Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda or any of the concepts from Inuyasha that I have put in this ficcie!

Ocarina of Time: The Three Goddesses Reincarnated

Chapter Eighteen: An Encounter with Darunia

When Link-Goro had said hot, they didn't know that the fire temple would be quite like what had been laid out before them. They were literally walking into a volcano, their only protection from falling into the lava were a few creaky old wooden bridges. How those bridges didn't burn up from the heat was anybody's guess, but magic probably had something to do with it.

Unfortunately, there was a small problem. They couldn't get past the first bridge, because the first bridge had been sawed in half, or had finally given into the heat. Tessa peered over the edge, gave a small squeak of fright, and ran behind Link. "Umm…this sucks…" Tessa murmured, peering out from his side. Link sighed, and pulled out his hook shot. "Hold on…" He murmured, and Tessa obeyed, grabbing Link around his chest tightly. He shot the hook, and it grabbed a firm hold of one of the pieces of wood on the remaining part of the bridge. They sailed through the air, and landed with no grace on the bridge.

Tessa hopped off Link and proceeded to walk forward, blushing like mad, until a shadowy form walked towards the two. Tessa paused, and continued walking, feeling like she was being pulled toward something. She passed Sheik with a slight wave, who stopped to stare as she walked towards the platform on the other side of the bridge. Sheik kept on watching, until Tessa stopped in the middle of it. Link was still getting up, and didn't even notice that Tessa had left, or that Sheik was still in the shadows, yet slightly visible to him.

Tessa felt lightheaded, and dizzy, and dropped to her knees first, her pupils dilated and she felt like she was encompassed by fire.

"Who is that girl, really?" Sheik murmured, before turning fully and starting to head towards the girl, walking out of Link's vision before he even looked. He circled the platform, and stared into the girl's face, and took note of her eyes before taking note that she was starting to sweat like nuts.

Then, Tessa passed out completely, continuing to shake and sweat like she had a fever. Sheik gasped and dove down to the girl.

'Little one, have you found any of the counterparts?'

'What are you talking about? I can't figure it out…'

'The counterparts! From your world!'

'What?'

'Din, don't shout at her.'

'If she's that incompetent…'

'Din, don't.'

'Little one, are you sure you can't figure out what we're talking about?'

'I'm very sure…'

'The counterparts are the counterparts to the sages of this world. They exist in your own, and need to be awakened in their own way.'

'Our time is running short…'

'We'll explain more at our next meeting.'

'Continue to help Link with his quest.'

'Don't fail, or else.'

Tessa awakened to dark red eyes peering into her face. Her own dark brown eyes widened, and she jumped back about ten feet. Then, Tessa realized who it was, and clutched her hand over her heart. "Sheik! Don't do that! You scared me!"

Sheik's eyes seemed to frown, since Tessa couldn't see his facial features under his mask. "What just happened to you?" Sheik asked, very seriously. Tessa's face paled.

"Did you see me pass out?" Tessa asked.

"Yes, I did."

"Did you hear the voices as well?"

"What voices?"

"There were three of them, otherworldly it seemed. All of them seemed to be women. They told me to find…" Tessa's face suddenly went into confusion. Sheik walked over to the girl, and knelt before her.

"What did they tell you to find?" He asked calmly. Tessa looked into Sheik's eyes momentarily, and then at her own hands, and noticed that they were starting to become somewhat rough.

"I…can't remember. It was something I didn't understand, and now I can't even remember…" Tessa murmured, frustrated with herself. "What am I supposed to find?"

Sheik straightened his back, and sighed. "If you remember, please tell somebody, and next time we meet, please tell me." Tessa's eyes widened, and she grabbed the cloth on Sheik's leg. He looked at her quizzically.

"Don't tell Link, he doesn't need to worry about me. He has his own problems, and I need to try and protect him. It'll be harder if he can't concentrate on his quest…" Tessa murmured, and Sheik gave a surprised look, before his eyes softened. Once again, Tessa could have sworn she saw blue in Sheik's eyes, if only for a split second.

"Of course. Come on, I have teach Link the song." Sheik offered Tessa a hand up, and she took it. She dusted herself off, and turned to Sheik.

