A/N: Hellooooo! How many of you hate me for my year-long absence? *raises own hand* Yeah I hated it too. Rereading all of your positive comments made me feel both good and bad, because I'm so happy that you all like this story, but I feel like such a brat for leaving you in suspense for so long. I really and truly wanted to come back so many times, but I have been working nonstop on that "personal project" mentioned in some A/N forever ago (I don't remember which one…) And I only got it done in July. It was updated in August though, and then I returned to college work shortly afterward. I have since been pestered to continue that project (it's split in multiple pieces), but I had been sort of…"relaxing"… Which means I wasn't writing and was instead just doing school for many months on end. It's really sad, actually…I have so much school to do that I don't have time to write. And I love writing.
To make up for my absence (because a simple "sorry" doesn't cut it, and I'd be mad too if one of the stories I enjoyed stopped updating for a full year), I will do my absolute best to get the next chapters to you without too much time passing. After my personal project gets managed, I'll probably drop back into my rhythm with this and get it done relatively quickly for you to read and enjoy. By September though, that routine may get torn to shreds, and I'll be forced to return to no end of evil school. So I'll try and complete this (haha, by some miracle) before fall semester. I hope this (long overdue) chapter doesn't disappoint anyone. Once again, I do not own the Legend of Zelda or Nintendo.
Ocarina of Time Link's Perspective.
Chapter Sixteen
Secrets Preserved in Shadow
The Hero of Time had one observation regarding this new location he found himself in; he hated it. As usual, his favorite Hylian buddy had abandoned him, so he was forced to meander around by himself. It didn't help that he was trapped in an enormous labyrinth, complete with massive boulders that kept trying to run him flat. He didn't have the Hero of Twilight's nifty Iron Boots with him—not that he could plod around in them anyway—so he was incapable of tossing the obstacles aside and continuing on his path.
Instead, he had to settle for running away as fast as his legs would carry him, doing his best to avoid being slammed to the ground and flattened. He had too much experience with that as it was, especially thanks to the Hero of Twilight's "forgetfulness" regarding how to catch the boulders.
Link supposed there was no need to complain. He had done fairly well avoiding the boulders. The second he entered the door and was greeted by a stone face peering back at his, he had scurried off to the right, only to watch a boulder roll in his direction and begin chasing him as he clung to the left wall of the labyrinth. He had noticed immediately that, no matter how tightly he pressed himself to the scalding bricks, the boulder would crash into him, and he was not looking forward to impact.
So he had continued running, following the left wall in an attempt to escape the maze. It wasn't exactly "fleeing in terror"; it was more or less a tactical retreat, or an advance in the wrong direction. He had located another Goron on the path not too long ago, after stomping on a switch and setting the little rock-man free. He had received a key for his hard work, but what he was most appreciative for was the information provided by the Goron. He could still hear the ex-prisoner's words echoing in his mind.
"In this temple, there are doors that fall down when you try to open them. When one of these doors starts to fall, move! If you use a sample of the Goron 'special crop', you can break it…"
What kind of nitwit builds doors that will squish people, anyway? Link wondered to himself, running his hand across the flame reliefs carved from the wall. He had spied a door far ahead of him, and he was maneuvering the labyrinth, heading straight for it. He figured that if he missed anything, the Hero of Twilight would have his back and grab it for him.
Link's fingers locked around the door handle, yet, oddly enough, he thought he heard the sound of the door opening before he even turned the knob. He blinked, remaining absolutely silent, cocking his head to the side slightly.
After a second or two, he lost interest and flung the door open. The sound was louder than he had expected, but he disregarded it and entered the new room, examining his surroundings as the door slammed shut behind him.
Link found himself standing in a corridor that twisted to the left, comprised of what looked like bricks and illuminated by two torches hidden by the bend. The location looked exactly like the area he had rescued the Goron from with the help of the Hylian Hero, except that the last area had been a straight path.
Link trotted forward, following the short tunnel and stepping onto a switch placed in the ground.
These monsters need to be more creative with where they hide the switches to let out their prisoners, he thought, watching as the bars that separated him from the Goron slid aside, disappearing into the wall and out of sight.
As usual, the Gorons had the same thing to say. It was as if they had all had a convention, discussing what they would tell their rescuer to make sure he knew that they weren't imposters.
"Are you releasing me? Am I free to go?" the Goron asked Link. "Let me tell you a secret as a reward for releasing me!"
