Feeling so tense, she was surprised she could move, Link walked with Don into the Temple. The main chamber wasn't well lit, so Link had to stop and let her eyes adjust for a moment; and when they did, she let out a small gasp. The tree part of the temple was huge, appearing to be much larger on the inside than out. There was an odd assortment of ramshackle platforms, ladders and bridges leading up into the all over the place, Link could see Skulltalas on webs and the walls, and Deku Babas chattering from their rooted spots. A large door was in one side, a part of the Temple Ruins. Link noticed that the wood around the door was freshly chipped and shredded, but the rest of the surfaces inside the tree were sanded smooth. At a guess, Link figured that the hollow inside the tree was older, and had been done with greater attention to detail, while the connection to the ruins was exposed more recently, likely by Fangor and his Goblins. In the middle of the floor was a large hole, with carved stairs circling down into and unknown area.

All the while Link was gaping at the Temple around her, Don was standing behind her, patiently waiting for her. But he only had so much patience, and together they only had so much time. So he stepped forward, reaching and pinching Link's side just below her armpit. To her credit, Link did not scream. She did however, jump nearly 10 feed in the air, hissing angrily and moving to slap Don once she landed.

"What was that for?!" She asked as Don nimbly dodged her attempted slaps.

"For gawking like a Deku Scrub, like this is your first Dungeon...Well, I guess it kind of is your first, hehe."

"Yeah, it is. Though, I thought this was a Temple, not a Dungeon?" Link was thinking to the Hero Tales, somewhat remembering that there was a difference of some kind. Like whether the Hero was defeating a monster or getting some new item.

Pointing at the hole in the middle of the floor, Don said, "That's a dungeon down there, with a couple neat monsters for you to fight, and one Person you might be able to save."

"Save? Who?" Wasn't this place under Fangor's control? Who could be in this remote place? It wasn't like Fangor didn't have a prison already, with a very smelly garbage dump attached.

"A Great Fairy." Don said with a flourish as Link's eye's widened. "A gestalt coalition of Faeries who bound themselves together, sacrificing individuality for a quick boost to Power and Wisdom. They usually lay claim to various pieces of land that they protect from Dark Forces. This particular Fae has Claim to the Temple and the Lost Woods. Unfortunately, to keep her out of his way, Fangor has Cursed her, using his blood as a Catalyst. If she's not purified soon, she'll turn into a Monster like Fangor's other experiments."

"Well damn, that's horrible...but why haven't you done anything to save her yet?" Link asked with a look of scrutiny.

"Knew you'd ask that. Welp, for starters, there's a barrier around her chamber, specifically geared to keep out anything that shares Fangor's blood. This keeps out the Goblins and whatnot (and coincidentally keeps her trapped in), but it seems I'm closely related enough to Fangor to count. That or the barrier blocks all who have Gerudo blood, though I haven't had the chance to test that yet."

"Oh, and besides that petty excuse for inaction?" Link frowned. Don seemed pretty clever, and as a mage-thief, he had a knack for getting into places. Link felt that if he really wanted to, he could find some exploit or trick to get past the barrier.

"Heh, well, I am a thief you know, I'm not exactly a Pure of Heart kind of guy. If it wasn't for the fact that Fangor's plots threaten everyone, including myself, I would very much be somewhere else right now, stealing anything I wanted, and being very greedy at that. The real reason why you are so important is because you have the Destiny to be a Hero. None of the rest of us in the resistance are Heroes. History may remember us as sidekicks if we win, but not heroes. In the end, we're just people. People who are simply fighting for our lives. And while we're each doing everything we can to fight Fangor, none of us really stand a chance of stopping him. Only you do."

Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Link avoided Don' hard gaze. She knew all of that of course. She'd already been told a couple times last night that she was a "Hero". But even now, Link felt that she wasn't really grasping the full implications. She felt that the scale of the adventure and conflict ahead was beyond her current comprehension. But that's okay, She thought to herself. How many fairy tales have a hero that doesn't understand what's going on, but still saves the day? Link knew who the bad guy was, and hell, had even looked him in his (colddarkevil) eyes, and had allies that knew where to point her.

"Alright Don." Link said, the talk filling her with determination. "Let's do this! Let's go save the Great Faery!"

She drew her sword and charged towards the pit, ready to fight!

"How about no?"

Don chuckled at Link's enthusiasm, before laughing as Link tried to skid to a halt and tripped, faceplanting into the ground. She quickly bounced to her feet and rounded on Don who was pointing upward. Her dirt covered face looked up.

"It's pointless to visit the Faery without a purifier, let's explore the Temple first."

"Ugh, fine. Where should I start then?"

"I dunno, you're the Hero, you figure it out." As he spoke, Don vanished with laughing his annoying laugh.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Link asked, trying to to panic at the thought of Don abandoning her here.

"I'm a thief, not a fighter, I'll be with you, don't worry, but I'll just be giving you advice. You gotta do this yourself. Consider it training or something."

