A/N: Big thanks to everyone who reads this fanfic, and also to The Legend of Zelda Fangirl for her review. To answer your question, TP Link will return to the past with OoT Link, but he will not revert to being a child. He can't lose any years due to the fact he's already hundreds of years into the past, but in an alternate Hyrule, so going back a few more shouldn't affect him. Anyway, as usual, I do not own The Legend of Zelda or Nintendo.
Ocarina of Time Link's perspective.
Chapter Seven
The Forest Temple
The Forest Temple seemed beautiful the second Link had first walked in. After he took the first step forward, the Hero of Twilight silently following along behind him, he decided that he hated this place already. The fact that Saria was here made him annoyed, because that meant he was required to find her before he could leave.
It wasn't that he didn't like the overgrowth on the walls, or the smell of forest dirt. No, it was the two Wolfos in front of him that convinced him that this place was bad. They stood on their hind legs and were hunched over, with their arms almost dragging on the ground. That posture surely couldn't be good for their backs. The fur on their forearms was thick and fluffy, and tough as armor. Their eyes were a vibrant green. Their fur was black in the shorter areas only to be grey in the fluffier sections. Their tail was fluffed up and wavered in the wind they created when they ran. Their tongues hung out of their mouths and they were drooling. Their claws were so large that they almost curled back into their hands.
And they had the most dreaded howling noise.
In fact, the noise was so painful that the Hero of Twilight had to cover his ears and growl back. Link was severely regretting having long ears. He almost blocked his own, but he had already fought one of these baddies seven years ago and knew how they combated people. They were weak, but their claws seriously burned when they raked across Link's waist: that much he remembered.
However, before he could charge one and take it on, leaving the other for the Hero of Twilight, he was knocked to the ground. He raised his shield just in time to be crushed under the weight of one Wolfos, as opposed to being stabbed by its razor-sharp back claws. He felt the pressure on top of him relinquish and he sat up in time to watch both Wolfos circle his Hylian companion.
The Hero of Twilight had a stare so cold that Link was almost certain that he was a wolf himself. The two beasts and the Hylian regarded each other. The Wolfos snapped and snarled, circling their prey. The Hero of Twilight was growling back at them, his teeth gritted. He charged one and sliced at it, but it covered its head and shielded with its arms, deflecting the blade.
The Hero of Twilight was then attacked from behind by the other Wolfos. He landed on his stomach, blood soaking into the back of his tunic. He leapt to his feet and spun around, smacking into both Wolfos but not harming either. They started circling him again.
The Hero of Twilight didn't wait for the beasts to attack him. He charged one again.
"Hey!" Navi called. "That's a Wolfos. You need to draw it close to you and watch its movement closely! Attack it when it drops its guard!"
The Hero of Twilight had other ideas. He thrust his shield out in front of him, smacking into the Wolfos and earning a strange clang noise when his blow connected with its arms. He received his desired effect however, and the Wolfos staggered back. The Hylian Hero pursued it by leaping high into the air and swiping at its head. His sword sliced through the creature with ease. He landed on the ground and finished his move with a devastating Spin Attack, which brought the Wolfos down. It burned up in a blue flame, leaving nothing but a recovery heart.
Link was so stunned at his companion's skill that he could only watch. He would have assisted his friend if it weren't for the fact that the Hero of Twilight had more capabilities that he was willing to display.
The Hero of Twilight turned to the other Wolfos and swiped at its front. It shielded with its arms, protecting itself with its thick fur. That didn't stop him. The Hero of Twilight leapt to the side and rolled around the Wolfos. He kicked off the ground and extended his sword arm, dragging the blade across the monster's back. It howled its agony and spun around, drooling. It snapped at the other Hero, who wasn't going to allow himself to get hurt again.
The Hero of Twilight ran back up to the beast and rolled around it again, preforming the same technique he had used seconds earlier. The Wolfos howled again and collapsed to the ground, spontaneously combusting into flames and burning to nothingness. Seeing that his foes were gone, the Hero of Twilight swung his blade to the left, then right, and then spun it in his fingers as he brought it up and sheathed it.
"Incredible…" Navi murmured beside Link.
Link had to agree with her. He was also surprised at the talent his friend had just demonstrated. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked, walking over to his companion.
The Hero of Twilight considered it. "I was taught by a deceased knight of Hyrule. He resembled a Stalfos, but he was clearly a Hyrulian."
"Do you think he'll accept another apprentice?" Link inquired.
The Hero of Twilight hesitated. "No…I don't think he would. He only teaches those who have the bloodline of a specific Hero."
"Shame," Navi muttered. "Link could really use those skills."
"Hey!" Link protested. He turned to the wall overgrown with ivy and glared at the gold Skulltula on it. He pulled out the Hookshot and killed the evil arachnid with a single shot. "I have my own skills, Navi."
