Chapter 26: One Step Closer

"My eye!"

Link grasped his eye in pain and let out a high pitched yelp. Dark stood there with his jaw dropped as the hero frantically searched for what hit him in his face. In the process he lost his footing, being too preoccupied with his wounded pupil and fell off the ledge of the pedestal, tumbling down to stairs and finally landing in an awkward position on his back. He groaned in agony and continued to lie on the floor twitching in discomfort. Dark walked over to the wounded swordsman and put a foot on either side of his torso and looked down at him.

"Welcome back." He stated cheerfully with a grin.

"You hit me in the eye!" Link wailed angrily from the ground, "What was that?"

"Erm…" Dark muttered while glancing over to his right to see where his horrible gift had landed. He could see the glint of his earring shining a couple of feet away, "It was nothing!" He finished quickly then casually slid over in the direction of the slight sparkle.

"What are you doing?" Link asked propping himself up on his elbows from the floor and watching Dark closely.

"What are you doing?" Dark retaliated defensively while slowly stretching his right foot out to step on top of the makeshift bracelet and slide it over to him.

"…What?" Link replied confused, "That doesn't even make sense!" He then stood to his feet and walked over to Dark, looking quite irritated, "Why are you acting so weird?" He asked harshly then continued to look at him with suspicion, "I thought you'd be happy that I was back…" Link muttered sadly. He figured Dark would come running into his arms once he had returned.

"I am happy! It's just…" Dark mumbled as he stared down at the boot that concealed his embarrassing memento he planned on giving to his partner. Link noticed his eyes and glanced down to see the tail of the bracelet sticking out from underneath his foot. He raised an eyebrow at Dark then knelt down.

"Lift." He ordered simply while pushing away Dark's black boot. Dark sighed but did as he was told and moved his leg to the side. He crossed his arms and huffed while avoiding Link's gaze, "What's this?" Link asked softly with a grin.

"I know… it's shitty…" He mumbled through a fierce blush, "I wanted to give you something..."

Link fumbled with the gift in his hand noticing it was made from thin strips of leather. As he was observing this he caught sight of Dark's boot and noticed the laces were much shorter than on his other one. He chuckled to himself and started looking curiously at the silvery-blue hoop dangling from the strap. Link glanced up to Dark who was still looking quite embarrassed and noticed his earring was gone. He lifted his finger up to touch his own and then with a smile slid the item onto his wrist, "I love it."

Dark's jaw dropped and his eyes widened with shock, "W-what?"

"I love it." Link repeated while holding his arm in front of him to look it over once more, "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"You're… you're just saying that…" Dark replied with a frown. Link scowled at him and shook his head.

"I most certainly am not! I appreciate that you would take the time to make me something." Link answered sincerely. Dark relaxed and let out a sigh of relief then slowly but surely a smile crept upon his lips.

"Well… I really liked it when I first made it. But after a while I thought it was silly." Dark replied with a shrug.

"It's perfect." Link whispered softly.

"OH SHUT UP!" Navi squealed infuriated with the sappy moment between the two boys. Link scowled and turned to face the bratty fairy.

"Listen, you! I'm sick of your resentment towards me and Dark!" Link shouted furiously, "You are just going to have to get used to it little missy because i… i…" Link trailed off. Navi's eye began to twitch as she fearfully awaited what Link was going to say. Dark's ears perked up and he began to grin wildly, wanting Link to hurry up and finish his sentence.

"Because i…" Link mumbled glancing from Dark to Navi and then to his feet, "Because I said so!" He said quickly then started to march towards the exit; his face flushing a deep pink. Dark frowned and Navi stuck her tongue out at him childishly. He was about to swat her but she flew away quickly in Link's direction while snickering evilly.

"Hey Link!" Dark called after him, "You didn't even tell me about the temple!"

"It wasn't so bad…" Link said thoughtfully with his hand to his chin, "There were more puzzles than enemies."

"Is that so? By the looks of your tunic, I'd say otherwise." Dark stated abruptly while ripping at Link's bloodied shirt to look at his chest. He gasped when he saw nothing but a faded diagonal scar, "What the hell?"

"I had to use a fairy." Link replied, "But fairies don't clean your clothes in the process…" He laughed while pulling out his ocarina.

"Aww, we're leaving already…" Dark groaned while slumping over and trudging closer to Link, draping his arms around him to prepare to teleport.

"We have to save Nabooru!" Link replied quickly while pulling Dark over.

"Who?"

"I'll tell you later! Hold on tight."

"Where'd you get those gauntlets?"

Once the pair arrived at the Spirit Temple Link dashed inside leaving Dark behind. He was eager to hurry up and finish to see if Nabooru was alright. Upon entering, he immediately rushed to the right side of the room where the large stone was blocking the passageway.

"How do you suppose you are going to move that, hero?" Dark muttered sarcastically while crossing his arms. He was irritated that Link was in such a rush. Link glanced down at the shining silver plating along his new gauntlets. Even though he could feel the energy of the magic withheld in them, he still had his doubts.

"I guess we're going to find out." Link replied with a smirk and placed his hands on the large block. He took a mere step forward pushing with all of his might and was surprised to see that the massive stone was actually budging. Even with the magical gauntlets it was still quite a task and he was breathing quite heavily to get the block to move. Eventually, the stone fell into a large hole, creating a bridge to another room. Link turned around to face Dark with a hand on his hip, obviously proud of himself. Dark stood there wide eyed with his jaw dropped in utter disbelief of what the hero had just accomplished.

