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 Thirty-One: Shadow Temple

Shivers ran up and down the trio's spines as they looked at their surroundings. Yet again, the three were on a platform, but this time with a symbol for the Shadow Temple engraved on it. Tessa was the last one off, but instead off collapsing and talking to the goddesses like she usually did, she was unharmed. Tessa shrugged, and took a tentative step, and then another. Soon, she was off the platform, and into the area before the Shadow Temple.

There was a giant stone block that seemed to block the path to the temple, and before it a circular platform surrounded by torches. They were all unlit, but stood there none-the-less. Tessa shivered at the cold, damp feeling that she got at the temple.

"All right…how do we get in there?" Tessa asked Link. Link shrugged and went up to the stone block. "I know! Punch it!"

Link turned around to raise an eyebrow at Tessa. "Why do you think punching a solid stone block would help anything?"

Tessa grinned and grasped her hands behind her back as she rocked on her feet. "I actually have no idea. I just thought it'd be funny if you actually tried." Then, Tessa tried to look as innocent as humanly possible, but then started to laugh hysterically.

"She's back to normal." Navi giggled slightly, and Link nodded in agreement. "Anyway though, we should probably figure out something to do with the torches." Navi pointed out, and Link nodded in agreement. Tessa took no notice of this, because she was still laughing hysterically.

"Tessa, your plan wasn't even that funny." Link pointed out. Tessa tried to regain control, and wiped some tears out of her eyes, but then started laughing again. Link shook his head and looked at the torches. "Well…we could use some fire…"

"Fire!" Tessa exclaimed. "That's hilarious!" So with that she continued on another giggle fit. Link ignored her and walked out of the entrance to search outside for fire. Tessa quieted down after a minute, and noticed Link was gone, and then looked at the torches.

"Hmm…fire…" Tessa giggled slightly. "Jeez, I'm tired…" Tessa yawned, then sat down in the center of the torches. "Fire…" Another giggle. "Fire…"

Tessa felt a bit warm around her body as she kept on repeating fire, and giggling, but she chose to ignore it. "Sleepy…sleepy…fire…" Link was still nowhere near as she tried to search for any source of fire.

Then Tessa closed her eyes and imagined fire surrounding her. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, but she envisioned it anyway. Her body felt warmer, and warmer, and then she imagined the fire expanding to light all of the torches. Then she felt very, very warm. After that, the warm feeling went away. "Haha…fire…" Tessa giggled. "That would be so cool if I could do that…"

Then, Tessa opened her eyes, and cocked her head in confusion. "How did those torches light themselves?" Tessa wondered, and giggled slightly. "The temple of smart torches, hurrah!" After that exclamation, she collapsed into another fit of giggles. Link came back to this, and stared at all of the lit torches, and a hysterical Tessa rolling around on the ground.

"Tessa…how did you light the torches?" Link asked, as he grabbed a firm hold of her shoulders to stop her from rolling around. Tessa looked up at his amazed face, and started to laugh even harder. "Tessa! Stop laughing! You're driving me insane!" Link shouted. Tessa stopped momentarily.

"Magical mind power things!" Tessa laughed again. Navi giggled at Tessa's happy mood, and Link simply sighed.

"How did it really happen, Tessa?"

"I honestly don't know." Tessa stopped laughing suddenly. "But I wish I had seen it…it must have been cool…" A sad look appeared on Tessa's face, but then she began to laugh hysterically again.

"I give up on her." Link grumbled, and walked into the temple. The torches had somehow gotten rid of the giant stone that blocked the way, so Link was given free rein to walk in. Tessa stood up, as she had stopped laughing immediately once he had set foot in the temple. She followed after him while skipping, and yelling at him to wait up.

"Wow…so if one of us were to fall…we'd never see the light of day again, huh?" Tessa asked as she kicked a pebble down another dark abyss. They had come across ten of them so far, and it made them be slightly careful. Link had come to notice that Tessa was more hyper than usual, and mocked things a lot more.

Like the dark abyss, for example.