Link fired the chain a second time but accidentally missed the gold token he wanted. He was torn from his spot and brought to the wall. He grabbed onto the ivy and kept himself from falling.
"Link…why don't you just ask this other Link if he'll teach you?" Navi asked. She bounced up and down in front of the Hero of Twilight before landing on his shoulder. "I'm sure he would do that."
"I suppose I could," the Hero of Twilight agreed, watching Link crawl over and seize his gold token.
"Hey, there's a chest up here!" Link called.
"There is?" the Hero of Twilight asked, walking over to the ivy and preparing to climb it.
"Yeah, but its mine now. You were too slow, Link." Link climbed on top of the cut tree and walked to the end of the branch. He held out his Hookshot and pulled himself over to the tiny chest on the opposing tree. He kicked open the chest and reached down, picking up the metal key in the chest. "I got a small key!" he called triumphantly.
The Hero of Twilight looked over to the door and said, "Well, since this one isn't locked, I'll start going that direction. Come on, Link."
Link looked down at the ground. I'm pretty sure I can make that leap, he thought. He jumped down, realizing only as he was falling how bad of an idea it was.
"Aaah!" he cried out. He rolled as he hit the ground, not even taking any damage from the fall. He let out an embarrassed laugh as he joined his fairy and the Hero of Twilight. "Moving on…"
Navi landed on Link's shoulder and disappeared from sight. Both Links ascended the stairs. The Hero of Twilight walked through the door first, followed by Link. They were standing in a corridor with long, low stairs. Ivy clung to the walls and fell from the ceiling like nature's curtains. The walls jutted out slightly to form pillars. At the far end of the hall, a wooden door with a gold-colored handle waited. Above it was a square tile with the symbol of wind designed into it.
The Hero of Twilight began to slightly jog forward, only to get thrown back by a monster. A giant Skulltula spun around and waited, swinging from its web and taunting the Hero. It had a skull for a body, and yellow-and-black striped spider legs.
The Hero of Twilight got back to his feet and turned back to the spider. He reached into his pouch and prepared to bring out one of his weapons, but Link stopped him.
"My turn to fight," he said. Link extended his arm, gripping the Hookshot. He fired the chain with the intention of pulling the spider off its web. Instead, he got and even better result. The hook pierced the spider's skull body and knocked it off its web. It collapsed to the ground and disappeared in a burst of flame…dead.
The Hero of Twilight examined the recovery heart, which he picked up since he was missing one. "Impressive," he told Link.
Link nodded his assent and the two walked up to the door. This time, Link entered it first. The two Heroes found themselves on a balcony with rails surrounding almost all of it, except for the stairs leading down to the ground. Down the stairs, they could see a strange-looking concrete barrier. Four gold torch pedestals blazed, each one burning with a different colored flame. An odd rectangular stone waited in the center of the barriers. Two other balconies stood on the left and right half of the room. Two arched entryways stood beside them, bordering a third balcony at the opposite end of the room.
Both Links headed for the strange stone rectangle. They were stopped in their tracks as they noticed the four flames sputter out. Four ghosts like the ones that had attacked Link in the Kakariko Graveyard materialized. They laughed, that chilling noise that would haunt Link's nightmares forever. However, unlike the normal ghosts he had encountered, these were all different colors, and they had different features to define them…almost as if they weren't the typical kind of monsters.
One was purple, one was blue, one was green, and one was red. Each one carried a torch instead of a lantern, but theirs were unlit. They waited on top of the now empty flame pedestals.
In the center of the room, the rectangle thing began to sink into the ground. The Hero of Twilight's eyes widened and he started to dash forward.
"Not again!" he called. He jumped off the stairs, only to stop dead in his tracks as the rectangle disappeared into the ground, leaving no evidence of its existence other than the square tile that looked different than the rest of the floor. The Hero of Twilight glared up at the ghosts and they laughed at him. He drew his weapons.
To Link's horror, the flames appeared on the torches that the ghosts carried. They laughed again and began to take their sweet time drifting off. The blue one flew to an arched doorway with an eye symbol above it and bars on the doors. The purple one took the opposite doorway. The green one traveled to the balcony on the right. The red one took the balcony on the left.
The Hero of Twilight was so infuriated that he was determined to chase after the spirits. From his inventory, he drew a massive bow the length of the Master Sword. He took aim at the eye on the wall and shot it. The bars over the door slid into the ceiling, out of sight, and the Hero of Twilight ran over to it, throwing it open and disappearing. The bars slid back into place, sealing him inside.
Now, only Link and Navi remained in the room. Link walked over to the place where the rectangle disappeared. He was certain that it was supposed to be some sort of lift for him to use in order to access the dungeon. Perhaps it would lead him straight to Saria, so they had closed it. That thought made him angry, so he began to march forward.
"Hey," Navi called softly, "where do you suppose Link got that bow?"
