fleets: It just occurred to me that not everyone might be familiar with Dethl since it's one of the most underappreciated bosses in LoZ. It's the main antagonist of the hearbreakingly beautiful game, Link's Awakening. We know very little about the boss except that it loves making people suffer through nightmares.

I'm sorry this chapter was a little later than my other ones: I just reaaaaally dislike writing fight scenes. Ick.

Also classes have officially resumed for me again. That, and I started playing Fallout 4 (it's amazeee). Therefore, expect my updates to become more erratic.

Chapter title refers to what I was dealing with while trying to come up with an appropriate chapter title (crying)

Chapter 12: Endless Questions

The rocks that had blocked the cave entrance shattered into pieces as the creatures trapped inside burst through. The ground shook as monsters poured forward, swarming around them. Sheik reacted quickly, swinging a chain that discouraged the wave of monsters from advancing before he shot a volley of arrows to the middle of the crowd. "Fuu!" he shouted, "Get the Gorons out of here!"

It took a moment for Fuu to understand what Sheik was saying. Several Gorons were on the ground, vulnerable, in the area around them. The Goron boy who had been laughing ominously with Dethl's demonic voice had since collapsed to the ground, the nightmare creature apparently having left him. While the Gorons were there, it was impossible for any of them to fight against the wave of monsters to their full abilities without risking harm on the Gorons as well. Gritting his teeth, he rushed forward to the ones that were most in danger from the monsters. He teleported to each one individually, warping them away towards the entrance of the clearing as fast as he could. "Shadow Link, help them hold off the monsters," Fuu ordered as he lifted one of the unconscious Goron's heavy arms around his shoulders to teleport them away. The doppelganger popped out from his shadow, and then he gave a small salute before he ran off.

"You got it!"

Meanwhile, Sheik and Impa were doing their best trying to keep the waves of monsters from swarming everything. A flashbang went off with a pop, blinding some Tektites that had leapt towards Sheik. The four-legged, insect-like creatures that were the size of a large dog shrieked, skittering away. Impa closed in and sliced them in half with her great sword before she slashed down a towering one eyed ogre-like monster, a Hinox, that had lumbered over to her with its fists ready to crush her down. A group of Gibdos staggered to their knees by a rain of arrows that pierced their legs, and Sheik dropped down from the air where he had reappeared, a bow in hand. However, several more Tektites leapt towards him, their many sharp teeth visible on the underside of their stomach.

Sheik braced himself for the attack, but the monsters were struck down by Shadow Link's blade. Shadow Link then jumped up to intercept a bomb that a Hinox had thrown at them, and tossed it back into the swarming monsters. It cut down their numbers significantly, but they continued to crawl out of the cave on the side of the mountain.

"There's too many of them…" Sheik said as he barely dodged a charging Gibdo. The creature was cut in half by Impa's blade, but another one quickly replaced it. It was as though no matter how many they struck down, there were always more. The three of them alone couldn't handle this many monsters at once. "We have to get out of here." And more importantly, he thought as he scanned the area, where did Dethl run off to?

"Indeed, where did we go?"

The voice was deep and powerful, and it echoed as though dozens of voices were speaking at once. It boomed imposingly and yet hissed with a menacing whisper at the same time. Dethl.

Sheik whirled around, searching from where the voice had come from, but Dethl was nowhere to be found. He shot another volley of arrows towards the approaching monsters and continued to look around cautiously.

"Haha, we do not exist in the same world. Not yet. You cannot see us, not without that troublesome looking glass." Dethl answered with a chuckle, anticipating Sheik's question. "And now a question for you. We wonder, what is the princess doing so far out here?"

Sheik froze. It sees through my disguise? His breathing quickened as he began to panic. No one could know of his disguise. If anyone found out… if Fuu found out…

"Sheik!" Impa blocked a blow from a rampaging Gibdo that had been aimed at Sheik's head. Her sword barely blocked the blow, and sent her and Sheik flying. "Sheik," Impa coughed as she struggled to her feet. She helped him up with concern on her face. "You lost focus. Is something the matter?"

"Ah, but of course we see through your disguise. We are Nightmare incarnate, we can see your thoughts and fears. Such wonderful, wonderful fears," Dethl taunted. "And to think, Shadow Link a traitor. No matter, we have no interest in such things. Such silly trinkets cannot stop us."

Sheik scowled. It knew about the Dusk Shards, too, but it didn't sound concerned about them. He couldn't help but wonder if that was something they should be concerned about. He needed to keep it talking, in the hopes that it would reveal something. After all, this was the first time anyone other than Link had direct contact with it, and they still knew very little about it.

