Thank you for waiting! This is the last part i was unsure about how i wanted my plot to progress but its all resolved. Parts of it just didn't want to cooperate and in the end i decided to split this chapter in half to keep it to a manageable length. We're going to be straying from the norm again soon as you'll see at the end. Hope everything is explained well. Read, Review- It makes me smile. You guys know the drill ~
Fire and Ice
In the end, Link did decide to take the offer of a bath and true to his word, Dark kept his back turned the entire time, though he did stick around to provide conversation. "I don't get what the problem is, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before," Dark grumbled, laying on his side and facing away while Link scrubbed himself free of the cloying desert sand.
"It is the principle of the thing," Link explained patiently, ducking his head underwater to get the sand out of his hair. He really didn't get that. His broken arm transferred from childhood to adulthood but the sand in his clothes was still waiting for him. Apparently the Master Sword's time travel ability wasn't designed with comfort in mind. That was when Link pulled his head up out of the water, tossing his hair back to slap against his skin. "Dark? How did you dry off?"
Dark blinked, staring at his partner like it was the stupidest question ever. "I didn't. If you want to, I guess you can always lay out on the stone and sun yourself…" Link glared and Dark stoically ignored it "What? I bet a tan would make you look even better," he growled teasingly. He yelped when Link splashed water at him.
Sighing, Link climbed out of the water and shook himself off like a dog, spraying water all over the place before pulling his clothes on. In the interest of comfort he left his belt off and his tunic unbuttoned. He also had the foresight to slap a hand over Dark's mouth to stop whatever suggestive comment was coming. "Don't even think about it. I am rather upset with you."
Dark blinked, jogging up the stairs into the Temple after Link, "Huh? What did I do?"
"You broke my arm," Link replied matter-of-factly, strapping on his Silver Gauntlets and marching up to the giant stone block on the right side of the room, setting his shoulder to it and pushing. Immediately, strength coursed through his body and suddenly, the block wasn't nearly as heavy as he remembered it. It slid back to drop into a hole in the floor just big enough to hold the block and they proceeded in.
"Aww, C'mon Link, I wanted to help! It healed the right way, didn't it?" he argued but Link didn't stop.
"That still does not make it alright to break my arm at least without asking my permission first. You could have explained what you were going to do," Link snapped, spinning around abruptly to glare irritably at the perpetrator.
Dark teetered backwards as his heels hit the edge of a step, flailing his arms to hold his balance as Link turned and stalked away. Around the corner, the hall split three ways with a Beamos sentry statue guarding, its single eye slowly circling its perimeter to shoot a ray of energy at anyone who intruded.
For Link, a statue like that was old, old news. They'd grown slightly more durable over the years but not more intelligent and for a single eye watching 360 degrees, it wasn't hard at all for Link to just time his walk so that he stayed behind its range of vision and headed right on up through the door on the right. From somewhere behind him, he heard the sound of a Beamos laser firing, and Dark's yelp before the door slammed shut behind him.
Dark scowled and dropped to the ground, sitting cross legged right outside the edge of the statue's firing range. "What's wrong with him? Is this how ya thank someone for making you not crippled? Stupid self-righteous little…" His voice trailed off into the distance as a moment later the door opened and Link strolled back out, compass in hand.
Humming quietly under his breath, Link hopped down the stairs and walked right past the statue and it never even noticed him. Grumbling about showoffs, Dark made a mental note to ask how he did it later.
"So you got the compass?" Dark asked, eying the heavy artifact in Link's hand. It was odd because as far as he knew, this was the first such item they'd found in this dungeon. He received a nod in reply.
"But we don't know where the map is?" Another nod.
"Do not worry. We should be headed soon to the central room. If my theory is correct, then this temple is more or less designed symmetrically so we should not have a problem finding our way around," he explained, ignoring Dark's completely lost expression.
"Wait a minute, I'm confused," he started when Link cut him off.
"Remember in the first room, the path went left or right? I believe this Temple is set up so that the left side more or less mirrors the right."
That made a great deal more sense though it again made Dark feel inferior. "Why can't you just say that in the first place? Honestly, who ever heard of an eleven year old kid using words like 'symmetrical?'" Link's shoulders stiffened as he walked through the next door, again effortlessly avoiding the guardian statue's gaze. "A point of advice. Do not call me a kid. It irritates me."
Dark blinked, confused and slightly hurt. Back in the Shadow Temple, Link had been so uncharacteristically upbeat and chipper, especially considering the location; a Temple dedicated to blood, death and pain. And truth for that matter; Dark was still trying to figure out how that fit in. Here in the Spirit Temple, Link seemed to be bipolar and extremely irritable. It seemed to start right when they entered.
Could it be that in some weird "Hero Only" disease that the temples were tied into his emotions?