Link stopped and considered it. "Didn't he say something about having cleared a few dungeons of his own? He doesn't remember when he cleared them, but if he has a bow, perhaps he found it along his way through one of them."
"Maybe…" Navi said, sounding uncertain.
"Do you not trust Link?" Link asked.
"I still think he should be a Stalfos. He's hiding something…"
"Well…if that something isn't hurting anyone, then I suppose it's alright."
"I suppose…"
Link looked around and said, "So…which door first?"
"Well, one balcony is too high to climb, and one doorway is barred. The other doorway is blocked by those cubes. The door to your left is locked. Why not try forward, first?"
"Sounds good," Link agreed. He began jogging forward, ready to leave this place as soon as possible. He climbed onto a stage-like step, then began to ascend the stairs to the door. Ivy grew over the rails, but it was too short to be climbable.
Link heard a sound to his right, so he turned and spotted a gold Skulltula. He pulled out his Hookshot and fired at it twice, killing it and grabbing its token. He then proceeded through the door, finding himself in another corridor. However, this one was fancier than the one with the Skulltula. The walls started off red, only to transition to cream-colored bricks, and there was no ivy to be seen.
A skull with batwings extending from the sides of its head waited for Link, a blue flame blazing around it. Link held out his Hookshot and fired it at the skull, stunning it and dispelling its flame bubble. He drew the Master Sword from its sheath and pounced on the skull. It shattered, the fragments dissolving into more blue fire.
Link dashed into the door before him. It slid open for him, only to slam shut as he entered. Bars pierced the ground, containing him in this new room. Link glanced back, then returned his gaze to what was before him. There was definitely a monster here, and he would need to destroy it to return to the other sections of this Temple.
The room was fairly large, and there were a few pots waiting for him. Red pillars rose out of the ground, and the bottom section of the walls were still red.
Link raced forward. Two Stalfos rose out of the ground to greet him. They were skeletons with jagged blades that looked like they were crafted from stone. Their shield was polished blue, braced with more of the red stone. Their boots, gloves, and shoulder pauldrons were blue, and they wore tattered blue cloth around their waist. A brown leather belt was bound around the blue, yet they had no skin to hold it in place. Their skulls seemed normal enough, until their mouths, which were extremely large with several missing teeth. Their hollow eye sockets had a red glow in the center, and that allowed them to see.
Link brandished his sword and Navi fluttered over to the one on his left. He turned to it, his gaze becoming cold.
"Stalfos," Navi called to him. "Lure it close to you and watch its movement carefully! Attack it when it drops its guard!"
Link waited, glowering at it as it sidestepped to the right, then to the left. It grunted at him, an impressive feat considering that it had no lungs. It walked towards him and swung its sword, causing Link to step back and then lunge forward. He brought his sword down on the monster's waist and leg, slicing into its bones. It raised its shield, and Link stepped back.
Its buddy was still circling and had yet to draw close to him, so Link wasn't entirely concerned about it yet. He kept his eyes focused on the first one, which charged towards him. Link tried to swipe at it again, but it raised its shield and leapt into the air above him, slicing the top of his head. He cried out and hit the ground, blood dripping from his injuries.
Link shot to his feet and glared at the Stalfos, two hearts now missing from his health bar. He ran towards it, stabbed at its waist, and brought his shield close to his body to protect himself. The Stalfos swung its blade, but it clanged harmlessly off Link's shield. Link then Jump Attacked it. The Stalfos raised its own shield.
The second Stalfos caught Link's attention when it went after him. Immediately, Navi zipped over to it for Link to easily target it. The Hero of Time whirled around and slammed his blade into the Stalfos's. The monster stepped back and then tried to do that jumping technique again, which caused Link to raise his shield to defend himself. Link spun around and Jump Attacked. He charged the Stalfos and began repeatedly trying to stab it. His blade harmlessly ricocheted off, but that wasn't too important. Link paused his strikes and observed the two monsters, watching them circle. One stepped close to him and tried to strike, so Link stabbed at it and cut it down. It burned up instantly, defeated.
Link whirled around to face the second one. It was incredibly stupid because, even without its companion, it was still determined to kill him. One Jump Attack was all it took to finish off the remaining Stalfos. It combusted into green flames, which quickly died out.
Link turned and saw the bars on the only door slide up and disappear. He noticed a chest materialize on the floor. It was small, so he sheathed his weapons and walked over to it. He kicked it open and pulled out another small key.
"That makes two," Navi said. "But why would you need two at once?"
"A key is a key," Link said. "So long as they help me get through here in one piece and I save Saria, I could deal with needing twenty at once."
"Twenty is a little excessive…let's hope that never happens." Navi glided over to Link and vanished.
Link turned to the pots and smashed them, retrieving the heart from one of them. He was surprised to see a fairy in another, so he pulled out an empty bottle and caught it. Satisfied, he walked back out. He found the skull creature again, which made Navi come back out of hiding. She helped him target it. Link stunned it and then Jump Attacked it. He sheathed his weapons after it was defeated and walked back to the big room where the ghosts had been.