"What… what are you after?" Sheik continued to look for some sign of the nightmare creature. For a brief moment, as he was getting back up on his feet, he thought he saw a flicker in his shadow, much like how shadows sometimes flickered when Shadow Link was there.

"The Gorons were supposed to despair. Our minions, fed. Your appearance is most unwelcome." And now Sheik was certain that his shadow had moved in a way that it wasn't supposed to move. It twitched a little, as though it were annoyed. "You will make it up to us, the despair. The fear. We will see to that."

The voice went silent, and Sheik's shadow flickered once, like a snake had darted out of the brush, before it returned once more to normal. Sheik expected Dethl to do something to him, to begin a new attack, but it never came. The ominous lack of any sort of response from Dethl, after it had left with a promise that Sheik will "make it up to them," was almost worse than any kind of attack it could have done. Perhaps it had sensed that Sheik had wanted it to continue talking, and had decided to leave. At the same time, he couldn't shake off the feeling that Dethl had never intended to stay for long in the first place. But why?

Eventually, Sheik noticed that Impa had placed her hand on his shoulder with a concerned expression. He blinked, and then he stammered as he looked around worriedly, "Dethl… Dethl was…" he trailed off, and then he steeled his face. "We have to get out of here."

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the ground. All heads turned towards an enormous boulder breaking off from the cliff near the entrance to the clearing. It tumbled down with an earth shaking crash, and when the dust settled, the way from which they came from was blocked off.

Several monsters that had been rushing towards the three of them were suddenly knocked backwards by a forceful gale, and Fuu reappeared to join them. "Are you okay?" he noted Sheik who still looked a little shaken from his encounter with Dethl.

"I ran into Dethl," Sheik replied.

Fuu's brows furrowed, concerned. "Are you hurt?" When Sheik shook his head no, he appeared momentarily relieved before he smirked and waved a hand towards the rockslide. "The Gorons are safe behind that wall," he said, cracking his knuckles, "Now we can fight however we want, right? Nothing can get to them."

Sheik stared at him, dumbfounded. "You mean now we're trapped here with the monsters," he waved his dagger at the crowd of murderous creatures that had surrounded them.

Fuu looked around, at the dozens of growling, drooling things around him, and then smirked. Sheik had seen that same smirk before, when he'd found Fuu inside the Desert Temple with a massacre left behind his path. "I think you mean I've trapped them here with me." He raised a hand, and there was a low hum as a powerful wind began to swirl quickly in his palm. Then, as a towering Hinox thundered its way towards them, Fuu flashed a grin. "I'm not letting them get away."

It was complete annihilation.

The violently spinning sphere of wind unleashed from Fuu's palm slammed into the group of monsters in front of them, and then it expanded into a roaring tornado that was nearly the entire width of the clearing they were in. It caught everything except for Sheik, Shadow Link, and Impa who were standing behind Fuu when the devastating spell had been summoned. Limbs and faces of terrified monsters went flying past them, swirling up wards into the merciless vortex. Sheik steadied himself against Impa: he'd seen this before, only the victims inside the vortex had not been monsters, but soldiers. Horrible memories came flooding back to him in flashes… the screaming, the smoke, the hands that reached out to him for help as they were sucked into the monstrous storm. He felt Impa squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. It was… it was fine. Fuu wasn't… wasn't Vaati. He was an ally. A friend?

He heard Shadow Link snicker next to him, the doppelganger was looking up at the destructive pillar of wind appreciatively. He summoned an enormous bomb, almost as large as a small house and painted with an image of a skull, and then tossed it into the vortex with a laugh. They watched the bomb swirl up to the sky before it unleashed a blinding flash and exploded. The shockwaves from the blast rattled the mountain walls and brightened the sky with bright red fire. The vortex eventually died down, leaving a cloud of dark purple smoke and a shower of crimson. The smoke was what was left of the dead monsters. The crimson rain, blood.

"Heheh, that was awesome," Shadow Link snickered. He glanced at Sheik and Impa, who had been watching the scene with a mix of horror and awe. "Glad he's on our side, yeah?" Shadow winked at them.

Suddenly, the mountain shook and roared, fire blazing through the cave entrance where the monsters had come from. Without warning, a gigantic worm-like creature with insect claws exploded from within, its hard shell glistening with molten lava. It leapt towards them with a shrill scream, its crushing pincers aimed form them. "Gohma!" Impa exclaimed.

Fuu didn't even bat an eye as he raised a single finger pointed towards the giant coming for them. "To Stone With You," he said calmly, and magic flashed from his fingertips. Within seconds, the threatening monster crackled into stone until it was nothing but an impressive looking statue.