Something strange like that certainly wasn't impossible. Dark often had the feeling that there was more going on in his partner's head then he would ever let on. Maybe Link didn't even notice his impossible mood swings. Sidling along the wall, Dark made very sure to stay as far away from the slowly circling statue as possible, running out the door. They were back in the main room with the giant statue and Link was sitting on the edge of a ledge with his bow in hand, charging up a fire arrow. Right in front of the statue of the Spirit Sage were two torches and with two arrows, Link set them ablaze and the expected treasure box appeared on the designated pedestal.
"Dark, fetch."
Dark's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe Link had just said that to him! Link, who was always the prudish one concerned with stupid things like 'manners' and 'propriety' was now an irritable bitch bossing him around! And the worst part about it was, before he could even think about resisting, he was dropping to the ground and trotting over to fetch the map out of the treasure box like a dutiful little puppy.
Once he had the map in hand, he turned around to wave it over his head when he saw the flash of blue in his partner's hand and all the sudden he was falling out of the sky to land in the Water Temple. He'd barely hit the ground when he was wrenched from his prison and dropped in an awkward heap on the dusty stone floors of the Spirit Temple.
Groaning and coughing as dust from the impact flooded into his nose, the map was suddenly snatched from his hand and Link was walking up the stairs.
Much as Dark wanted to go running after Link and chew him out for being a total jerk, a sudden fit of sneezing prevented him from doing much of anything. Once his head was cleared, Link was gone and Dark was sprinting up the stairs five at a time after him. The next room had a large mirror set into a serpent statue with a shaft of light coming down an opening in the ceiling and a number of sun face emblems sat on the wall, dark and eyes shut
"Hey!" Link was in the middle of pushing the handle to turn the statue when Dark came storming into the room. The mirror turned, reflecting light to incinerate one of the suns on the wall and a box dropped out of the ceiling.
"I wanna talk to you. Just what the hell is your problem, huh?" The statue continued turning, its light ray incinerating another sun off the wall. "I mean, I know I broke your arm but I was looking out for you! You want to be crippled? Besides, I apologized. You don't have to be so bitchy, I mean I'm… Quit fucking ignoring me!" A third sun burst into flames and Link suddenly stopped and turned around to face Dark, his head tilted to the side as he listened for a faint whistle. A sudden large black hand dropped out of the sky, grabbed Dark and flew away with him. The entire ordeal was silent except at the end with Dark's startled voice screaming curses. Smirking, Link burnt away the rest of the sun faces until one lit up, opened its eyes and flashed a grin, opening the door. Once it was open he raided his boxes for their contents; five rupees and a bundle of arrows then settled back against the wall to wait for his partner.
Several minutes later, Dark stormed into the room, "That. Sucked. You did that on purpose didn't you, you asshole!" he yelled and immediately tackled Link, who was fighting off laughter.
"What if I did? What are you going to do about it?" he challenged tauntingly. Dark growled, narrowing his eyes to slits.
"I can always break your arm again," Dark threatened. Link snorted, looking at the boy straddling his waist. Just because his arms were pinned was no reason to get cocky. From behind, Link's legs swung up and wrapped around Dark's waist, pulling him back to the ground. From there the blond stood, dusted his clothes off and walked through the door, leaving a bewildered Dark laying on the floor. What on earth could be wrong with him?
Then next room was a nice convenient rectangle with the setup conveniently displayed. Many temple rooms had mechanisms to keep doors locked unless certain criteria were met. This one seemed fairly simple. To go right, step on a button though it was surrounded by rocks and clods of dirt. To go left was another light reflection trap. A shaft of sunlight poured in through a hole in the roof. Vaguely he wondered how he'd manage that during night time. Probably have to wait for the sun to come up. That would be such a irritation. However, it was early morning and still plenty of time before that became a problem.
There was also a different direction to go. As expected, standing on the grey button made the bars on the door to the right go up, however when he stepped off the button, it popped back up and the bars returned. Upon closer inspection, the rocks looked too smooth, too uniform to just be random. Perhaps there was a statue to push onto the button at one time, but no more. Time had done its work well, wearing and eroding the stone statue till naught was left but rubble.
That certainly could put a damper on the Hero's plans… fortunately… Link stepped over the button and leaned against the wall. Right on cue, Dark came dashing through to door and ran straight at Link to stand on the button. He opened his mouth to say something when Link held up one finger for silence. "Listen Dark. I need you to do something for me. There is something I need to take care of right away so you stay here and I will be back shortly."
Before Dark could react, Link turned and ran through the door. Of course the shorter swordsman tried to chase his partner only to be thwarted by the bars dropping to block his way. No matter how much he stomped and swore and kicked at the bars, all he could do was wait and worry…
-L-I-N-K-
The door slammed shut and barred , leaving the Hero to climb the short flight of winding stairs before him. The next door lead to a familiar room, one he was expecting. Since the Temple was very close on both sides, it made sense that a similar room would preface the Hand of the Colossus just as it had seven years ago. The same stone pillars and the same metal-clad warrior with the same axe. All day he'd had this strange feeling that time wasn't flowing properly in this temple and the way things stayed exactly the same over seven years was really messing with Link's head.