"Where to now, Navi?" Link asked.
"Well, you have two keys. You can go to that balcony now," Navi replied. "Or you can go and explore the blocked doorway with those cubes in front of it."
Link ran over to said doorway. He whipped out his Ocarina and played the Song of Time. The noise could be heard throughout the empty Temple, of that he was certain. He watched as the cubes glowed and vanished. Link walked into the new room.
The first thing he noticed was the giant Deku Baba waiting for him. It spotted him when he entered, and it began to drool. It had a blue head with a green stem covered in withering leaves. Large teeth filled its mouth. It leaned forward and tried to bite him. Fortunately, its stem wasn't long enough, causing it to lay flat and wait. Green smoke billowed out of its mouth as it snapped at him.
"Do you even care about your mouth?" Navi asked. "What have you been eating? Weeds?"
"Navi, this really isn't the time for dietary advice…" Link muttered.
"No wonder it wants to eat you. I'd eat you too if all I had to snack on was grass."
Link hesitated. "Navi…what do you actually eat?"
Navi was silent for a moment before replying, "Moving on now…"
"Do I need to offer you some dietary advice?"
Navi floated over to the monster and zipped around its head. She allowed Link to target it, so he ran forward and sliced at it. His sword scraped its mouth, causing it to recoil. It lowered itself again, preparing to strike. A second slash from the Master Sword ended the Deku Baba's breath.
Link observed his surroundings. There was a two-way worn dirt path before him, leading to a bridge on one side, and an ivy-covered wall on the other. Link ignored the bridge, due to the fact that it led to a little island that seemed to serve no purpose except for hold a pillar that supported a balcony above him. Link turned to the ivy wall and glowered at the small Skulltulas crawling all over it. He raised his Hookshot and fired it at the two lower ones, but found that the chain didn't reach the third.
"How do you intend to get that?" Navi asked.
"I'll ignore it." Link leapt onto the wall and began to climb, making sure that he didn't get too close to the Skulltula. He stayed as close as he could to the right half of the ivy, watching the Skulltula carefully. It turned away from him, so he resumed his scaling. He saw it turn even further from him, so he tried to ascend faster.
Unfortunately, the Skulltula had horrible timing. It spun around in Link's direction and saw him growing ever closer to the top. It turned purple with anger and began to charge at him.
"Don't come near me!" Link squeaked, pulling himself into an opening. The Skulltula stopped right behind him before spinning around and returning to its place on the wall. Link turned back to face what was in front of him, satisfied to be safe from the Skulltula. He saw a door, so he opened it and stepped inside.
The door slammed shut behind him. Iron bars slid down, barricading him inside. A flying skull with a bubble of flame encircling its body waited for him. It flapped over to him and Link raised his shield. The creature flew into him and flames sputtered over his shield before disappearing. The skull fell to the ground, wings gone, and began hopping around.
"Okay, what exactly is that thing?" Link asked.
"A Blue Bubble," Navi answered. "As you just witnessed, you need to guard against its blue flame with your shield."
Link made a slightly disappointed expression. He tried to pounce on the skull and crush it with his sword, but it was too fast. He missed it, and it kept hopping around. Surprised, Link chased after it and tried to whack it. He failed again.
"I'm helping you target this thing and you still can't hit it?" Navi asked.
"Would you like to wield the sword?"
"Don't mind if I do."
Link growled his frustration and chased the skull. He stepped on it and it bit him, causing him to wince. He stabbed it with his sword and it continued hopping around. Link pursued it and swiped at it with his blade, slicing it in two. It burned up and disappeared.
The bars on the door slid out of view, and in front of Link, a chest appeared. It was big enough for him to fit in, but it never seemed to carry anything that size. The items he received from these chests were always small.
Link pressed his hands to the chest and forced the lid up. He peered into the chest and a green light glowed in his face. He blinked, trying to ease his eyes, and reached down blindly. His hands grabbed something and he held it up.
"What is it?" Navi asked, fluttering over.
"Paper. I got a map." Link examined the parchment in his hands and made a mental note of the rooms before stuffing it into his inventory. "Continuing…" He turned to face a door with a wind symbol over it, and he dashed inside. A small Deku Baba grew out of the ground before him, opening its ugly mouth and drooling as it saw him. It lunged for him, but he drew his blade and sliced it in two.
Link stood on a balcony far above the room with the water and the bridge. To his right was nothing but open air. However, on his left was a brick wall covered in ivy. A Skulltula crawled on it, so Link sheathed his weapons and pulled out his Hookshot. He fired and watched the Skulltula plummet to the ground far below. Link peered down at it before shuddering at the drop. He looked up and noticed the Hookshot mark on the wall of a neighboring balcony. He shot it and ran forward.