"Sounds great!" Link agreed enthusiastically, but he was secretly getting tired of hearing the same words repeated by different Gorons. He was definitely going to have a talk with Darunia and ask about that convention.
"When you are on fire," the Goron began, immediately drawing Link's attention seeing that he had no intention of becoming barbeque, "you can put it out by swinging your sword, or by rolling forward… Did you know that?"
With his words of wisdom now spoken, the Goron immediately power-walked past Link, ignoring the Hero of Time and loudly opening the door. Link heard the distinctive crash of it slamming shut behind the Goron, and he turned away from the exit, heading instead for the glorious wooden chest that had once been locked in the cell. With a swift kick, he opened the chest and fetched the shiny silver key.
"You have two now," Navi noted.
Link snickered. "This means Link's outta luck. I bet he's probably stuck in the other room, wondering how he's going to get past the obstacles and through the locked doors we've yet to encounter."
"I suppose we should go to his aid then, hmm?" Navi suggested, zipping through the air and heading for the door.
"Indeed!" Link affirmed, dashing after her and exiting through the door. However, it wasn't as if he could just instantly track down his companion—he didn't have the nose of a Wolfos, after all. Besides, there was no telling if that sneaky little Hylian Hero had managed to find some alternative route. He had once before; what would prevent him from doing it again? He did have that very diverse arsenal to help him magic his way around obstacles, right?
I'm going to have to rob him of more than five items when he dies, if that's the case, Link thought, now sprinting down the path to his right. Another boulder was beginning to chase him, while a second rolled out of his way and allowed him to run as fast as possible to his next destination. He now decided to cling to the right wall; it seemed to be the most effective strategy to prevent him from getting lost in the labyrinth.
For better or worse, a door bound with steel chains was embedded in a section of the wall jutting from the right side of the room. Link immediately halted in front of it, looking left and right curiously to see if any other exits were just casually waiting to be explored.
I could always come back for them later, he told himself, reaching into his pouch and drawing one of his two keys.
"I thought we were looking for Link," Navi commented, flitting through the air as her Hero unlocked the door and entered the new room.
"He said he'd catch up," the Hero of Time replied simply, before elaborating. "I mean, we both want to save those Gorons. It's not like he can just meander out of the dungeon; he'll either have to trail along, or he'll backtrack and find another way. He can't get through the locked doors without a key, so he'll most likely follow us and take the paths we've already opened. For now though, we need to keep moving. Link the Goron is counting on us to save Darunia and the others, and who's better suited to the task than Link, the Hero of Gorons?"
Navi seemed to understand, but she still didn't seem pleased. "I thought the point of you two going on an adventure together was so you could get the work done in half of the time, and more efficiently. But now, you just seem to be wandering away from him, or him from you, and you just operate independently of one another anyway."
Link thought about that as he examined his new room, contemplating her excellent point as he stared at his not-so-excellent surroundings.
Whoever the idiot was who designed this place must have forgotten about a crucial thing necessary for dungeon construction: supplies. Sure, there were plenty of boulder death traps, high walls to create mazes, creepy stone faces, and prisons, but the architect seemed to have decided that—apparently—whatever they still had left was going to be thrown haphazardly together to make this new room.
Yes, there was a good supply of those locked doors, with the one to the left restricted by strong iron bars and the one directly ahead sealed by chains. A creepy eyeball diamond switch had been mounted to the wall, waiting patiently for some optometric treatment that Link would be happy to provide by means of his bow. There was even a ledge of solid brick to his left, with two hearts rotating mysteriously on its surface.
The only issue not given proper attention by the architect was a rather simple thing called a floor. Instead, a questionable path of bricks had been suspended in the air, concreted to the two doors and hovering over a considerable drop. As Link ventured to the edge of this shady-looking path, he felt his stomach begin churning. He peered down, just to see if it was safe to leap: Navi would be proud.
It wasn't. The "considerable" drop would send him to an early grave, and he had already trekked through one of those during this quest. He couldn't even see the floor, the surface shrouded in the reddish dust that choked the dungeon and distorted by a heat mirage.
"I'm, uh…" Link began, taking several tentative steps onto the bricks. He then cautiously dragged his feet along as he tried to maneuver the thin walkway. "Just…um, going to…take the closer path."
"Cucco," Navi muttered.
"Says the flying bug."
"Careful, Link…I might just dive-bomb you into that pit."