"You idiot dark abysses! I like daylight!" Tessa stuck her tongue out at it. "I might like to pretend I'm a vampire sometimes, but this is ridiculous!" Then she flipped it off and jumped across to the other side. "Nyaha! I beat you! Take that, evil scary dark place thing!"

"Tessa…now you're just being weird…" Link groaned, as he jumped across it as well. Tessa stuck her tongue out at him, and continued on her merry way.

"How can she be so…cheery…?" Navi murmured to Link. "Especially in a place like this…" She waited for an answer from Link, but wasn't surprised from the confused silence from him.

She wished that silence came from Tessa as well.

Tessa was far ahead of them by the time that they got to the end of the hallway, but even before that, she had disappeared through a wall. Link stared at the wall, and then watched as Tessa poked her head through it.

"It's a fake wall! Come see!" Tessa grinned. "They think people like me are stupid and won't walk into walls to find out these things, but they are wrong!" A triumphant laugh came from Tessa and she disappeared through the wall again. Link and Navi stared at the wall, and then Link took out the eye of truth. It was indeed a fake wall.

Link walked through it, and Tessa looked at the eye of truth, then she grabbed it from Link's hands. "You know, it's about the size of a contact?" She stated, and giggled at Link. "You should put this in your eye, it'll work more efficiently, and umm…you'll have free hands."

Link stared at her as if she had grown two heads. Tessa then tackled him and pinned him down on the ground. "I wear contacts, don't worry, it won't hurt! Just don't blink while I'm sticking it in your eye!"

Link was too speechless to even respond. He had noticed the rather awkward position that she had tackled him into, and didn't know what to do about it…

Tessa, however, had already stuck the eye of truth contact lens into his eye and just sat there and waved her hand in front of his face. "Dude…what's your problem?" She asked, and poked his forehead. Link blinked, and blushed brightly. Tessa quirked an eyebrow and then felt Link shift underneath her. She turned red as a tomato and jumped off him like he had been infected with some sort of disease. Then, she proceeded to not look at him.

"Your eye looks cool like that." Tessa murmured, but can you see where the actual walls are now?"

Link nodded, and got up. Then he realized that Tessa couldn't see his nod. "Uh…yeah…"

"Good…where's the right way?" Tessa asked. Link lead forward. From there on, the dungeon was silent, except for Link and Tessa's footsteps on the damp stone.

"So…uh…what did you end up talking to Tom about?" Tessa asked. Link glowered ahead of her.

"Why do you ask?" Link grumbled. Tessa thought about it for a moment, and shrugged.

"Well…I don't know. Neither of you seemed to be acting like yourselves, so your conversation must have been interesting?" Tessa smiled. "So, what did you talk about?"

"Why do you care? Does Tom mean something to you?" Link asked, and Tessa completely missed the edge in his voice. Navi, however, did not, but chose not to say anything.

"Tom? Well…he's a friend…" Tessa thought about it for a moment. "He's like the older brother I never had but I always wanted…"

There was a long silence afterward, and Tessa wondered why Link was so quiet. Navi watched Link's face from the corner of her eye as she flew by his head.

"Uh…Link?" Tessa murmured. Link continued to be silent. Tessa pouted at first, and walked quicker until she could tap his shoulder to make him stop. "Is there something wrong?"

"No." Link didn't turn to face Tessa, and he only had stopped for a moment. Tessa stayed where she was, confused a bit.

"Er…" Tessa frowned. "What's up his ass?" She murmured under her breath, and then continued to follow him.

'I only think of Tessa as a friend, maybe a little sister…please don't hurt me!' Tom's exclamation ran through Link's head. Even after that, Link still had his doubts about Tessa's feelings towards Tom. Link frowned as he thought over Tessa's statement as well. He wasn't even sure why he cared what he thought of how Tom and Tessa saw each other, but for some reason he felt very relieved.

Tessa, however, was starting to get annoyed with Link's suddenly sulky attitude. "I swear, guys are hard to understand…" She grumbled. Navi smiled at Link's reaction, happy that something really interesting and different was happening on the adventure.