"I-"

"Tessa!" Link shouted, and both Tessa and Sheik turned to face the Hero of Time, who was running towards them. "Why did you…Sheik?" He stopped in front of them, confused.

"Sorry, we were having a small chat while we waited for you to get up from having your face planted firmly into the bridge." Sheik laughed, and Link looked irritated. Tessa gave Sheik a grateful glance, that Navi didn't miss, but Link did.

"Right."

"I have to teach you the Bolero of Fire, get out your Ocarina."

Sheik had left, and Link and Tessa were headed down a ladder that lead into the Fire Temple officially. "Sheik is very effeminate, isn't he?" Tessa said casually from above Link. Link choked on nothing, and touched ground.

"What are you talking about?" Link asked, and Tessa grinned, also touching ground after he moved out of the way.

"Well, in my world, men don't usually wear tight clothes, and if they do, they are usually homosexual. Do you think he likes guys?" Tessa wondered genuinely. Link twitched, while Navi burst into a fit of laughter, clutching onto Link's shoulder to keep her from falling onto the ground.

"What got you started on that?" Link asked, bewildered. Tessa shrugged, and grinned.

"I don't know, just an observation I made while chatting with him." Tessa sighed. "Can we get off of this topic, and start on trying to keep our promise to Link-Goro?"

"You were the one who started the conversation!" Link protested. Tessa shrugged, not really paying attention, and headed forward without him.

"Eh…whatever." Tessa tossed over her shoulder. Link Crossed his arms, a little bit ticked off, for no reason. Navi simply giggled some more, and flew over to Tessa.

The trio came to a halt when they reached the staircase. It wasn't that large of a staircase, but it still looked kind of intimidating. There were what Tessa guessed to be occult statues of some kind with open mouths, while flames burned inside of them.

"Something tells me this isn't going to be easy…" Link eyed the flames with distrust. Tessa gave him an odd look, and ran up the stairs to the flames, and stared.

"I don't know, I really like fire, it's lots of fun to play with at home." Tessa shrugged, and held her hands in the fire. "And the tunics really do work. I'm not feeling the burn at all!" She giggled, and moved her hand around in the fire. "This is so cool!"

"I've never liked fire. It's a destructive force that just creates wasteland." Link frowned, walking besides Tessa, and slowly sticking his hand in one of the other statues' mouths. Tessa frowned as well, but still kept her hand moving around in the fire.

"Where does that feeling come from?" Tessa turned to look at Link, her hand still in the fire.

"Any fire that happened in the Lost Forest was never a good thing. It burned trees, and killed those living in the area. It destroyed homes, and left nothing but ash in its place." Link glared into the flames, his hand spread out briefly, before clenching in a fist in the fire, and bringing his hand out. When he opened his hand again, there was no evidence that he had attempted to grab flame. It was too unnatural to him.

Tessa smiled softly, and looked at her hand in the fire. "Fire creates life as well. When a fire goes through a forest, it burns the dead trees to make place for the new ones. Yes, they can get a bit out of control, and kill the living, but it's a natural process that every forest has to go through." Tessa then grinned, a slight malice in her eye. "It's also fun to experiment with it too. Fireworks are the best, and firecrackers as well! Nothing calms me down like a good explosion!" Tessa yanked her hand out of the fire and did a small twirl. "Explosions are good!" She cackled for a second, and turned to Link. "So, let's get on with the quest, shall we?"

Link blinked, bewildered for a moment, and then nodded. He looked at both of the doors, one to his left, and one to his right, not sure which one to go through. Tessa shrugged, and grinned. "Let's try the left one."

"How do you know that's the right one?" Link asked, skeptical. Tessa simply grinned at him, and shrugged.

"I don't know, but I always trust Mo!" She giggled, and started to walk off. Navi and Link, albeit confused as to whom "Mo" was, just shrugged and followed her through the door, only to be met by a surprised shout of "Hey! Isn't he a Goron?"

Sure enough, the figure that Tessa was pointing to was a Goron.

"Darunia?" Link whispered at first, but then shouted it at a louder voice. The Goron turned around from a door that he was standing in front of, and a look of shock spread across his face.

"Brother?" Darunia shouted from across the room. His voice boomed, and rattled through Tessa's bones to the point where she had to drop to her knees to feel secure.