"Might wanna fetch the keys first or you'll have to come down and get them, otherwise you and Link won't be able to clear the dungeon when I'm dead," Link grumbled as he shot the eyeball and watched with slight smugness as the bars to his right slid up and slammed into the ceiling. He finished walking across the path, then darted to the door where it was safe.
The first thing he saw as he dashed into this new room was a wall of bars. For a split second, all he could think was, Whoa, I walked into my own little prison! He half-expected the door behind him to lock him in—punishment for leaving without saying anything to the Hero of Twilight—but a quick glance to his sides revealed that it wasn't really a jail.
To his left there was nothing but sturdy clay bricks, but to his right was a small path allowing him access to a large treasure chest. He didn't have to worry about becoming like one of the Gorons, since there was no roof overhead and he could just climb out after some struggling if the need arose and he truly was trapped.
But Link wasn't, so he flung open the chest and delightedly seized a convenient dungeon map. Snickering in a childlike manner, he trotted back outside, only for his happiness to wilt away as he once again faced the seemingly endless pit. Growling under his breath, he tentatively marched across the remainder of the stone bridge, arriving at the chained door and placing his final key in the lock.
The chains clattered noisily as the lock mysteriously vanished—as locks tended to do—and Link trotted inside. Of course, as usual, Hyrule hated him, and so another of those strange skinny bridges waited to greet him. However, unlike the previous room, which suspended its path over a pit of nothingness, this location projected its clay brick trail over a pool of lava. The path made a sharp right, permitting access to a chain link catwalk that led Hyrule-knows-where.
"There better be another key right around the corner," Link grumbled, scampering across the projection and quickly veering right, leaping onto the metal path. It was only suspended a couple of feet above the lava, but his Goron's Tunic made him completely immune to the heat radiating from the liquid.
It did not, however, make him impervious to the wall of fire that sparked behind him, the flames rising higher in the air than his green-capped head. Link quickly looked back, distracted from examining his new surroundings as he faced the inferno. His eyes widened as it lurched forward, flames now moving swiftly towards him and extending from one side of the room to the other. He couldn't turn aside; he would have to continue onward.
"Run!" Navi commanded, dive-bombing Link's head, but it wasn't like he needed to be told. He quickly turned back to the remainder of the catwalk, sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him and leaping onto a section that had been built higher than the rest, for whatever reason. The wall of fire was pursuing him faster than he was prepared for, like some evil enchanted inferno looking to barbeque a mostly innocent Hylian.
Unfortunately, his path had been broken apart, split perfectly in two and separated from his section. He would need to jump to make it to the other side, and the fire wasn't exactly slowing down to let him nitpick about the best part to aim for. Throwing caution to the wind as he usually enjoyed, he sprang off his section and soared gracefully over the lava.
Link landed a little less gracefully, slipping off the metal and forcing himself to catch the iron frame bordering the catwalk. He quickly pulled himself up, not daring to waste any time dawdling. He spotted two columns waiting for him, both looking short enough to climb but high enough to protect him from the fire. Would he have time to ascend one, though?
He didn't know, so he instead continued darting across the chain-link catwalk. He leapt off a raised section of it and began to race along the final stretch, heading for a lovely section of brick wall to his right that would allow him to leap onto it and out of the course of the inferno.
"Bye-bye, fire!" Link called as he sprung from the metal floor and onto the section of the wall. It seemed to ascend in several places, like a gigantic and impractical staircase. That was fine; most of the dungeons in his quest had impractical pathways. That wasn't going to stop him from using them.
Behind Link, the fire reached the far end of the room, promptly sputtering out as it crashed into one of the walls.
"Good riddance," Navi said irritably from her place on Link's shoulder.
"Why are you complaining? You just rode along!" Link protested, venturing down a portion of the "stairs" and stealing a suspicious heart that seemed to be waiting for him.
"There were things I wanted to see," Navi commented. "Like if there was a small key lying around, since there was a locked door up there somewhere on the left."
Link waved his hand dismissively. "I'm going to climb my stairs away from fire death-traps. We'll come back here later, if necessary, and I volunteer Link to go first next time."
"Will you tell him about the wall of fire?" Navi asked, pursuing her Hylian Hero as he leapt up and grabbed the raised platform of his "stairs".
"Nah…let's just see how he'll handle this, and with what items." He exited through a door waiting at the top of the path, astonished to see the room he had ventured back into.