There was no door, but there was a red switch, which he stepped on. A strange sound rose to his ears, like water draining, and he spun around. He squinted at the ground, leaning over the balcony railing. He climbed on top of it for a better look, only to end up losing his footing. He was forced to jump off or fall off, and he chose jumping.
"AAAAH!" he cried. He noticed the water on the ground, so he aimed for it and his head went under. Link clawed his way to the top and coughed, then swam for the ledge, pulling himself up. "Okay," he said, "so I guess I was wrong."
"About what?" Navi asked, shaking off her wet wings.
"I thought this was the same room from earlier, but it's not," Link said. "The bridge isn't here, and there's a well over there that I just drained."
"Well, if you drained the well, you should probably explore it."
Link nodded his agreement and dashed over to the mossy bricks. He didn't take any time to study his new surroundings or fight the monsters after him. Instead, he just ran over to the well and looked into it for a second. He jumped down, plummeting into the foggy depths.
"Aaah!" he yelped.
"Will you please consider the consequences of jumping before you jump?" Navi asked.
Link hit the ground and rolled. "Why? I don't get hurt."
"When you die, I'll mourn you for a second and then assist the other Link with saving the world."
"Love you too, Navi." Link peered down the long corridor of fog. The walls were still made of bricks, as all the walls here seemed to be. To his right, there was still a small amount of water. Iron bars blocked part of the path, but he didn't need to go there. He ran along the path and noticed a recovery heart. Unfortunately, he didn't need it, so he bypassed it and continued running to the end.
Before him, he saw a small wooden chest. Oddly enough, it was already open.
"That's strange," Navi muttered. "Maybe the monsters here have decided to set up puzzles to distract you."
Link laughed nervously. "Maybe it was just money and they didn't want to guard it," he said. He turned to the wall before him, which was covered in ivy, and began to scale it. He climbed out of the depths of the well. He found himself in the other room with water: the one with the bridge. He saw that the Deku Baba had returned, but he figured he may as well leave it. He bypassed it and ran through the door. It slammed shut behind him, and he stood back in the room where the ghosts once were.
"Hey," Navi called. She floated over to the balcony that once had a locked door. "Where's the chain that used to block this? It's gone!"
Link walked over and examined the door. As his fairy companion had said, there was no longer a lock on the door. He studied it, wondering if it were some kind of trap that the monsters had laid for him. He looked around, searching for any signs of danger, but he saw none.
"Where do you suppose Link has gone off to?" Navi asked, landing on Link's shoulder and waiting.
"I hope we'll reunite with him later," Link replied. "I would really hate to have to seek him out here…"
. . . . .
Link hadn't wandered far from his companion, the Hero of Time. In fact, he was only two doors over from his fellow Hero. After chasing the fleeing Poe into the room, Link had been forced to stop and combat a Deku Baba. After he had acquired victory, he fought a strange water monster that he decided to name Rocky because it kept trying to stone him to death.
Then, to Link's dismay, the blue ghost had flown far above his head and disappeared through a wall near a balcony. But the Hero of Twilight wasn't going to let it simply escape. He had examined the room, not willing to turn back and resign himself to failure. He scoured the room for secrets and stumbled upon the well. Equipping the Iron Boots and Zora Armor, Link had jumped in and found a chest with a small key. He was only missing one heart, so he took a recovery heart before removing his boots and swimming back up.
After more searching, he found a chest he wanted but couldn't reach, as well as a gold Skulltula. He shot the arachnid with the Clawshot and acquired the token before continuing back to the room with his missing elevator.
Remembering his endeavors in Arbiter's Grounds, Link requested Midna to transform him into a wolf. He sniffed each torch for the scent of the ghosts, which helped, but he still had trouble finding them due to their sporadic flying behaviors. Annoyed, Link took his key and walked through the locked door to the side of him where he had seen another Poe disappear to. He was unable to travel to the other arched doorway due to the blue cubes in front of it that he had spent several seconds sniffing, so he had the chained room as his only option. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best either.
The door led to a corridor, which had a Skulltula Link threw his Gale Boomerang at to knock off its web. After preforming the Ending Blow, Link continued about his way and entered the next door.
And that's where his somewhat pleasant mood disappeared.
He murdered a flying skull with blue flames encasing it in a bubble and then crawled up a ladder. A door was to his left, and the ladder was before him. The walls, which were the typical bricks he was used to seeing here, jutted out randomly and seemingly uselessly.
Link walked forward, spotting another ladder to his right and a wall before him, so he continued climbing. After that, he was required to turn left twice in order to enter an arched doorway. He was stopped in his tracks by the puzzle that lay before him.
To his left was a block far larger than he was. The wall to his right held nothing promising, but there was a path to his left. He chose to mess with the block first and dragged it over to the wall, deciding to follow the arrow designs on the floor. After pulling the block, he began to push it.