"Yes," Sheik finally replied to Shadow Link's earlier question. "Yes I am."

It was a good thing that they were on the same side now. He would not want to fight against such devastating power again.

"Sheik? Are you sure you're okay? You still look really shaken."

Sheik looked up. It was Fuu. He appeared completely unconcerned about all of the violent carnage he'd just caused with a few hand motions, and seemed more worried about Sheik. Sheik nodded, and waved away Fuu who had his nose crinkled with skepticism that the other Sheikah was really fine.

It was a good thing that they were on the same side now. He would not want to fight against someone he might be able to consider a friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had all expected Dethl to show itself at some point or other, but it never did. Sheik had been the only one it had made contact with during the battle, and no one could figure out what it intended to do after it had left with its warning that it will make sure they paid their due. They would undoubtedly encounter it again, but for now they were only left with the uneasy feeling that Dethl would return to attack them when they least expected it.

The entrance of the temple that held the Dusk Shard was actually where the monsters had crawled out of. Upon inspecting the entrance of the cavern, it appeared that the monsters had accidentally set off a trap that had caused the landslide, which blocked off their escape. Shadow Link was the one who had discovered this unfortunate detail, when he'd walked off ahead and pointed out the stone carving of the eye. As soon as he'd touched it, the temple trembled and rocks began to fall near the entrance. Thankfully, the worst of the landslide had already passed when the monsters had first set off the trap, and only a few small boulders blocked the way out.

They all agreed to let Fuu go on alone, lest they trigger far more dangerous traps. And that was how Fuu found himself completely alone in the heart of a volcano. Lava poured along the ground like a sluggish river, and the deep red glow lit up the temple interior. Well, to be frank, it was more like a cave rather than a temple: the manmade structures were few, such as the occasional steel beam or bridge, but most of the interior were natural formations. Like at the Water Temple, he didn't have to venture far to find the carving of the eye. Shadow Link had found it just straight through the entrance and across a lava pit. It was located on the left wall, just before the main caverns further inside.

Fuu observed it for a little while, like how one might watch a snake resting on a rock. While the snake may make no indication of being an active threat, it was clear that it would strike as soon as something provoked it. Fuu squeezed his fingers together, biting his lip uncertainly, before he finally pointed a finger at the carving like he'd done at the Water Temple and spoke the words, "To Stone With You."

There was a brief flash and the spell struck the carving, but nothing happened. It didn't really surprise him, however, since he hadn't gotten that strange feeling that the petrification spell was what was required for entry, like he'd had back at the Water Temple. Something else opened this particular door.

He sighed, his fingers opening and closing uncertainly. He had a feeling that he needed to touch the carving again to see the spell he would have to cast, but he didn't like the idea of it. Shadow Link had laughed at him when he'd told him about his worry about Vaati doing something to his head, but hadn't given him a straight answer on whether or not he'd been right. While he felt that his magic was his own, he also couldn't help but think that it was also Vaati's as well. Was it dangerous, then, to continue unlocking spells that were undoubtedly linked to the Sorcerer of Winds?

"Get a grip, Fuu," he muttered to himself, "You don't have a choice but to do this."

Slowly, he brought his hand up to the carving. This time, he was ready for the almost nauseous experience he'd had back at the Water Temple when he'd touched the carving for the first time. He leaned against the wall with one hand, and covered his face with another as dizziness hit him, and he slowly lowered himself onto his knees to prevent falling.

The flashes came. A vision. No, multiple visions. Multiple visions all at once, like the compound vision of a fly. Curiously enough, he could focus on all of them without being disoriented. In one he could see a vast field, somewhere in Hyrule. In another, a crystal lake, and another still, endless clouds. The visions changed, then, until every view focused on a figure standing on a broken platform, the sky above splitting from crackling lightning. The view was from various angles, so that he could see the mysterious figure from every direction. Even so, he couldn't get a clear view of the person he was watching. Perhaps it was a young boy, waving a sword.

Red. Red everywhere. Each view gleamed a burning red in quick succession, and the figure vanished to ash.

Fuu opened his eyes. He hadn't realized that he'd shut them so tightly, and he wasn't sure just how long he'd been crouching on the floor with one hand still trailing along the carving of the eye. "This is insane," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. The spell. He knew the spell that would open the path beyond, but he didn't want to do it. This spell, without a doubt, was proof that he had everything to do with Vaati. Before he'd wondered if it was coincidence that he could walk into dungeons that only opened for the Sorcerer of Winds. With Shadow Link's appearance, he'd begun to suspect that Vaati might have done something to him when he'd messed up his memories, but a part of him had tried to be skeptical.