Like some sort of cruel joke, he had found himself once again inside the labyrinth from earlier, the boulders still rolling around with nothing better to do than ruin adventurers' explorations. The only difference in the scenery was that he now stood atop the maze, and the walls that formed it had become his floor.
Sizing up this new perspective of the labyrinthine room, Link decided that he could only run forward. After he explored a very suspicious square hole in the floor, he could then proceed to dart across the other route to his right.
"Look before you—" was all Navi managed to say before Link leisurely dropped down into the square, maintaining his reputation as a daredevil; he couldn't let his title be ruined by his instances of hesitancy earlier. However, as usual, he decided that Navi was right on this one. The drop was a lot greater than anticipated.
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Link cried as he fell, only to slam into the ground way too far below. He yelped, his Heart Containers alerting him instantly of his mistake as several cracked and ceased to lend him strength. Slowly, he rose back to his feet and limped forward a few paces before he began to return to his usual gait. Navi was growling complaints from inside his hat.
Freeloader…Link mentally snorted.
The worst part about this little journey was the fact that nothing was around. Absolutely nothing. The iron bars that once prevented further adventuring had now been returned to the walls, and the treasure chest on the floor had already been emptied of its contents. Though, now that Link looked, he noticed that he had already been in this room before. It was the same place where he'd had to haul that huge stone block and climb the chain-link wall with a ring of fire around it. The same room where he'd abandoned the Hero of Twilight.
But now, as he stood within the prison where the little Goron had once trembled, he noticed that the Hylian Hero was nowhere to be found. Somehow, he had mysteriously rescued the prisoner, and had vanished off the face of Hyrule.
How does he keep doing this? Link wondered, shaking his head slightly in confusion mixed with disapproval. He could at least tell me he's going to collect stuff, so I don't have to waste my time exploring places he's already ventured through.
"Back up we go, then," Navi said, seemingly reaching the same conclusion as Link. Her Hero casually meandered over to the chain-link fence that would allow him to climb all the way back into the labyrinth. He was quite pleased with his speed; at least it wouldn't take him too long to ascend and catch up to the Hero of Twilight.
That didn't mean he wasn't going to still be trailing behind the Hylian Hero. Link learned quite quickly after he had reached the top that his fellow adventurer had already pressed a switch into the floor, freed another Goron, and looted the contents of the chest that had once been imprisoned with the rock-man.
"Well, we have nothing else to do but go back and explore that other room, with the wall of fire," Navi muttered, agitation evident in her voice. She clearly didn't appreciate her Hero doing the same things that the Hero of Twilight had done, but with no reward for his efforts. If Link had at least gotten a key or freed a Goron, it would have been redeemed, but there was no benefit to his hard work. This was a first-come, first-served dungeon, and the other Hero seemed to be the first to everything.
"How is he doing it?" Link wondered aloud as he once again stepped into the room where he had been chased by fire. "How is he getting to all of these places before us? Does he have some sort of special skill, or what?" He trudged back to the place where he had leapt to avoid the flames, now preparing himself to jump back onto the catwalk.
"I don't know," Navi murmured, bobbing through the air without concern. However, right before Link could dart to the metal floor, his guide flinched and smacked him in the face. "Link, look!"
Rubbing his left eye, Link's gaze followed along to the place where Navi was indicating with her entire body, zipping through the air to draw his attention to a specific place. A solid black form was kneeling at the locked door a short distance from him, across the catwalk. However, the longer Link and his guide stared to perceive the shape, the more it seemed to lighten in color. It looked like it was turning green.
"Get it!" Navi commanded, and Link was happy to comply. He shot forward and sprung onto the metal floor, only to growl in frustration as another wall of fire rose up to greet him.
"Now is not the time!" he snarled at it, even if it couldn't hear him. Why did it have to spawn at the side it had vanished from? Why couldn't he have just completed this endeavor, and now continue enjoying his questing?
Link ran at full sprint down the catwalk, slamming into one of the columns and hefting himself up. He quickly checked the flames to make sure they couldn't get him, scowling as the inferno passed slowly beneath him. The fire licked at his boots, but it did no harm to him as it glided onward, guided by an invisible magic force.
Link then turned his attention backed to the locked door, only to be horrified as neither the lock nor the shadowy object remained. Surprised, he stumbled off his column and landed back on the catwalk. He curiously walked to the edge of the metal floor, before pushing aside his astonishment and jumping onto the platform where the shadows once accumulated.