They continued on, only battling a few dismembered hands and some flying skeleton heads. The fascination with evil and lone body parts went beyond the trio, and none commented. As the halls and rooms of the temple grew danker, and creepier, Tessa drew closer to Link, but also more hyper. Link noticed this, and a thought ran through his head, but he kept it to himself. There would really be one way to figure out whether the assumption was right or not, and it would have to happen on its own.

After a while, they reached a boat dock, down a shadow river that was moving, but the boat wasn't. The boat was gigantic, and had no railing on the sides. It was pretty plain as well, except for the monster carving up front and the bell that came with it. Link and Tessa stared at each other before Tessa jumped on the boat. "Come on! It can't be that bad, for a ghost ship!"

Link raised his eyebrow at her. She was laughing again, not hysterically, but still laughing. So, he followed her onto the boat, and looked around. "So…how do we get this boat to move?" Tessa didn't even bother to look, so Link walked around the boat curiously. Although there was nothing to say that he could get into the boat, he could hear the hollowness of his steps. Needless to say, it was a bit creepy, especially with the feeling the temple seemed to give off.

Then, he hit a floorboard that made a giant creek, and Tessa laughed hysterically again. Link sighed, and pretty much confirmed his suspicions. However, he didn't bother Tessa with it, if that was how she dealt with it. Instead, he looked at the floor where the creek sound had come from, and then an idea struck him.

On the floor was the symbol of the royal family, the triforce. He had learned that the symbol did special things. At Zora Fountain, it opened the waterfall barrier; in the water temple it raised and lowered water levels to fit his needs. Here…it would probably start the boat. With a slight grin, he dug the Ocarina of Time out of his pack and put it to his lips. Princess Zelda's lullaby came through, and Tessa stopped laughing hysterically. The song was oddly calming, and it made the creepiness of the temple disappear.

When Link stopped the melody, there was silence again. At first they thought that the song had no effect, even with the symbol, until there was a small ding sound and a giant lurch as the boat headed forward. Tessa gulped, and started to giggle again. "This is interesting…" Tessa smiled. "I wonder how the boat works without a sail, wind, or anything to row it. I don't believe your world has worked out motors yet…"

"What?" Link asked.

"Nothing!" Tessa chirped, and started to giggle again. Link rolled his eyes.

"You really need to stop that."

"Stop what?" Tessa asked, her eyes large as she giggled more.

"Giggling. It's driving me insane, and it's a bit creepy…" Link frowned. Tessa simply giggled in response.

"I'm sorry…I can't help it…I'm kind of…hyper…ish…" Tessa hugged her arms slightly, and rubbed them. Navi fluttered over to her, and said what Link wouldn't say outright.

"Is that how you deal with being nervous?" Navi asked. Tessa stopped immediately.

"I guess so…" Tessa stated. "I don't know…I've never really felt like this before…so…uhh…"

"That the area around you might just kill you?" Link suggested. Tessa nodded, a broad grin on her face.

"That's a gruesome thought."

"Yes…well…this is a gruesome temple." Link admitted. Tessa nodded, and laughed again, but stopped to cover her hand over her mouth.

"Sorry." She let out. Link sighed and shook his head.

"I guess I really can't complain. You have to deal with fear somehow, and this is your way of doing it." Link shrugged. "Are you sure there's no other way of dealing with fear?"

Tessa was silent for a moment, a thought popped into her head, but she didn't state it out loud. It would probably be weird for Link anyway, and she really only did it during gruesome movies. Scary movies never really bothered her; they were predictable. However, movies like "Saw" and the like scared her to bits because they were just…gory. There were also clowns in those particular movies, and they never helped matters.

How could anybody be that happy all the time? It was a question that would bother Tessa until the day she died.

Then, Tessa looked at Link, at first a small blush on her face but then she stiffened greatly. "Link…turn around…" Tessa murmured as she raised her arm to point behind him. Link did, and gasped at what he saw. Two armored skeleton things were coming towards him, ready to fight with swords. Link drew his sword, and readied himself in front of Tessa as she drew her bow and arrow, although she didn't think they could help against the undead.