This spell. This spell undeniably linked him to Vaati. There was no possible way that he could have learned this spell unless Vaati had affected him somehow: this was Vaati's spell and no one else's.

At first he felt a little afraid. After all, he had no idea what this meant for him: would Vaati somehow suddenly come back and take over his mind? Was he still himself, the Fuu that he'd always known?

And then he'd frowned, because he didn't even know who or what Fuu had "always been." He couldn't remember a damned thing in detail since Vaati had messed up his memories, and as far as he could tell, he wasn't acting out of the ordinary.

Sheik knew. If anyone could tell him anything about himself, and what had happened when Vaati had done something to his head, it was Sheik. Sheik had been at the battle where the incident had happened, he had to know something. He'd tried to ask Sheik about the sorcerer before, but the blond always evaded him. It was obvious that Sheik didn't want to talk about the wind mage, for whatever reason, but he had to know.

Perhaps after they returned to Hyrule he'll confront Sheik about it, and finally get some answers.

Fuu sighed, and glowered at the carving of the eye. For the time being, he should hurry up and grab the Dusk Shard they had come here for. He shook his head in disbelief at the spell that had been revealed to him, before he raised a hand slowly. He snapped his fingers.

A small puff of cloud the size of a tangerine appeared in midair next to him. The cloud became more opaque, and took on a spherical form before it suddenly unraveled to reveal bat-like wings. Its single red eye popped open, and It stared back at Fuu with a curious glint.

"Ugly little bastard, aren't you?" he huffed, and the little creature shrunk away with an almost hurt look.

It was a strange feeling to summon the thing. It was almost like he'd extended a limb that he'd forgotten he'd had, and he had a vague sense that the thing could see his thoughts, and understand what he wanted it to do without saying a word. Fuu narrowed his eyes, still unsure if he liked it or not: after all, the creature was one of Vaati's famous spies. These sentry eyes had caused no end of trouble for Hyrule because of their ability to hide in small corners and observe everything that went on in the kingdom. He didn't know why he had the ability to summon these, and the only plausible conclusion he could come to was that he was, indeed, linked to the wind mage. "You follow everything I tell you, yes?" he asked aloud.

The eye returned a confused squint as though wondering why its master was asking the most obvious question in the world.

Fuu's eyes glowed a brighter shade of red briefly, and the sentry likewise glowed in turn. He could see through it. He could see everything it could see, and at will. The little spy then flew up towards the carving on the wall, and then its eye flashed brightly. Powerful lasers shot from its pupil, blasting the wall open and revealing the chamber inside. As the wall crumbled, the entire hall once again lit up with red eye symbols all along the floor and walls before they disappeared. He couldn't help but smile a little when the sentry eye flew towards his face like it was searching for approval. "Thanks, I guess…" he said, and then rolled his eyes as the thing zipped around him in what looked like happiness. "All right, all right, go outside and check on what Sheik and Shadow are doing or something," he shooed it away, still feeling uncomfortable about the spell that was just so… Vaati. As the sentry flew off towards the exit, he took a deep breath and turned towards the newly opened path.

Just like at the Water Temple, the Dusk Shard was within the chamber on a single pedestal. It had the irregular shape of a broken mirror, as though something had shattered it in pieces. As he picked it up in his hands, he couldn't help but think that there was something very odd about this shard. With a confused expression on his face, he reached into his bag for the first shard, and brought it together with the new one. The edges did indeed fit, suggesting that Shadow Link had spoken true about the fact that Vaati had broken the original Dusk Shard into pieces and scattered it around Hyrule. What didn't make sense, however, was the fact that there was only one piece left, and yet that didn't seem enough to complete the shards into its original form. Somehow he felt that there should be more of these shards that they needed to look for: three pieces would result in a larger Dusk Shard the size of a large dinner plate, but Fuu had a feeling that whatever the Dusk Shard had been was much, much larger. Still, Shadow Link insisted that only three were needed to defeat Dethl.

"I suppose I shouldn't expect answers from these temples, only questions, huh?" he wondered, looking back at the crumbled entrance where the carving of the eye had been.

Suddenly, he frowned as his focus shifted abruptly to the vision of the sentry he'd sent off earlier. The sentry had flown up to the sky, granting him an overhead view of the clearing where they had defeated Gohma and the monsters. The blocked path had been cleared, and the Gorons appeared to be safe and awake now that they were free from Dethl's influence. While the scene should have been welcome, what he saw concerned him. What's going on? Fuu thought, hurriedly placing the two Dusk Shards into his bag. He began to quickly make his way out of the temple.