Slowly he approached the warrior's throne, taking a bomb. It was just like last time. The only difference was the direction of the room; a backwards L rather then a straight forward one. A sense of déjà vu flooded his mind, so strong and so clear that it left his head aching.
If it was like last time, the warrior would only rise once the first blow was delivered. Link sat down against the wall next to his bomb and took a few deep breaths to try and clear his head and focus on the task at hand.
Oddly, the one thing he didn't have to worry about was the bomb. He'd conveniently learned how to light them with nothing more then a miniscule pulse of magic to light the fuse. It was the only sure thing in that room. As he walked down the aisle, he could almost swear to seeing the slash mark where that axe had chopped through the pillar.
Just as before, he placed the bomb in the armor's lap and ran. The resulting explosion pulled the armor from its slumber and back into the world of the living as it stood, axe in hand to begin its stately march into battle.
This time would be different though. This time he had a reliable weapon to use and past experience to draw on. Link crouched down, waiting tensely on the balls of his feet with sword in hand.
Wait for it…wait for it…
With the weight of the axe, it could only be swung twice while maintaining control of it. As soon as he saw the axe lift Link jumped back out of range as the first swing went by. He stayed back until right after the backswing passed then jumped forward, slashing down with all his weight behind it. The sacred blade cut into the metal armor much smoother then his little Kokiri sword ever would. It was a fairly simple plan; dodge, then dart in and attack before the warrior could recover.
His plan worked well for a while but the Hero made the one mistake of getting overconfident. First swing then second swing and Link darted in to stab his blade through the armor and then suddenly he was staggering back, a bright splash of red spraying out of a deep gash in his chest. The inexorable clank of metallic footsteps began marching towards him again. Link tried to formulate a defense but his mind just wouldn't work right, though whether it was from blood loss or the temple messing with his head again, Link wasn't in a state to tell. It was all he could do to stagger against the wall and buy as much time as he could.
With his tired mind not working at its full capacity, the only things he could come up with were his basic items. First he lit and dropped a bomb on the ground, stumbling backwards and pulling a handful of arrows from his quiver. As soon as the bomb exploded and blew off the chunks of the Warriors armor, it started running, but Link was ready with an arrow already drawn to shoot into the unprotected abdomen of the creature before him. One by one he fired his arrows and each one that hit sent the warrior back a few steps only to take another arrow piercing into its stomach but arrows alone simply didn't have the power to kill and slowly the warrior was gaining ground. He lifted his axe, Link dropped his bow in favor of a sword and the two clashed…
-H-E-R-O-
Meanwhile, back outside Dark was standing against the wall grumbling to himself. "You stay here, huh? What the hell is wrong with him? Even I know, the first rule of any adventure, 'Do not split up.' Kiss of death." Sure enough, as soon as the words left his mouth, the bars lifted, door opened and out staggered Link, eyes wide and vacant as his blood fell to the parched stones like crimson raindrops.
Swearing under his breath, Dark pushed himself off the wall to catch Link before he could collapse. He didn't bother waiting for an explanation, instead jumping immediately to the correct conclusion.; His partner had been reckless and gotten in over his head. "You! What did I tell you! This is exactly what you bring me along to prevent so why am I sitting behind! How do you not know any better!" Dark cried in frustration. "Know what? Don't answer that. Just shut up and eat," he grumbled, dropping his last heart piece in Link's lap.
The blue crystal candy sparkled up and in spite of his injuries that made it painful to breathe, Link was laughing. A dry, heaving laugh, but still. "Dark…you never cease to amaze me," he whispered with a far off look in his eyes, biting into the Heart Piece. Almost immediately after finishing it, Link passed out to let his body regenerate.
After the blond was safely napping, Dark examined the item that he'd been holding onto. It was a shield, with the back polished mirror bright and rimmed in red velvet bearing the sign of the Gerudo. Much as he had nothing but disdain for the Gerudo tribe, a mirror could be fun toy!
While Link slept, Dark took the Mirror Shield across to the other side of the room to stand in the sun with it. The light reflected off the shield in a bright beam that made the Gerudo crescent moon. Fascinated, Dark tilted the shield around and watched the moon move along the wall at his command. When the light beam crossed the engraved sun emblem on the wall, the sun lit up, opening its eyes and flashing a grin as the door to the side opened. Now all that was left was for Link to wake up. Sadly though, Dark wasn't feeling in the most patient of moods.
Two hours later, Link awoke groaning from the aching feeling that still plagued the spot where the deep wound in his chest had healed. As soon as he tried to sit up he felt the familiar weight of laying on him, making him sigh. Honestly, Link couldn't even go off and get himself injured without Dark popping up to shamelessly use the blond as his personal pillow.