"What in Hyrule was it?" Navi wondered, watching her Hero trace his foot across the bricks in front of the door in search of anything that might remain of the blackness.
"I didn't get a good look," Link muttered, now turning his attention to the door. He searched for the lock, but it was also nowhere to be found. This was the only time he found himself hating that dungeon doors did that: left no traces of anything that once bound them shut. It made detective work quite difficult. "I'd say it was a figment of our imagination if it weren't for the fact that this door is no longer locked."
"Or a monster, but it never attacked you," Navi said, joining in on the speculation. "It opened the way instead."
Link poked the door suspiciously with his sword, before he finally decided to open it. Behind him, doing her best to keep up, Navi was angrily muttering to herself.
"Where in Hyrule is Link when you need him?!"
. . . . .
Off on his own little adventure once again, Link, the Hero of Twilight, had bypassed a maze of fire that sparked whenever he stepped too close. Having traveled through Arbiter's Grounds, he was quite familiar with obstacles that randomly appeared to kill Heroes if they dared enter. He wasn't too fazed by this minor setback, and instead chose to cling to the right wall, since he had spotted another door. He still had a spare key if he needed it, so that was good.
From the two Gorons he had rescued, he had learned very crucial information. The first, who had been locked in the room where he had gone his separate way from the Hero of Time, informed him of a creature that would dance as it attacked. Apparently, arrows would do no damage to this ballet-loving baddie, so he was simply going to have to use bombs. The second seemed more fun anyway. Blowing up villains was quite entertaining, after all.
The second Goron told him to play his Ocarina if he ever found a place that he could see on his map but not gain access to. He had tried this, rattling off every melody he knew, including the songs he had howled as a beast. However, after the attempt had been fruitless, he simply transformed into a wolf and borrowed the help of Midna to leap incredible distances. He then climbed onto some strange floating platform that led him to a small room with a Skulltula waiting in his path.
Once he had murdered the creature, he learned that it was rare, and it gave him a gold token, for whatever reason. He then killed a second after he had ascended and exited the room, transforming back into a wolf after stealing the token. He used his bestial form to step on a switch and dart toward a waiting treasure chest. Nosing it open, he laid claim to an astounding two hundred rupees.
He then tripped over himself on the way down and fell into a considerable hole, landing smack dab in the middle of a sketchy looking bridge suspended between two doors. An eyeball switch had been shot and was now closed, but to his left was a pedestal that allowed him to recover his one measly lost heart. He then trotted toward the door at the end of the path, returned to his shape as a human, walked through, and transformed back into a beast.
The only thing that distressed him as he explored was the fact that he had heard the Hero of Time and that prying fairy, but was already mid-transformation back into a human to use his key and unlock the door he had just spotted. Even the wall of fire, though surprising, wasn't enough to deter him. It was just that he had been within half a second of revealing his identity as that wolf, and the amount of questions it would raise wasn't something he wanted to deal with.
Still in human form now and not daring to take any chances, Link trotted to the far end of the new room and threw open a large but simple wooden chest, green light greeting his eyes and blinding him. He seized the contents, lifting a Compass from the container and holding it out in front of him.
I found the Compass! Link thought delightedly. Now I can see the locations of many hidden things in the dungeon!
"That's wonderful," Midna commented in a bored tone, floating out of Link's shadow but remaining in her intangible form. Her dark body seemed to flicker in the light of the two blazing braziers in front of Link, but she didn't particularly care. "Now we can find all the chests, but not know if they're in this room or not."
Link didn't really mind, holding out his completely blank map and staring at the places where the Compass told him chests were. However, as he looked at the paper, his mood went from vague pleasantness to confusion and seriousness. He glanced at the Compass, then back at the paper, before a knowing look flashed across his face.
"Look!" he said, pointing to the green dot maneuvering in no predictable pattern away from him. "It's Link!"
"He looks lost," Midna noted.
"Yeah, but he's making more progress than us!" Link said, quickly stuffing the Compass into his pouch and sprinting down the dark cave-like area that resembled one of the many dungeons the Gorons were typically locked inside. He flung open the door, once again greeted by the roar of flames and an army of boulders doing whatever they felt like.
Link quite despised those things, his expression murderous as he followed along the movements of several with his eyes. His body somewhat ached as he distinctly remembered being crashed into by one of them from the labyrinthine room; after having exited the room where he had departed from the Hero of Time, he was greeted by that leering stone face, only to be slammed to the ground by an evil boulder with no manners.