To make his life even more miserable, Midna was getting bored. So she had taken to making terrible jokes and insulting him as she usually did when she was in a bad mood.
"Why did the Cucco cross the road?" she asked.
"I don't know…why?" Link asked, not really paying her much attention. He grunted with the weight of the block and put his entire body into pushing it. It was harder than catching and throwing Ordon Goats and Gorons. He struggled some more.
"Because you beat it up too much, you controlling freak!" Midna said.
Link stopped what he was doing and turned to face her, back pressed against his block because of his exhaustion. "You're the one who wanted me to fight it."
"Yeah well…you're the one who obeyed."
"Because I was enslaved."
"And I released you from your servitude…remember?"
"Only after I attacked the Cucco!"
"Go back to pushing your block, farm-boy."
Link growled a few complaints at her but returned to his struggles. He finally managed to push the block to the wall before he turned and began to explore the only open path: where he had fetched the block from. He found a ladder to his left so he climbed it, deciding that he would return to his heavy work later.
Disappointingly, he really didn't have much of a choice but to do the work now. He found himself faced with two ways to go. He glanced left, decided against it, and turned right instead, only to encounter another block. This one was brown instead of bluish-grey. After looking at the sky and growling his frustration, Link threw himself at the block and forced it forward.
"Having fun?" Midna asked, floating in the air.
"You know…" Link muttered, "…I would just love it if Link walked in here right now and saw you."
"Me too," Midna agreed, yawning. "I would enjoy watching you explain to him what I am…because you know I won't."
"You're infuriating."
"Infuriating enough to leave behind to explore the heavens alone?"
Link stopped. The tone of voice Midna used showed him that she was slightly concerned. She was worried about her fellow Twili. She wanted to go home and kill Zant, but she still knew she couldn't do that alone. If Link got too angry here and told her that he was done being a Hero because he hated the puzzles of past-day Hyrule and they were harder in his time, she would be all alone. She would have to collect the final fragment of the Mirror of Twilight, as well as save her fellow denizens, alone.
Link turned to her, his expression softening. "No. Unfortunately for you, you're stuck with me until Hyrule is safe."
Midna said nothing. Instead, she put her hands behind her back and fell into Link's shadow, disappearing. Link turned back to the block, pushing it forward. It hit a wall and he stopped, turned around, and to the path on the left. He jumped down and spun around. He saw the grey block before him, so he ran down the path he had pulled it from.
Link ran to the right again and saw the other side of the block. He pushed it into place and it dropped into a notch in the ground. Link noted how it was now short enough for him to climb, so he leapt into the air and pulled himself up.
There was nowhere for him to go, except for right, so he turned and pulled himself onto that wall as well, then turned right again. He saw the red block waiting. Making a slight pouting face, Link began pushing the block forward into its place. It too, dropped down into the ground.
Link climbed up the block, knowing that he had already explored the other path. He pulled himself onto the wall before him and found himself at an intersection. He turned right and ran down that path to a ladder, which he climbed up. He turned right again and saw that, at last, he had finally reached the top.
Link stood in a large open room. A door rested in a dip in the floor, an eyeball above it. Two skull monsters flew around before him, making their strange growling, snapping noises. He pulled out the Gale Boomerang and targeted both of them, then threw the Boomerang.
The flames on the skulls sputtered out and both were brought to him. Link preformed the Ending Blow on one and then used the Spin Attack to kill the other, before he turned to the door.
And that's when he noticed the chains that bound the door shut.
Midna giggled and appeared out of Link's shadow. "What now?" she asked. "You know you can't get through the door without a key!"
Link reached into his back pocket and pulled out a bomb, lighting the fuse and throwing it in front of the door. Midna looked surprised but she didn't make any comments. She fell back into Link's shadow, where it was safe.
The bomb exploded, but the door and its lock remained. Link glared at the sky and growled his frustration. "Stupid Hylian doors and their obnoxious locks that magically protect them from ever blowing up from my weak Hylian bombs!" He kicked the door and sat on the ledge that led down to it, glaring.
"You're not going to wait here all day…are you?" Midna asked, not leaving Link's shadow.
"I'm thinking," Link muttered. He was silent for a while before finally admitting, "I need a key…"
"I think you're right…" a voice called from behind him.
Link shot to his feet and whirled around to see the Hero of Time and Navi behind him. His eyes widened. Had they just climbed up the stairs? Or had they waited silently behind him for a while? Had they heard Midna?
"…and, fortunately for you, I just so happen to have two keys," the Hero of Time finished. He held up the two metal keys and grinned. "You didn't think I was going to let you arrive to the party first, did you?"
Link snorted a laugh. "You already missed the party. I earned a bite to the chest, a rock to the face, and another rock to the knee. I chased a Poe for a bit, then dropped into a well and fetched a key."
"Yeah, we were wondering who hid the empty chest," Navi said. "So you pushed those blocks?"
"They weighed a lot," Link replied. "My back aches."