"G'morning sunshine" Dark's sudden voice startled Link. He'd just assumed from the weight and the long fall of ebony hair draped across his chest that Dark was sleeping. That was how he normally laid and for some reason once he lay down, the boy never had any trouble falling asleep almost instantaneously. It really was amazing and sometimes Link found himself more then a little envious of that particular skill but he didn't have time for that at the moment. He tried sitting up but a sudden weight knocked him back down. Trying to sit up again and shove Dark off of him also didn't work; Dark was already up and pinning the blond's shoulders to the ground.
"Dark, what are you doing?" Link asked, restraining himself with as much patience as he could muster. "We do not have time for playing around."
Link tried again to get up but Dark would not be moved. "On the contrary, we have plenty of time to play around. Take a look at your map." Frowning, Link pushed himself when Dark finally let him up to take out his map and stare down at the parchment.
"How?" was all he could whisper. According to the enchantment on the scrap of paper, almost all the rooms save for a small section were colored blue. That meant that almost the entire temple had already been visited.
Dark shrugged as thought it were the most natural thing in the world and tossed Link the gold and ruby key that would open the door to the boss. "I took care of it while you were sleeping. So, you're not behind schedule or anything like that. I think you can at least spare a minute to tell me why the Spirit Temple makes you want to bite my head off all of a sudden?"
Gritting his teeth, Link stood up and started walking towards where his map said was the last unexplored corner of the Temple. Of course it was probably much larger; all the Temples were but the rest would be on a different map. He heard Dark's footsteps behind him as he walked through the door, stopping at a high rock wall. There were spikes to climb but certain rows shifted periodically to the left and right into columns of spikes on either side. "I am tired of people pushing me around. I am tired of people trying to manipulate me." Link sighed and hopped up to sit on a short pillar that probably once held a statue of something to stare up at the shifting wall formation. "The Sages, giving me no choice but to help them; Sheik who never tires of giving me orders. Zelda, who got me stuck on this journey in the first place…" Dark opened his mouth to say something when Link's blue eyes caught his and narrowed. "And you. You are the worst of them all. You are the one always forcing yourself on me. You do not listen, none of you do. I don't mind doing my part to save the country but is it so much to ask to have someone value my opinion?"
Not waiting for an answer, Link fired his Hookshot, latching the claw onto one of the stationary rocks at the top of the wall, bypassing the entire climbing ordeal as it hauled him to the top.
Dark was left alone at the bottom and very put out with his shifting spike wall to climb for a second time that day. "For the love of….couldn't you make things just a little bit easy one me? Just once?" he growled, clambering up the wall. It took a frustratingly long time to do, especially since it had to be timed right or he'd end up skewered on the spikes to the sides. At least it was easier then the first time though. A giant spider had made itself comfortable exactly halfway up. In the end, Dark had to chuck his sword to kill the thing.
Once he was at the top he took off running down the sandstone halls of the Spirit Temple to where the last four unexplored rooms lay. All the monsters were gone, unable to rematerialize so quickly and all the traps had been disabled so it wasn't long before he was pushing open to door into the last little area. To the right, a pit with ladder s lead down to a floor area with more of those sun plates. Above it, a large mirror stuck to the ceiling, tilted so that if light hit it, it would refract down to the floor below. To the left, a set of thin iron bars blocked entrance to another of those rotating gold serpent mirrors. Link must be in the rooms ahead working with the light source.
If that was the case, Dark felt it fine to sit against the wall and listen to the sounds of Link struggling with turning the mirrors back in the little niche he was wandering around in. They sounded heavy… Served him right for spitting on the only help he'd ever get. Whatever was in there he could handle it on his own. Sure enough, a minute later a beam of light shot out of the caged in area to hit the mirror and shine down on the pit below.
When Link came out to look down at the product of his handiwork, he couldn't help but sigh. There lay Dark, casually sunning himself like a cat in the middle of Link's hard won shaft of light. The system of mirrors needed to make it work wasn't easy to move around after all. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"
Dark flashed a grin up at the blond who replied with a rough kick to the ribs before turning and lighting up the sun sitting on the wall. With a loud crack of breaking plaster, an entire section of their floor broke off to slowly descend like an elevator suspended by four chains to make a hanging platform high up in the center of the main room. Straight across, they could see the ancient and weathered face of the statue of the Spirit Sage, staring out from beneath her serpent hood. Actually she couldn't stare as her eyes had long since eroded away.
"Well now what?" Dark asked dully, not bothering to even stand up. Rolling his eyes, Link kicked his lazing partner again.
"How should I know?"
"Well, you're the Hero, obviously," Dark muttered sullenly and Link growled, running a hand through his hair.
"I swear sometimes you drive me crazy. Is it any wonder I need some space when you suffocate me like this?"
"Suffocate!" Dark yelled indignantly, pushing himself to his feet. "How dare you say something like that when some days I can barely get you to be polite, much less sociable. You never tell me what you're planning and I swear you leave me out as much as possible on purpose!"
"Plans! Please, you are far too hard-headed and stubborn to keep to any kind of plan. How am I supposed to make a plan with someone so restless that at the first sign of trouble he jumps off to take care of things on his own!"