It had cracked one of his Heart Containers and made him temporarily black out, but after he regained consciousness, he had a good time yelling at it before transforming into a wolf. He was too annoyed to just run around through the maze, so he had leapt onto the stupid boulder and sprung onto the top part of the labyrinth, proceeding to free the Gorons. He didn't have the patience to waste time wandering in circles.
"They're speeding around alarmingly fast for something on flat ground. Perhaps they're enchanted," Link muttered, trekking past them and avoiding several flames.
"Thanks Ganon," Midna mocked sarcastically.
Link snickered, glancing down at where the Compass indicated the Hero of Time was and doing his best to locate his fellow adventurer. He didn't wander too far from the left wall, dashing as quietly as possible across a chain-link path connected to a strange stone pillar to his right. That was odd…
He didn't dwell near the pillar, having spotted his Hylian companion at the far end of the room. Grin spreading on his face, he began to sneak over, weaving in and out of the random flames that sparked between an army of posts. He darted to the right after almost searing his eyebrows off, scampered along that wall, made a sharp left, and then widely arced and zigzagged back around to the right wall.
"…bet you ten rupees that Link has the key," the Hero of Time was saying, his back turned to said Link as he stared loathingly at a locked door.
In that moment, the Hero of Twilight faced a problem; he had too many things he wanted to do to his poor friend. Would it be better to comment, I bet he does, or I don't know…maybe we should ask him? Perhaps he should say, You guessed right! Here, have a free key! Would it be more entertaining to wordlessly walk up and unlock the door for his friend, or just toss the key at the Hylian Hero's feet?
Link chose instead to carry out a very different alternative, chuckling internally as he silently retrieved the key from his pouch and decided to swiftly throw it exactly where it belonged: at the Hero of Time's head. Since he was only five feet away, it was easy to hit his mark. Too bad for the Hylian Hero, it would also make it sting more.
The key smacked dead center in the back of the Hero of Time's head, causing him to cough as he flinched. In a split second, he had drawn his sword and shield, rounding on Link with a serious look in his eyes. The expression made it seem like he was ready to strike down a monster, which the Hero of Twilight technically was. Even so, he instantly lowered his weapons, his powerful and alert countenance now replacing with curiosity as he stared at the last person he had been expecting.
Link grinned at him, arms folded proudly as he stood tall. All the Hero of Time could seem to do was blink, trying to process what exactly had happened. He only seemed to reach one conclusion.
"Did you just punch me in the head?"
Link snickered. "Nope."
The Hero of Time gave Link a look of suspicion, reaching up and rubbing the back of his head as he stared at the obviously guilty Hero of Twilight. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by his fairy companion.
Navi began dive-bombing Link's face, aiming for his head like he had done to her master. She was making strange noises at him, clearly outraged. Link couldn't fathom why. Surely she would have gotten used to his horsing around by now, right? He may have tossed the key at the Hero of Time, but it was no different than walking up and lightly punching the Hylian Hero in the shoulder.
The pieces suddenly clicked together in Link's mind, realization dawning on him that Navi was fairly tolerant of any silliness he enjoyed, as long as it was not to the detriment of the Hero of Time's health; she was his friend, and she was willing to defend him from anything even if she was smaller than all of her Hylian's problems. How sweet…she was like a mother to him.
Is it because he doesn't have a mother? Link found himself wondering.
"Where have you been?!" Navi demanded, smacking Link in the face and distracting him from his thoughts. "Do you have to keep sneaking up on us? Can't you just walk up and clear your throat, or call a cheery 'Hello!' or do anything else? Did you have to hit Link upside the head?"
"Hey," Link protested, pushing her away from him and rubbing his cheek. Her assault wasn't exactly painful, no stronger than if a dragonfly had flown into him. However, it sent strange power through his face, like heat and gentle flames that transitioned to a dull tingling. "I wanted to determine if Link remains constantly vigilant. Besides, where would be the fun in greeting him like a normal Hylian?"
"Heroes don't have fun," Navi hissed at him. "Not like your fun, at least. They don't go around attacking—"
"I did not attack him," Link interrupted. "I was helping him."
"By punching me?" the Hero of Time asked, his voice pleading pathetically for an explanation. His attitude normally wasn't so weak and needy, so Link concluded that it was a playful exaggeration hiding legitimate curiosity and confusion.