"Jeez…" Tessa murmured, a bit shocked by the intensity of the shout. "He could kill me if I stand close enough to him…just by his voice…" Of course, Tessa knew she was exaggerating, but it sure did seem possible…

"Where have you been all of this time?" The tone of the voice lowered greatly, but they were still able to hear it. Tessa sighed in relief.

"It's a long story…" Link sighed, still loud enough for Darunia to hear. "I met your son, he sent me here, to help you save your people, and defeat Volvogia!" Link said, with as much courage as he held, which was a lot of courage. Tessa looked at him with wide eyes.

'He's so dedicated…' Tessa thought. 'That look in his eye…no wonder he was the one chosen to save Hyrule…'

"You save my people, leave Volvogia to me." Darunia said, with a sad confidence. "I believe you can do this, but I don't believe you can cross the river of lava between us." Darunia then let out a booming laugh that unsettled the other three, and then sobered up a lot. "Please, take care of my people, and make sure my son will always be taken care of."

"Right." Link nodded, and then Darunia turned around, and pushed open a rather large door, before he walked through it. The door slammed shut behind him, so the only noise in the room was the sound of running lava.

"Well…" Tessa murmured. She had a strange feeling she knew who the sage was, but that was only if the pattern followed. Although, it was like something told her aside from her hunch, a general feeling.

'God, I need to get my head sorted out.' Tessa then reconsidered. 'Nah, I just need a psychiatrist or something, but I don't feel like being asked on my feelings right now…so screw it.'

Link, while Tessa was trying to understand her strange feeling, was trying to figure out a way to save the Gorons, and help Darunia. Obviously, he couldn't have Tessa go off on her own, she'd end up getting herself killed. He then looked at the river of lava, and knew that he had no means of crossing it. There was nothing that his hook shot could grab on to.

Tessa, while trying to sort out her thoughts still, and looked up to the ceiling. Then, after a moment, she registered something odd.

"Why is there a big thing up there?" She pointed, almost sleepily. Link blinked and looked at her, before he looked up at the ceiling where she was pointing. It looked like a giant platform was stuck in the ceiling, like it was meant to come down, but needed an extra push.

"That…could be our way to help Darunia." Link said in a determined manner while Tessa just quirked her eyebrow at the statement.

"There's more than one way to help Darunia you know. One of those options might be to actually listen to what he asks you to do." Tessa frowned. Link frowned right back at her. "He asked you to save his people. You're his sworn brother, so he trusts you to keep your promise."

"If I destroy Volvogia now, then there won't be evil to worry about, and saving his people won't be a problem!" Link protested. Tessa just sighed.

"Save his people first. That's what he expects from you, isn't it?" Tessa stared straight into his eyes. "Then you can help him defeat Volvogia. He's doing his duty as their leader, respect that. I know that helping your friend, your brother, is something that means a lot to you right now, but try doing something for him."

Link stared at her, as if he couldn't believe the words that came from her mouth, but he had to admit that they made sense. Even if he did disagree with them, a lot. Link shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

"That doesn't mean that you can't take a shortcut." Tessa grinned up at him. "We're going to have to find a way to get that thing up in the ceiling down here, and then get down here fast enough so that the magma hasn't melted it, so that you can get across."

"Is there a reason you said 'you' instead of 'we'?" Link asked, his tone deepening. Tessa rolled her eyes.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I like to snoop, so I'll probably be able to find the hidden Goron's, and free them. If I can't figure out how to free them, I'll just keep on trying until I get it right."

"You are not perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." Link said exasperatedly. Tessa simply stuck her tongue out at him, and she finally stood up.

"Deal with it. We don't know how dangerous that dragon is, so the faster you get to Darunia, the faster you can defeat Volvogia. My only regret is that I don't get to see a dragon."

End of Chappie

I know, a while since an update, but I literally couldn't figure out what had happened to the domain, until a friend of mine redirected me to the temporary one. - Sorry. A new character shall be introduced in the next chapter, or the one after. OH HOW EVIL I AM:D The character belongs to SouChan, so ya'll know. (Freedom of Speech Information, not intended for Fanfiction net.) Review please!