By this time the two boys were in each other's faces, on the verge of screaming. The Mirror Shield, which was still strapped to Link's arm, shot its beam with a stray arm gesture from its wielder into the face of the statue, making the entire face of the statue crack and fall in chunks to the ground far below. Where the Sage's face had been was a metal grill over the gold locked door of the boss room. The two shared a look of slight confusion. Then, with a shrug, Link and Dark both pulled out their Hookshot and pulled themselves across.
Link rammed the key into the lock and watched it drop to the floor. After a seconds silence Dark put his hands on his hips and frowned. "I only go running off on my own cause I know its useless to try and have a casual conversation with you!"
The door opened and they both walked inside, paying no attention to the two ancient old women floating several feet off the ground on broomsticks or the Iron Knuckle; the metal warriors that had guarded the two important treasures of the dungeon.
"Well if you really feel that way then perhaps you should wait outside and leave this mess to the professional" Link suggested scathingly.
"Oh, no you don't, you're not getting rid of me that easy! I've already had enough of getting left behind. Weren't you paying attention in Hero's School? The first rule of any adventure, 'Do not split up!'"
Snorting, Link flipped his hair out of his face. "No. They did not cover that lesson in Solo Heroes. I never expected to have a sidekick so I did not bother," he countered with a sneer.
Throughout the entire exchange, the witches watched in confusion. "What do you think they're talking about, Koume?" asked the one with a blue gem on her wrinkled old skin. Her sister just shrugged.
"Hey! You two really are some outrageous fellows, walking so boldly right into our-"
"Quiet!" Link and Dark yelled in unison at the witch before returning to their bickering.
"Y'know that was really uncalled for! I work hard to help you out and what do I ever get out of it!" Dark almost sobbed.
"Only the opportunity to molest me every chance you get!" Link barked back.
"Are you still hung up on that? Goddess, just let it go already!"
Back on her broomstick, Koume crossed her arms, fuming angrily. How dare those kids treat a venerable sage like herself with such disrespect? Kids these days had no manners. "This is getting a little ridiculous. Oh loyal minion, defeat these intruders on our behalf! Come on, Kotake." With that, Koume and Kotake vanished in puffs of fire and ice respectively.
A screech of metal on metal as the Iron Knuckle stood grabbed the boy's attention and it was Dark who spoke first. "Hah! What's he gonna do, he doesn't have a…"
With just a snap of its gauntleted fingers, a large silver ax appeared in the warriors hands. "You just had to say it didn't you Dark?" Link muttered under his breath.
"Shut up, I'm still pissed off at you."
"Likewise."
And with that settled they focused on the battle. Of course Dark was the one to rush in, blade in hand. When the ax came straight down at him he leapt to the side and slashed. While it was occupied with him, Link ran in the other direction, whipping his blade through the armor from behind. With attacks coming in from the front and back, the heavy armored unit didn't know which way to turn or who to attack first. Dark stayed the target just because he was in front while Link slashed the leather cords holding the armor together.
Bellowing its rage, the armor tried another swing at the dark swordsman before him but Dark just smirked and jumped, tucking his legs close to land on top of the axe blade. "Sorry pal, Z-Targeting doesn't work on me," he whispered into the helmet before smashing the jewel on its forehead with the hilt of his sword. Almost immediately the armor collapsed, pieces scattering all over the floor to vanish in small bursts of flames leaving Nabooru laying dazed on the floor.
"Nngh… Where am I?" she asked groggily. No one had the chance to answer when a loud cackle echoed through the room and Koume and Kotake drifted back into the room.
"Well, looks like she's back to normal. She's just a little girl but she commands a lot of respect among the Gerudo," Koume mentioned, casually spinning a red ball of magic on her fingertip.
"Oh? You think we should have her work for the great Ganondorf for a little while longer? Alright, then, let's brainwash her again!" Kotake cackled gleefully, forming her own ball of magic. Though Nabooru was already darting towards the door with the speed of a startled rabbit, even she couldn't outrun the spell. The two orbs converged on her fleeing form, leaving behind nothing but a thin trail of dust.
Sighing, the Hero of Time shook his head and marched towards the door at the back of the room with Dark on his heels. Two short hallways led the duo into a large room with a raised dais acting as a kind of arena. That's how it had always been; battles conducted in a specific location. Apparently this one was to be a good twenty feet off the ground. The corners of the raised Dais were set with rough stones and not polished smooth so it would be possible to climb up.
Carved into the floor of the dais lay a very intricate design; all sharp jagged edges in a sixteen pointed star diagram that probably had some kind of mystical significance pertaining to the flows of energy that permeated the world and described the method of the world's creation that was beyond even Link to determine.
"Huh. Why do they have a compass on the floor?" Dark asked, completely oblivious to Link's incorrect but infinitely more interesting explanation. Now that he'd mentioned it, the design probably was a compass. There were even pillars rising to the same height as the arena at each of the four cardinal directions. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little put out from Dark so callously smashing his daydreams. An overactive imagination couldn't be all bad, could it?