"Yes," Link agreed. "You needed to be punched. I thought none better than myself for the occasion, so I decided to helpfully volunteer myself for the betterment of your life."
"Thanks," the Hero of Time muttered.
He was probably very surprised when Link grabbed the back of his head and pushed down, forcing the Hylian Hero to look at the ground. Immediately, the Hero of Time reached up and grabbed Link's hand, ready to throw him off, but he stopped. His eyes had perceived a shiny key lying on the volcanic floor.
"Oh, is that what hit me?" the Hero of Time wondered, reaching down and seizing the key.
"Probably," Link said innocently, snickering as Navi once again dive-bombed his face. He waved her away as the Hylian Hero unlocked the door, allowing them both access to the new room. He followed his friend, the fairy leaping onto his shoulder as he chased her master.
They had entered a corridor with walls of clay bricks with flame designs impressed in the surface. To their right, a long wall of prison bars prevented them from freeing another Goron. Both Links marched over, but they couldn't perceive the switch to release the rock-man anywhere nearby.
"It's in another room, perhaps," Link suggested, pointing to the door at the end of the hall. "Shall we proceed?"
"Yeah. The sooner we release him, the better," the Hero of Time agreed, accompanying Link as he exited and now led the way to the next part of the dungeon.
The two found themselves once again in the room full of posts that sparked with walls of flame. Both curiously looked around, only to see that they were now simply on the other side of the confinement, but still trapped in the maze of heat regardless. Beyond them, a switch waited patiently to be pressed.
"Well, that's just brilliant," Navi murmured.
The Hero of Time ventured to the left, only for an inferno to rise up in an attempt to scorch his eyebrows. He rubbed his face with his forearm as Link sprinted off to the right and began maneuvering around, checking the base of every post and watching the flames spark. He shot back several times before finding the course and giving a wide berth to the thick pillar carved with more of those horrific stone faces.
It shot a column of flame at him, but he ignored it and proceeded to scamper around another wall of heat. He stood at the base of the switch, the Hero of Time right behind him. His friend had wisely used him as a guide.
"How did you do that so well?" the Hero of Time asked.
"One of the dungeons I was in—an actual dungeon, not just a simple building—would launch spikes out of the floor," Link explained. "Burns are awful, but being impaled through your foot and up into your body is significantly more agonizing."
The Hero of Time winced, but Link wasn't too concerned. He stepped on the switch on the ground, wondering to himself if it was going to free that little Goron. However, the result he received instead was that the enormous wall of fire that blazed across the entirety of the left wall now flickered out. He stared at it, eyes scanning the four pillars that supported the ceiling high above and focusing on the stone face embossed above what looked like an entryway. These things were all built strategically on a stone stage, which had been hidden from sight by the flames.
A ticking noise became distinctly audible to the two long-eared adventurers, causing the Hero of Time to begin sprinting toward the stage.
"Wait!" Link called out after him, extending his hand.
"AAAAH!" the Hero of Time cried out, thrown back by a different barrier of flame between two posts that bordered the stage.
Link winced, empathetically feeling his friend's pain. "Why don't you walk slower, examine the posts, and locate the path?" he suggested. "When you arrive at the wall, I'll step back on the switch for you, and you can climb onto the stage without concern. I'll follow you immediately afterwards."
The Hero of Time trudged over, nodding in agreement as he began to attempt to locate the true path. He didn't remain quiet, however, and instead decided to hold a conversation with the Hero of Twilight as he worked.
"So what were you doing while you were off on your little mini adventure?"
Link waited by the switch. "I got attacked by those boulders in that labyrinth, so I climbed atop the walls and explored what was above. I blew a square hole into the floor with my bombs, freed the Goron we met together, and then learned of a monster that dances with flames and cannot be harmed by arrows. He must be injured by explosives."
"We have plenty of those," the Hero of Time said cheerily as he ventured to the left, then walked forward without interruption.
"Indeed. After acquiring the small key in the chest, I proceeded to ascend the hole and resume traversing the top of the labyrinth, stepping on another switch, and releasing another Goron. He informed me that if I see anywhere on my map that I cannot reach, I must play my Ocarina. I located one such area, and though I played every tune I knew, it did not permit me access."
"That's because you're an awful instrumentalist," the Hero of Time mocked, now waiting patiently at the wall of flame that Link needed to deactivate.
"Hey, I found the Gorons first, so zip it," Link retorted, stepping on the switch.