A deep, hollow laugh came from the skeletons as they dove at Link, their swords prepared to rip right through the Hylian male. Link put his shield against one sword and countered the other with his sword. A grunt of strain came from him, but then he shoved both foes back briefly, to dodge their next attack by rolling to the side. Tessa had backed off a lot by now, and she was trying to figure out any way to help. Link fought one while dodging the attacks of the other, and Navi was confused as to who to circle for him to fight.

"Uh…uh…uh…" Tessa groaned, and wiped some sweat from her brow. For some reason she felt really hot, and she hadn't really done a whole lot.

"Uh…" Tessa murmured. A flash of movement caught her eye to the side, and she saw two figures that shocked her. One was familiar, Rhea, and the other seemed kind of familiar, but in a different way. He looked like Link, except for major differences. The two watched their boat go by, and Tessa waved slightly to Rhea, confused as to why Rhea was there, but not fighting them. Rhea waved back, but she didn't seem that confused, more surprised.

Then, something clicked with Tessa. "Wait…" Tessa murmured, and readied a bow and arrow at the skeleton that Link was dodging, not fighting. She concentrated the warm feeling on her hands, and the tip of the arrow burst to flame. Then, she narrowed her eyes and let the arrow loose.

The skeleton was immediately engulfed in flame, and quickly turned to ashes. Tessa stood there, blinking at what just happened, but then she turned to look where Rhea and the shadowy Link had gone to, and noticed that they were gone.

"Why did I think of that when I saw them…or more particularly…Rhea?" Tessa murmured, and looked down at her hands. The warm feeling was still present throughout her body, and a sense of wonder overtook her. Link continued fighting the skeleton until he won, and then he turned to the burned skeleton.

"What happened to this one?" Link asked, and picked the arrow up. Throughout the burning, the arrow had been left unscathed, and so Link returned it to Tessa. Tessa thanked him with a blush, but then stared at it.

"I really don't know…" Tessa murmured. "It was…just…weird…"

Then, the boat came to an abrupt halt, which sent Tessa and Link stumbling to their knees. Then, a little bit of shaking occurred, and Tessa watched as the wall seemed to move up…

…or the boat moved down…

Tessa and Link jumped to their feet and looked around at a safe place to jump off. Link spotted it, and grabbed Tessa's arm to get her attention. Then, he jumped, and Tessa followed soon after him. He landed safely on the ground, but Tessa bowled him over, and they almost rolled off the other edge of the platform they were on, but Link stopped them in time.

"Oh…jeez…" Link huffed, and let his face rest on Tessa's shoulder.

"We almost rolled off the edge…" Tessa murmured, her eyes wide. "That would have sucked…"

Link nodded to show his agreement, and then realized the awkward position they were in. He looked over at Tessa, and noticed that she was still pretty much out of it. He guessed that the temple was really messing around with her senses, and that she was slowly losing her ability to keep sane.

Out of curiosity, Link crawled up and looked directly into Tessa's eyes. They were a bit unfocused, but somewhat okay. Then, suddenly, Tessa's eyes focused, and a giant blush came to her face.

"Uh…Link…what are you doing?" Tessa murmured, her voice slightly high. Link blinked, and then blushed as well.

"Uh…er…I don't know…" Link stated. There was a bit of a pause.

"Do you mind getting up then?" Tessa asked, her voice still high-pitched and nervous. Link looked down at her, blushed even more, and nodded. He then moved to grab her hand, which she allowed with thanks, and he pulled her up to her feet into a hug.

"Are you all right?" Link asked. Tessa by now was as red as a tomato, and she her words came out muffled.

"Yeah…uh…"

Link let go of her then, and they both stood there for a moment, awkwardly. Navi flew out of Link's cap. "Jeez! I went into that hat for a reason, and it doesn't even happen!" Navi shouted at the two, who simply looked at her confused.

"So…uhh…" Tessa murmured. "What now?"

Then, the platform underneath them fell apart, and they fell into a pit of darkness, their screams echoing all throughout the temple.

End of Chappie

Well, I'm thoroughly satisfied with that chappie. This is actually my second favorite temple, and I would have added more, but I was a bit impatient so…no…

So, all of you, enjoy this and I'll update as soon as possible!