The Hero of Time chuckled. "Better you than me. By the way, Navi says that if I die, she's gonna accompany you to save Hyrule…"
"Wise choice," Link said. "But before we save the world, I'm robbing your grave of your bottles and your Hookshot."
The Hero of Time raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Very well then. If you die, then I'm robbing your grave of every item you ever found."
"No," Link replied. "I'll come back as a Stalfos and save Hyrule that way. Besides, even if you do try to rob my grave, I'll haunt you if you take more than five things."
The Hero of Time chuckled. "Then, when I join you in death, I'll make sure your life is miserable!"
"You honestly believe you'll be capable of out-ghosting me?"
"I can out-ghost you any day!"
"Boys!" Navi sighed. "Open the door already! I'm getting tired of flying…" She glided over to the Hero of Time's shoulder and disappeared.
The two Links regarded each other before the Hero of Time shrugged and turned to the door. He threw his key in the lock and opened it. He turned to Link. "You coming?"
Link shook his head. "I'm going to wait here for a moment…regain my missing energy. Then I'll follow."
The Hero of Time shrugged again and walked through the door, disappearing.
Link sat back down, closed his eyes, and began to count the seconds. He was going to give his companion five minutes before he joined him. Until then, he would stay behind and catch his breath.
"Is that really the only reason you stayed?" Midna asked. She appeared out of Link's shadow and joined him on the ground.
Link opened his eyes and replied, "No." He looked up at the eyeball symbol on the wall and said, "I want to shoot that…but I don't know what will happen as a result and I don't want him to be in the next room in case something goes wrong."
"Noble," Midna said.
Link finished counting a few moments later and stood up. He drew his bow and fired at the eye symbol. Its eyelid slammed shut over it, and he heard a strange noise come from the hall before him. He tensed.
"No," he whispered, fearing for the safety of his companion. He opened the door and dashed inside, running through the perfectly straight corridor. It had a path of red carpet, and red covered the base of the walls everywhere but the stone pillars. He disregarded this and dashed straight through, hoping five minutes had been enough time for the Hero of Time to pass through the room.
Midna rose out of Link's shadow before he could enter the second part of the room, halting him. She pointed to the sky and said, "Do you not see the monsters that hang from the ceiling? I bet that they'll fall on you if you stand beneath them."
Link glanced up, but all he saw was darkness. He nodded to Midna, who fell back into his shadow and disappeared. He ran forward and leapt onto a platform. A strange noise rose to his ears, causing him to halt. He looked up first, seeing nothing but blackness. He looked down and examined his shadow. Midna never made a change to the appearance of his human shadow. She only altered his wolf shadow. So why was it different now?
Link leapt back and landed on the floor as a monster slammed into the spot he had just stood on. He glared at it, no longer on the tall platform. It shot back into the air, but he had seen it: he knew what he needed to identify.
It was a dark grey color and it each knuckle overlapped the last the closer they were to the hand. Long, claw-like nails curled off its gnarled fingers. It appeared as if some of its bones were sticking out of it.
It was a hand: a giant hand severed at the wrist that could most certainly pick Link up and carry him off. He drew his weapons and watched it disappear back into the shadows of the roof far above. He couldn't see it on the ceiling, so he stared down at his own shadow and watched as it grew larger.
At the last moment, his shadow far too strange for him to tolerate, Link leapt to the side and watched the hand slam into the floor.
"Hah!" he declared as he thrust his shield into it and leapt on top of it, slicing through the veins on the top of it. He landed on the other side and the monster burst into flames. He sheathed his blade and turned to face its remains. He noted a cluster of rupees on the ground, so he picked them up and put them in his wallet before turning to examine his surroundings.
There was a chest to his right and a hole in the floor right in front of him. If he looked at the wall, he could see a door in it. Other parts of the wall stuck out awkwardly, as if they should have been platforms. Link wasn't sure what to make of them, so he turned to the chest instead.
It was fairly elaborate, unlike the regular wooden chests he was used to seeing. Even the big key chests he saw in present-day Hyrule weren't as intricate. It was royal blue in color, and braced with gold. More gold covered it in multitudes of precise patterns, so the surface seemed more gold than blue. A keyhole was in the center of it, so Link feared that he might need to reunite with his companion and borrow a key from him. However, he placed his hands on the chest and threw it open, relieved to find it unlocked.
Link peered into the chest, gold light streaming out to greet his eyes. He blinked and reached down as the light dimmed, pulling out a key. It was made of solid gold, and a red jewel gleamed in the middle of the thicker section. Horns curled off the sides, also constructed of gold. Besides that, however, it looked no different than the metal keys that Link had already found here.
"It looks like a boss key," Midna noted, appearing before him. "Maybe now you can get into the chamber where the boss lurks…"
Link nodded his assent and turned to the hole in the floor. He peered into it, considering whether or not he wanted to jump. He could see another room not too far below, so he leapt down. He hit the ground and rolled, only to find that he had company.
