mean, I prefer that to fighting him.
Celeste: Me too. But what if it doesn't work?
Ice: Then we fight him. It'll be the back up plan.
Celeste: Great idea, but how do we tell this to Natsu and Erza?
Sky: Have you tried guessing usernames?
Ice: Constantly. But, every one we try is a dead-end. The flame idiot must've done some stupid username instead of an obvious one.
Celeste: For Natsu we've tried Salamander, Fire Dragon, Dragon Slayer, Fired Up, Flame, Gray Sucks and I Rule. Others too. Erza's is just as difficult. I don't know how many more versions of Requip or Scarlet there are. Happy's probably has something to do with fish.
Ice: Lucy! You tried 'Gray Sucks and I Rule'?!
Celeste: Duh. It's Natsu, he's always fighting with you. And Gajeel. And Laxus. And Erza. And Gildarts. And-oh my goodness, I don't want to have to type out his rivalry with everyone in the guild. Maybe he just went with his line of 'fight me'?
Ice: I'm still insulted by your actions.
Celest: Well it was a more realistic option than the endless insults you suggested!'
Wendy giggled to herself at that. Even with no contact whatsoever, Gray and Natsu found a way to fight.
'Ice: The idiot probably put his actual name. Or something like 'Didn't I do this one already?'
Celeste: Oh please. Even Natsu isn't that idiotic. He knows what a username is.
Sky: What about Igneel? Or something to do with him? Or an attack? Erza might've done something with the words 'Fairy Tail' or one of her armors.
Celeste: That's a good idea. Armor names didn't even cross my mind.
Sky: Let me know if you find them. I'll keep thinking up more names.
Ice: Thanks Wendy.
Sky: Of course! So what did you two do with Sheik?
Celeste: Well, it was interesting to say that much.
Ice: Insane is a better word.
Sky: What?
Ice: We unfroze the giant fish king to get blue clothes.
Sky: ...What?
Celeste: It doesn't get any less insane the second time around.
Ice: He was trapped in red ice and we had to use cold blue fire to melt it. And he was completely ok! I'm telling you guys, this game is weird.
Celeste: They aren't that weird.
Sky: Sorry Lucy-chan, but I think I agree. The only way to get through the maze to the Forest Temple is by following music that no one was playing.
Celeste: Yeah, that's strange.
Ice: Whatever. I think our next errand for Sheik is finding a tailor.
Sky: What do you mean?
Ice: The fish king gave him this blue tunic for the Hero. It's supposed to help him get to the Water Temple. But it is sized for an adult, and the Hero's a kid. So we are probably going to have to go to some tailor or something.
Celeste: Not exactly. I'm hoping to convince Sheik to bring us to you tomorrow Wendy. He should have enough magic by then.
Sky: Why come to me? Shouldn't we keep looking for everyone else?
Celeste: Sheik knows where the Hero is. So, since we have him, we thought we'd have our team reunite first and then get the Hero. Best plan we have anyway.
Ice: As much as I hate to admit it, Sheik seems to be having the best luck finding us. If we leave him be to do his own stuff, he'll probably find the two annoyances and Erza faster than we can.
Celeste: We do have a vague idea of where Erza and Natsu are. We're fairly certain Natsu became a Goron and Erza a Gerudo. It's Happy that's the wild card.
Sky: I'll ask Carla tomorrow what races that they got to choose from. It might narrow it down.
Celeste: Great idea Wendy. Thanks.
Sky: Anytime.
Ice: Ok then. Any other updates we need?
Sky: Not that I can think of.
Celeste: Me either. Oh, wait! What exactly did Carla get turned into Wendy?
Sky: Um...well, in Hyrule, it's called a Skulltula.
Ice: Haven't heard of it. We must not have found any yet.
Celeste: Anything you could compare it to?
Sky: A...giant spider that's shaped like a skull…'
Wendy's teammates fell silent and didn't respond for more than 30 minutes. She lie down on the floor, waiting for them to respond, wondering what in the world happened.
She entertained herself by exploring the user screen options, too worried to try sleeping. As she zoomed in around the map, she got a final message from Lucy.
'Sorry about that. Our laughter woke Sheik up and we had to come up with something and then wait for him to fall asleep again. He now thinks we are incredibly immature and irresponsible. In other news, we discovered that tapping your finger to your temple really quickly will shut the screen on and off without saying anything. But you have a boss to fight tomorrow, so we'll let you get some rest. Goodnight Wendy.'
Wendy smiled, reassured, and turned her screen off.
Professor: Ok, so I am kind of skipping through the Temples and not writing them out a whole bunch, I know. But that's cause the Temples can get very boring when writing out every room they go through, so please forgive me.
Also, I had to rewrite Wendy and Carla meeting. This is much better than the original draft, although I still don't like it. Sorry if they seem OOC. But I really wanted Wendy to start standing up for herself and getting more independent. What can I say, I like character growth. *shrugs*