Shadow Link was nowhere to be found, undoubtedly hiding in a shadow again. Sheik and Impa, however, were surrounded by what looked like angry Gorons. The boulder-like locals of Death Mountain had created a large ring around the two Sheikah, and the largest one, their chief perhaps, almost looked ready to pound Sheik into the ground with his fists. Sheik was saying something earnestly to the Goron chief to appease him, but Fuu could see that the blond was at the edge of his patience from the way his shoulders were stiff and his posture slightly crouched. Fuu didn't understand what was going on: they had just saved the Gorons, so why were they being so hostile towards them?

As he ran to catch up to Sheik and Impa, he allowed the sentry eye to approach the crowd just a little bit more so he could hear what was being said.

"We want to protect the people as much as you do," he could hear Sheik saying.

"I don't care about your silver tongued words, shadow warrior! Your kind are not welcome here!"

He saw Impa step forward, her husky voice cutting in to the conversation. "You surprise me, Darunia. Is this how you treat those who helped you?"

"Help? No amount of help will let me forgive what you and those desert witches agreed to do. You Hylians endanger us all!"

Fuu ran faster. When he made it outside of the temple, he could see the gathering of Gorons around Impa and Sheik. Dismissing the sentry, he couldn't help but wonder just what it was this 'Darunia' was referring to. What had they done that was so terrible to anger the Gorons so?

fleets: Ok, so maybe that battle wasn't as epic as I made it out to be the last chapter, heh. Dethl's a different kind of villain than the ones I usually characterize (hmm maybe less flashy? less noisy?). This iteration of Dethl is very different from how it was originally presented in Rend, so try not to get too confused if you're a long time follower :). In Rend, Dethl wasn't super scary, and it was more of a trickster kind of character for a majority of its appearance. This time I'm going more for a real nightmare-esque characterization. I'm sorry if this battle was a little anticlimactic with Dethl just shuffling off to who-knows-where, but it'll all be clear. Soonish. And then everything will go boom.

I feel like this is a good time to post a warning for future chapters: this story will probably be a little more violent than stuff I usually write. I mean, what I usually write is super tame, so it's not like I'm going to suddenly go blood-everywhere-crazy. No hardcore gore, don't worry about that (unless you guys want that stuff then I can give it a whirl and bump the rating :O ). There's at least one scene upcoming very, very soon that may or may not be disturbing depending on how far I want to take it by the time I get there.

I'd originally planned this chapter to keep going until much later, but it was starting to get long... I think enough happened this time to cut it here D:

SubZeroChimera: lol I mean, he's practically dead since he hasn't had any meaningful game appearances since forever (cries). And lol idk why I keep writing at ungodly hours. At least it's before midnight this time hahaha

Libra Chaos: Shadow Link was by far my favorite character from the manga. I wish they'd made him return with a fleshed out character like that (rather than a generic enemy that looks like you). Thank you for the review! :D

icfehr: I usually make up a bs story as I go along, and try to keep the illusion that it makes sense haha. I never thought of that before, that's true! Amazing that they don't break their little legs :O

Ai Star: It's a little too soon for Vaati to go figuring out what happened to him since everything'll go pear shaped when he does (haha yeah he probably won't be too thrilled about losing to Zelda) XD oh what am I saying, things are already starting to look pear shaped anyway...

AquilaMage: I'm sorry about being a tease, the Dethl reveal this chapter wasn't very epic lol... It's not really its big moment yet and its camera shy. It probably didn't have stage-worthy makeup on.
I kind of feel bad as the omniscient author to make Fuu so completely clueless haha. And yes, I love them both! There wasn't enough of them in this chapter, but in the next few chapters for sure!

Guest: Oh! What I meant by 'official' was 'official ship for this particular story' (yeah I don't think Nintendo has any official Zelda ships. That would cause quite an uproar...).
I'm happy you liked where I went with it :) I was trying to find a good spot to introduce it, and it ended up being 11 chapters into the story :O

Flufux: Aaaaand Dethl's gone. It wanted to troll the readers by being super anticlimactic. I've never watched that series D: but that does sound like what I'm going for with this characterization of Dethl! I wanted it to be as terrifying as I could make it this time (without stepping into the M rating), so hopefully I succeed!

Lunamew: There really wasn't enough Fuu/Shadow banter this time, which makes me kind of sad. And yay, I succeeded then! My goal this time is to make a villain who's actually terrifying (since almost all of the bad guys in my other stories are fairly tame and not super scary). Thank you for your comment :)))