Two blue-flamed skulls floated around. They spotted Link simultaneously, and Link drew his weapons. He glared at them, reached into his pouch, and threw the Gale Boomerang at them. It extinguished the fire of the skulls and brought them to Link, who performed the Ending Blow on one. The skull burst into flames which sputtered out. He then spun in a circle and knocked the other into a wall, where it promptly broke apart.
To his left, up some stairs, bars slid into the wall above a door, allowing him access out of this new room. He ran over to them and exited. He found himself standing in front of a wall with moss-covered bricks. To his right was another wall, but on his left was a simple path. There were no rails to block him from the imminent death that would await him if he leapt off, but that was alright because he didn't feel like jumping.
Link ran along the small path and found himself facing a Deku Baba. He drew his weapons and glared at it, brandishing his sword. It was one of the larger ones, and it leaned forward to eat him, but he stepped back and sliced his sword vertically twice, horizontally once, and then put both hands on his sword and dragged it up, killing the monster instantly.
He continued down the path past a dent in the wall that looked like it led somewhere but didn't. He stopped at the next dent and saw a door in it. There was also a door right in front of him, so he turned right first and walked inside. It closed and locked behind him.
There was another severed hand waiting for him. Link noticed it right away and targeted it. He charged for it and leapt into the air, splitting it apart with the Jump Attack. The problem was that it shattered into three little hands that all decided to attack him at once. He hadn't been expecting it to split, so when it did, he had to quickly shake off his surprise and fight them. One slammed into his shield, green and levitating. The second went for his foot, so he shot back and ended its life with a stab downwards. He whirled around to face the third, but was too slow to react to it.
The tiny little hand turned green and shot forward, grabbing Link by his shirt collar and holding him there. Its long fingernails pierced through his tunic and avoided his chainmail with ease, fingers sliding through the rings. Immediately, it cracked one of his Heart Containers. He heard the distinctive noise of glass splitting and felt some of his energy drain away as the Container turned black. He tried to throw it off of him, but something held him there…a force he had never been subjected to before. It was worse than being electrocuted in the Lakebed Temple. This feeling seemed to spread through his entire being and tamper with whatever components he was comprised of.
Link sunk to his knees, unable to breathe. What was happening?
The edges of his vision began to dim. He glared down at the hand, trying to will himself to move and throw it off.
He didn't have to. He heard Midna, with her intricate voice, yell something he would only decipher later as being, "You let him go, vermin!" Link felt the hand forcefully detach from him, and he hit the ground. None of his other Heart Containers had cracked, yet he felt terrible. Another hand—this one much larger than the others and orange in color—slammed into the ground and crushed one of the little hands.
"Get up, Link!"
Link coughed and put his hand to the ground, then pushed himself off it. He rolled to his feet and stood up, quickly preforming a Spin Attack and destroying another hand. He noticed Midna combating the "vermin" that she had pulled off him, but it was much larger now, as if it had stolen his life to restore its own. That annoyed Link, so he finished off another little hand and joined Midna with her fight.
She was actually toying with the hand. Her hair-hand was far larger than it was, and she was demonstrating that she was the boss. She flicked it, then snatched it out of the air and slammed it into the floor, where she promptly crushed it and then picked it up and threw it at the ceiling. It exploded into three, which Link destroyed with his Spin Attack.
The bars on the door slid open and a chest materialized. Link kicked open the chest and brought out the metal key, which he slipped into his pouch. Disappointed at his skills, he turned to Midna and said, "Well, that was humiliating."
She regarded him carefully. She returned her hair-hand to its original shape and floated closer to him, glaring into his eyes. Link stepped back, wondering if she was asking herself why she bothered associating with a weak Hylian. After a moment, she finally asked, "What did it do to you?"
Link gave her a confused stare. He hadn't been expecting that. He thought she was going to complain at him.
"I…I'm really not sure," he began. "It felt like it was trying to destroy my entire existence, rather than just my life."
Midna looked up at the ceiling. "I didn't let it hurt me, so I wouldn't know. Perhaps when we reunite with the other Link, you can ask him what he thinks about that monster."
Link nodded, then turned to face the door. "Midna…? I'm sorry." He began to walk forward, but she stopped him.
"I chose you for a reason," she said. "No matter how bad of a day you have, if you're still alive, you are required to help me and save Hyrule." With those words, she put her hands behind her back and fell into the ground, residing in his shadow. Link looked back to the door and walked out. It wasn't as if he was weak. Whatever that monster had done to him, he didn't like it. He wasn't going to let that sort of thing happen again.
He walked out of the room and entered the somewhat fresh Temple air, glaring at the outside world. He turned to the other door and walked through, finding himself back in the room where he had reencountered the Hero of Time. He looked forward.
I wonder where Link has disappeared off to…
. . . . .