"Look at those stupid kids. They came here of their own free will to offer themselves as sacrifices to the great Ganondorf!"
One of the witches-it was hard to tell which one since their voices were too close to distinguish-rang through the empty room as a pool of molten lava and liquid ice formed on the east and west islands where the sorceress sisters slowly rose out the their condensed elemental pools.
"With my fire, I will burn them to the bone!" Koume yelled, rising into the air as her silver bun burst into brilliance, instantly replaced with a wild mane of roaring flames.
"With my ice, I will freeze them to the soul!" came Kotake's counter as she too rose out of the liquid ice to have her hair burst into a torrent of chilling frost.
With their elemental hair active, they flew over to clasp hands before riding into battle. Koume flew off to the side and hefted her broom. A sizzling sound filled the room as she swung, shooting a jet of flames that spread out into a large puddle of lava covering almost half the platform as she flew away, cackling madly.
Link rolled out of the way of the initial beam but the dangerous area it left behind wasn't expected. The spreading pool of lava had Link scrambling franticly out of the way. On the other side, Dark was keeping an eye on the ice witch as she hovered lazily around in the opposite direction, keeping the boys back to back. Dark didn't jump away from the lava until it was nearly melting the soles of his boots. Taking he opportunity to strike while her opponent was off balance, Kotake fired a beam of ice, freezing the lava over and leaving the ground slippery and painful to touch.
For Link, this was the first boss fight where he'd had to worry about multiple enemies, not to mention that the sorceress sisters were crafty and intelligent as opposed to the brute monstrous strength of the previous bosses. Stepping back, Link hit the ice spreading out behind him and slipped, landing hard on his back with a pained grunt.
With an evil smile baring her small rotten teeth, Koume charged another beam of fire to sear the downed Hero before he could get up with her sister right behind, readying a spell of her own. Swearing under his breath, Dark jumped on top of Link, ripped the Mirror Shield out of his hand and held it up, hoping only to prevent his partner form getting roasted. Instead of igniting and covering the shield in thick globs of molten lava, the spell reflected right back as though it were no more then a ray of light. Kotake's shill yell of pain ripped the air as the fiery beam melted the forming ice spell right off the end of her broom stick and making the billowing frost from her hair shrink away from the intense heat.
"Fire, Ice… Ice, Fire… Dark, keep them occupied," Link murmured to his partner before getting up and running to the side and drawing out his bow. Dark just held position, grinning up at the angry witch who was glaring down at him. Not to be fooled by the same trick twice, the witches circled around to keep one of them behind. Spinning in circles it was all he could do to keep an eye on one of them. From behind he heard the sound of frigid wind blowing while Koume gathered her flames in front.
'Shit. I'm dead.'
Even if he ran there was no way he could avoid both spells and the next one after that would finish him off so he just held up his shield to at least repel one attack and maybe have a miracle. And a miracle he did receive in the form of an incendiary arrow bursting into flames upon hitting Kotake's broomstick. Her spell interrupted, the incoming jet of flames was deflected harmlessly into the wall.
From behind him, Link jumped off his pillar to run towards the different one and while Koume again tried charging a ray of fire. Kotake was about to start charging when she saw Link aiming at her sister. Cutting off her spell she raced over to knock the arrow out of the air right as Koume released her spell. Kotake's valiant defense of her sister put her within attacking distance and the reflected jet of fire collded with the hag again.
"Alright, Koume, let's get serious!" she gasped out, obviously in pain from having been struck three times.
"Oh, alright…"
The two drifted together in circles, coming closer and closer until finally merging in a burst of fire and ice, leaving behind a single woman. Through dressed in similar robes this new figure, Twinrova, looked centuries younger. The jewel on her forehead was a mix of red and blue while her hair was half a pillar of flames and half a column of ice and bearing a wand lit with the corresponding element in each hand.
Dark stared at the new being, mouth open. She was watching him; of course she knew he was staring at her breasts and only responded with a seductive wink. Steeling himself, Dark stuck out his tongue and turned to blow a kiss at Link. Twinrova was not impressed..
Levitating backwards she flicked her wand, sending a ball of flame at Dark. The fireball impacted his shield and vanished. No, not vanished, the once cool metal was now warm and humming in his grip. Tilting his arm to glance at the face, he saw that it was pulsing red with rivulets of molten lava running over the shield. Interesting that the shield could not only reflect but absorb magic as well.
Twinrova glared at Dark, raising her arm as if to strike him again but at the last instant her eyes betrayed her intentions, flicking over towards Link. Sprinting across the dais, Dark barely made it there in time to catch the fireball on his shield. Again the mirror bright metal soaked up the magic, humming even faster to the point it was almost vibrating on Dark's arm. Looking into it was like catching glimpses down the mouth of a volcano, fading in and out of existence.
"Damn these hags learn fast, don't they?" Dark whispered, using the edge of the shield to cover the movement of his mouth. Nodding, Link slipped off to the side, knocking another arrow as Dark moved around to stay behind the sorceress.