"Great..." Link muttered, wondering why Invisible Don's voice sounded like it was coming through a cloth. She shrugged it off and started towards a nearby ladder. It also happened to be the only ladder on this level. She sheathed her sword and climbed to the level above quickly, barely noting the sound of a light wind to her right. Did Don invisibly jump straight up over 20 feet? She moved swiftly, across platforms both natural and artificial, heading towards an odd hollow in the wall. As she was about to enter it, a voice coming oddly from inside her ear spoke.

"Hey, Listen!"

Freezing in place, Link shuddered inexplicably at how familiarly annoying that sounded.

"Please tell me that you won't do that everytime you need to tell me something?" She asked, feeling that it was important.

"Well now I gotta do it."

"Shit. Well, what is it?"

"Oh, nothing much, just wanted to point out the Skulltala web you were gonna walk into."

"Oh..." Link moved slightly, until she saw light glinting off said web, revealing it's location and pattern. "Okay then."

She drew her sword again and was about to try to cut the web when and invisible thing that definitely wasn't a hand briefly grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"What now Don?"

"Link, don't you know anything about Skulltala webs?"

"Um, not really. I spend my time swinging swords, not studying 'Interesting Flora and Fauna of Hyrule' By Dr Tingle."

"Right, well, Skulltala webs are as strong as steel, sticky as hell, and the cause of more adventurer deaths than bandits."

"So..." Link was quietly, "Don't try to cut the web?"

"Don't try to cut the web." Don sighed airily, Link could almost sense him shaking his invisible head. "The only safe way to deal with them is with fire."

Seeing a nearby brazier aflame, Link grabbed and broke off a nearby branch to stick in the flame to light it, before stabbing it into the web.

"Oh my Goddesses!" Link shouted as she jumped back because the web had near instantly caught fire. It was fortunate that she did, since the now homeless and very angry Skulltala came crashing down where she had been standing.

"Very graceful." Don's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Shut up!"

"Kill the spider."

"On it!" Link sprung forward, swinging her sword underhand just as the Skulltala tried to jump at Link, fangs and clawed legs at the ready. Link's sword caught it in it's chin/mandible/thing, knocking it onto its back.

"Go for the weak spot! The belly!"

Don tried to give Link advice, but Link was way ahead of him, already pouncing onto the spider, sinking her blade into its belly, grinning as it screeched in pain. Leaning back, away from its long, panicking legs, Link kicked at the spider's body as she pulled her sword out. The bug went flying off the platform, guts flying out as it went. Link (and an invisible Don) went to the edge to watch it splat on the ground below, where it twitched a couple times before dying.

"Well damn, that was quick."

"I hate spiders." Link said simply, wiping her blade clean using the edge of the platform.

"Noted."

Link waited for Don to inevitably snark about her being afraid of spiders but he didn't. She hoped he realized that hating something and fearing it were two different things, but she felt he was more likely planning to prank her at some point with spiders. She would make him regret it if he did. Since he said and did nothing that Link could see, she walked inside the now revealed room. Inside there was a chest with two spider creatures. They had a Skulltala body with a human torso coming out of the front. One, which had a female torso, was already staring at Link while the male (who was surprisingly feminine-looking) was fiddling with the chest.

"Driders." Said Don's voice in her ear again, nearly causing her to jump. "Humans cursed to become Skulltalas have bred with natural Skulltala, causing their suppressed human nature to manifest in these monstrosities. Huge danger, and new. They weren't here last time."

Link nodded slightly, and gripped her sword tighter, but didn't move yet.

"What happened to the kid?" The male asked, with an oddly deep voice.

"I...I think she's dead love..."

The male almost recoiled from the chest, looking at his mate and then glaring at Link.

"A human? No, a Hylian?" A mixed look of confusion and anger was on the male's face

"So it seems..." The female had a calm, if hateful look herself.

"I thought there was nuthin' but those stupid Goblins here!" He almost spit as he talked, anger clearly overriding almost everything else.

"Dear, that doesn't matter..."

"What?!"

"It doesn't matter why she's here, only what she did to our child matters."

The male was silent for a moment, before nodding. He turned back and grabbed a bow off the ground. The female was starting to walk forward, drawing four daggers into her four hands while the male started scaling the walls and positioning on the ceiling to shoot.

"You'll hear a bell from me in your ear when he shoots, be ready to dodge or block." Don's voice whispered in Link's ear, sounding like it was moving away from her.

"I...I don't suppose I could apologize could I? I was just defending myself." Link asked, shifting into a battle stance while knowing full well that these parent's wouldn't let the death of their child slide over a reason like that.

"Oh its much too late darling, I may have thousands of children, but each is precious to me!" The Drider woman screeched as she jumped at Link, 4 daggers flashing.

Author's Commentary: Hey, look, a chapter. I may or may not already have the next one written on paper, just needing to be typed. I of course apologize for how delayed this has been. I've been through two girlfriends, several jobs, and three moves since I started this, you wouldn't believe how much that kills my muse.

ButtHurtWeeaboo - keep in mind that stories and myths change over time. stories get mixed and split apart, when Don describes the Skull kid myth, that's simply one version of the story as he's heard it to be.