His friend leapt onto the stage, Link sprinting along the floor in the same place the Hero of Time had already traveled. He arrived only seconds afterward, springing onto the platform and dashing to the door that would allow them access to a room waiting patiently to be explored.
He had been sniffing too much Poe's Scent, it seemed. The second he grabbed the handle, the door actually moved.
Am I seeing things? Link wondered, watching as it shook from side to side. However, his disbelief was quickly quelled as the possessed door fell forward and whacked him on top of the head. Why was this thing so flexible, like paper?
"What in Hyrule…?" Link muttered, his Heart Container's rhythms now changing as he stumbled back and covered his head with his arms. "That hurt…"
"Oh yeah…" the Hero of Time mumbled. He reached into his belt and tossed an explosive at the rogue door. "I met a Goron in your absence who said that there are doors that exist just to crush you. You need to blow them up."
"Thanks!" Link snapped. "I told you about my Gorons, and you didn't inform me of yours?"
"It's payback for hitting me in the back of the head earlier," the Hero of Time retorted, his bomb blasting the door to smithereens. Interestingly, the wall also detonated, revealing another passageway just beyond it bearing a door engraved with a relief. "Let's go!"
"Wait…" Navi began before the Links could enter the new structure. Both of them stopped in their tracks, turning back to look at her simultaneously, as if they had rehearsed it. "Link, before we continue, I wanted to ask you something."
The fact that she drifted over to the Hero of Twilight told him that he was the one she was referring to, not her Hylian.
"Proceed with your inquiry," he said, his tone becoming much more serious to match her own.
"It dawned on me just now that you collected two keys from the Gorons, am I correct?"
"It is so."
"Did you unlock the door in the room with the wall of fire?"
Link suddenly understood what she was asking. Navi had seen him transform back into his human form!
But she hasn't asked me about my bestial form…Link thought. Neither of them have… He considered that, his mind working as fast as he could make it, so that he could respond without seeming suspicious. Maybe… Yes, perhaps they never saw my wolf side, and only my shadow form. Or perhaps my wolf side and my shadows, but not my human side. Hmm… I believe it's the latter, since she had to ask confirmation that I did indeed unlock the door.
"I did indeed," Link confirmed, before he began to fabricate an intricate lie. "I perceived a strange shadowy creature in front of the door, so I chased after it and followed it to the next room. However, the moment it drifted into one of the fires, it vanished and left nothing behind. I searched the path to the right to find it, but I did not see it. When I reunited with you, I simply assumed its presence had been erased completely."
"Oh," Navi said. "Okay. I just didn't understand how the door could have unlocked, despite Link and I not seeing you anywhere nearby. And you had the key, so I couldn't fathom how the beast could have unlocked it."
"You must have looked down as I leapt onto the platform and entered the door."
"The only think I'm curious about," the Hero of Time interjected, "is how you ran soundlessly across that metal floor. I understand that I wouldn't see you, since I was looking in a different direction, but I definitely would have heard you."
"Perhaps the sound was masked by your own footsteps?" Link suggested.
The Hero of Time considered that momentarily before his expression softened. "Yeah, that could be it. I mean, there's no other way to explain this, now is there?"
"I know of none," Link agreed. "Shall we continue our quest?"
"Yes, sorry to keep you," Navi said. "I just wanted to understand what had happened, as well as see if you were aware of the dangers lurking elsewhere in this Temple. Come, Link." She drifted toward the door, which her Hylian threw open.
Link followed along behind them, and though he was smiling, he felt everything but happiness. Regardless, even if it was just for a short while longer, he had managed to preserve his secret.
From this moment onward, he would need to proceed with extreme caution. Otherwise, he soon wouldn't have a secret to protect.
A/N: For those of you wondering what the "personal project" is—or I should say, "For those of you who care"—I wrote a book. An actual book. This fanfiction here is 182 Word Document pages, and my book is about 339 pages. It's much more polished, more understandable, and quite different. The reason it's still an ongoing project is because I seem to obsess over lengthy things, so it's part of a series. Of course, I don't know if any of you are actually interested, so I'm a bit reluctant to share its name. I mean, if you want to read it, I'll tell you what it's called and where to find it, in an A/N, but in the next chapter. If you're not interested, then I fully understand. I also accept your hesitation to forgive me and my long hiatus here. I just wanted to let you guys know all this stuff. Anyway, it's nice to finally be here again!