Not falling again for such petty tricks as a fire arrow, Twinrova simply bat Link's attacks aside and sent one final fireball with a flick of her wand. Facing Link, she wouldn't see Dark take the shield off his arm and she wouldn't see him hurl it to his partner like a frisbee. What she would see is the shield suddenly appear in her target's hands to absorb her last attack. Then she'd see the swirling vortex of lave as the shield reached its capacity to hold magic, releasing all the stored energy in a burning shockwave that knocked her out of the air. Dazed and confused there was little she could do to defend herself from the deep slashes Link was hacking into her from behind.
Returning to the air with blood dripping down her back from a number of cross-shaped cuts, Twinrova decided to change elements. Of course her simple ice bolt wouldn't catch the Hero off guard and when she shot a second bolt of ice at Dark, he was expecting that also, tossing the shield back to it's original user but the elemental sorceress wasn't finished yet. The mirror shield was flashing back and forth from normal metal to a raging blizzard so when she raised her fire wand, it was all Dark could do to run out of the way as waves of liquid magma spilled across the floor. It didn't end there either as she kept using fire, essentially making the charged energy in the shield useless. Then she turned towards Link
Without a full charge of energy, Dark couldn't do anything with the shield and with Twinrova watching, Link couldn't use arrows since she'd just knock them aside. Fortunately, good ideas come often to a Hero under pressure. He kept his Ice arrow trained on Twinrova and watched her smirk as though it were futile. "Hey, Dark!" he called, dropping his bow to fire the arrow at his partner. It slammed into the shield, transferring he ice energy over and putting the shield beyond its capacity. The sudden burst of super frigid air knocked Twinrova out of the sky. Link walked slowly towards her but made no attempt to draw his sword. The edge of an ebon blade was already protruding out her from behind. A despairing wail ripped the air as her body shrank into to little wisps of red and blue that became the separate forms of Koume and Kotake.
"Alright, this time we'll really get serious!" The Fire Witch shouted, ignorant of the shaft of light coming down from the heavens to envelope her.
"Uh, Koume? What's that thing over your head?"
Koume's rant started before it began as she looked up to see the halos floating above both of their heads. "I don't know, but you've got one too…"
The Sorceress Sisters sat in silence for a moment as the implications that they were dead sank in. "But I'm only 400 years old!" Koume cried with Kotake right on her heels.
"And I'm only 380!"
Pause. "We're twins Kotake, don't try to lie about your age!"
"You must have gone senile!"
"Is that any way to talk to your older sister!" Koume shouted indignantly.
"We're twins, how can you be older!"
"Keyaaaah!"
"Senile!"
"Heartless!"
"Ungratefull!"
Off to the side, Link and Dark watched the exchange in silence before Dark leaned over to whisper, "Man, they don't get along very well do they?" and Link shook his head in agreement.
"Quiet!" the sorceresses shouted before returning to their arguing, not even noticing as they drifted into the sky to vanish.
The battle over, Link attacked the Heart Container they'd left behind, devouring the sour candy before stepping into the blue ring of light that would bring them back outside. "Hmph. And he has the nerve to say I'm a messy eater," Dark scoffed once Link was safely out of earshot, then he too stepped into the light and a moment later was standing outside in the harsh sunlight that had him wincing after having been inside so long. Link would be in there for a while doing whatever it was he did with the Sages, which made it unfortunate that all the Sages Dark knew of were female. But no, he wouldn't think about that. He wouldn't think about how while he waited out obliviously outside anything could be going on. For all he knew, Link could be fucking that Gerudo chick's brains out.
"Damn it Dark, cut it out!" he screamed at himself, pounding a fist against the side of the Temple. A shadow passed overhead and a great brown owl flew down to land in front of him…
Back in the Chamber of Sages, despite Dark's worries, Link and Nabooru were have a simple conversation and were fully clothed to boot. "Well…I apologize for taking the Gauntlets," Link began hesitantly when Nabooru cut him off with a laugh.
"Woman's intuition says you've got something else on your mind. Want to talk about it?"
"It's Dark," he groaned, sitting down and resting his head in his hands as though the very mention of the boy's name made him stressed. "I don't know what to do about him. He randomly joins me out of nowhere after trying to kill me and later tells me he loves me! I admit I enjoy having him around but I just don't know how I feel or even if I can afford to feel anything. I have a duty to attend to…I could end up hurting him. I could end up dead. Worse, he could end up dead and it would be my fault! It probably sounds terrible but as much as having people die is hard to deal with, it hasn't ever been unbearable. But, I do not think I could stand losing Dark and I hate having that be the case. Where was my decision in all this? No one ever asks what I think or what I feel…people are so selfish. Then Sheik tells me that Dark is evil and will betray me and…I don't know what to think anymore."
Link sighed, his tirade over as he stared at Nabooru, asking for some kind of guidance. Already he felt better for just getting everything off his chest and for some reason talking to her just felt like the right thing to do, even for an introverted person like Link.
Naboorusat down to get on his level and stared for a minute into the depths of those beautiful blue eyes; into his very soul itself. "Well, whoever this Sheik person is, they don't know what they're talking about." That certainly knocked Link off guard. Sheik was the pillar of knowledge that had guided the Hero through his entire adult quest. Then here came Nabooru, brushing it off as inconsequential. "Next, ignoring your feelings in order to be able to do your mission? Forget it."
"But I can't afford to-" Link began when she held up a hand, silencing him.
"You asked for my advice and I'm giving it. Don't interrupt me again." She waited a moment to make sure he wouldn't start talking again before continuing her explanation. "Now, Ganondorf was taught, as all Gerudo are, that when you have a goal to kill your feelings and do only what is necessary to achieve that goal. Look where that got him. If nothing else, you want to stay away from doing things his way. Your emotions are what guide you to make the correct decisions. But, I would also take the advice of your little friend into consideration. He is far more important then you might think." In spite of her serious words, the Gerudo Sage's demeanor was anything but. With one leg crossed casually over the other and playing with her long red ponytail, she certainly didn't look all that serious.
"How…do I know that you are correct?" It probably would get him in trouble to question his new advisor but old habits of double checking die hard.
"I am the Sage of Spirit. This is what I do. Like it or not, the sad fact is that you, my handsome little hero, are incomplete. There's a part of your being that is missing and he is that one that has it. Now, Dark doesn't really need you. He could run off and become a…a mercenary or something and live his incomplete life just fine." Link grit his teeth at that insinuation but Nabooru paid it no mind, flipping the Spirit Medallion in the air like a coin; the physical representation of her power that she would give him…eventually. "In your case however, nothing less that a complete Hero can defeat the Dark Lord Ganondorf. Anything less than that is destined to fail. This means that you need him a lot more then he needs you."
Link's jaw dropped open, speechless. He needed Dark? That made sense…but the way she said it, he couldn't help but think… "Uhm, So, by needing him, I simply need to have him around?" Link asked, trying very hard to restrain his natural reaction at his question while cursing his tendency to blush.
"No! You need his influence. Face it, you are a cold person. You need a little heat to keep you balanced. Without that heat, that balance, you'll be brittle and the pressure of this journey will break you. The Hero will fail."
Coursing blood further suffused his cheeks. She still hadn't answered his question! Damned metaphors making things confusing. Though he had no real experience with it, he had the vague inkling that if he ever gave in to Dark's advances, things would get very hot. How was he supposed to know what she mean?
"D…does that…I mean, are you….suggesting that I need…a p-physical relationship to succeed?"
By now he was blushing so bad he could feel the sweat beading on his forehead from it. And he was stuttering! Why in Farore's name couldn't he talk straight? It only made the situation all the more embarrassing when Nabooru burst out laughing.
"No! No no no no no. Where on earth did you get that idea?"
Huffing, Link crossed his arms and looked away. He couldn't believe this, the Sage was laughing at him! It was just so utterly embarrassing. "He…has a tendency to flirt with me on a regular basis."
Nabooru howled, falling back against the platform and kicking her heels against the ground. "Oh! Oh, Nayru help me, that's the funniest damn thing I've ever heard! Oh what I wouldn't give to see that!" Sighing, she composed herself, wiping an errant tear from her eye. "No, don't worry Link, you need his personality to balance yours out. Like Fire and Ice. You keep him cool and under control; he keeps you warm enough to feel for yourself. Though if you did want to bed him, that's a mighty fine catch," she teased when suddenly Rauru, the Sage of Light appeared on his dais two to the left of Nabooru.
"I hope you two are done socializing because the Dark Lord has mobilized his entire army and is marching on the Temples. All of them."
Immediately, Link and Nabooru were up and alert. "I can only be in one of them to help out. Dark and I can split up if need be." Link offered and the old Light Sage nodded.
"That may be needed. We now have all the temples in possession but not under our control."
"Wait a minute, what do you mean?" Link had wondered idly what all was involved in being a Sage and Impa had hinted at some of it, but Nabooru answered.
"The Temples aren't just buildings people decided to put here. They're access points to massive amounts of energy. There are places where the energy is thick and it flows from there to the center room. As Sages, not only are we having to process all the information and abilities of the previous Sages suddenly flowing into our minds, we also have our entire temple to clean out and its power to master."
Rauru continued. "Yes. When Ganondorf came to power he killed off the previous Sages and left his own creatures to gain mastery over the Temples. If any of them had succeeded in gaining mastery over all the power in their temple, you would not have been able to defeat them. Ganondorf was able to kill the Sages since he has a great deal more experience in using his part of the Triforce. As of now, I am the only one of the Six Sages to hold full mastery over my Temple. Right now, the bulk of the dark armies marches towards the Forest Temple to prevent its Sage from taming her temple. Once she does, only the Dark Lord himself will pose a threat."
The rest of that statement was clear. "Until then, Saria is in danger."