"Get me some of those!" He finally sputtered as he followed Link into the next room. Link looked around curiously as he observed the new area.

"Wow… it's almost identical…" Link muttered as he took in the details of the space. Just as the first room as a child there was a staircase leading up to an area with two doors barred shut; however, instead of a hole in between the two doors for a child to squeeze through there was a locked door. Instead of an Armos in the middle there was a beamos and Link happened to see a diamond switch on the ceiling. Dark must have seen it first because before Link could react he saw the chain of a hookshot barreling out of its chamber and clinking against the switch. The barred doors opened and they entered the left, first.

After killing a pesky wolfos, Link noticed a golden triforce on the floor and immediately knew to play the melody of the Hyrule family. The notes echoed across the room and a large chest fell from the ceiling on a platform on the opposite side. There was no ladder or wall to climb to get to it so Link used his longshot to hook to the chest, thus opening it to retrieve the dungeon map.

"Have you ever wondered why all of these temples just so happen to have a map and a compass to help you out?..." Dark muttered slowly, afraid the goddesses might strike him dead for asking such a question.

"I'm not sure…" Link answered thoughtfully, "I just assumed the sages put them here to help me or something… why must you ask such questions!"

"Sorry…" Dark grumbled as they exited out the door and to the previous room. They went through the entrance on the opposite side to reveal an area with many boulders running horizontally across the hall. Dark sighed as he realized what they were going to have to do in order to conquer this room, "You know these puzzles are just a tease… when you see a silver rupee you automatically think you've hit the big ones… but no they disappear into thin air… just like magical chests that fall from the sky and—

"Dark shut up!" Link shouted, annoyed with Dark's sudden questioning. The two began dodging the oncoming boulders to collect the beautiful gems until the door on the other side opened and they were allowed entry into the next room. There was a chest in the middle of the floor and Link immediately ran to open it until he heard Dark shout from behind him.

"SLUG!" Dark shrieked as he ran quickly from an on-coming Like-Like. Link couldn't help but chuckle as he opened the chest, while Dark ran frantically in circles. He pulled out the small key and grabbed Dark's arm then they retreated through the exit. They returned to the very first area with the locked door and used their newly found key to open it. They entered a narrow corridor with nothing except a few pots on the side and some torches on the wall to light the way. Link shouted in surprise as a pot came flying towards him, ducking just in time for it to crash against the wall.

"Ghost pots?" Dark shouted, "What is this world coming to?"

At the end of the hall there was a rough and jagged looking wall with a few misplaced stones jutting from the side.

"Guess, we're going to have to climb." Dark said cheerfully then started up the steep wall.

"Be careful Dark…" Link muttered as he followed behind, "I almost fell off a wall just like this as a child."

Once at the top, they came across a new area with a large golden carpet spread out across the floor. It was detailed with beautiful red embroidery and there was a large cobra statue in the middle with a mirror on its chest. There were 4 suns placed along the left and front walls as well as a large window allowing the bright desert light to shine through. Dark started to walk towards the large cobra when he was suddenly attacked by an invisible force that sent him tumbling to the wall behind him.

"What the fuck was that?" He shrieked as he drew his sword. Link looked around frantically and before he knew it he was ambushed and sent flying across the room as well. Link fumbled for his lens of truth as he lay awkwardly on the ground. When he finally had it in his hand he felt something large grasp onto the back of his tunic and start dragging him across the floor. Dark watched in shock as he watched Link get pulled along by something he couldn't even see.

"Dark!" Link shouted, "Here!" He tossed the lens in Dark's direction praying that he would catch it. Dark dove out to grab it, catching the item just before it crashed to the ground to thousands of pieces. He held up the item and peered through the glass to see Link getting hauled by a floormaster. He leapt forward and began slashing violently at the beast until it was belittled to a mess of chunks and goo. Link stood up, rubbing his neck and nodded appreciatively at Dark.

"Thanks…" He muttered with a weak smirk. Dark just smiled proudly and began observing the possibilities in the room.

"I've seen this before." Link said as he glanced around at the suns on the wall, "I guess we have to turn this mirror so it'll reflect light onto one of these suns… hence opening the door…"

"Which sun?"

"I don't know… let's just try them all." Link suggested. He and Dark began pushing the mirror and once the light was reflected upon the first sun it started to smoke then disintegrated into a burst of flames. Link and Dark looked to each other wearily and then continued pushing. The second mirror followed the same pattern but the third opened its eyes and the tails of flame on the circumference of the sun started to spin. Link grinned successfully and the pair headed out the newly opened door.

The next room was the main area of the entire temple. Dark began to gawk immediately at the enormous Gerudo statue in the middle of the room. She sat cross legged with her hands out to her sides in a Buda-like stance. They ran up a flight of stairs to reveal a locked door. Dark huffed angrily at how tedious this temple was starting to become and Link scanned the area for any clues. He soon spotted the triforce symbol on the statue's right palm and knew he needed to get over there somehow. They were standing on a high ledge and the hand was about 10 feet away. He frowned as he thought of his possibilities then used his hover boots to cross the gap, leaving Dark behind to wait. Once he was standing on the large woman's palm he glanced back to Dark who was mimicking the statue's stance and emitting a low hum. He rolled his eyes at the obnoxious boy and played Zelda's lullaby triggering another chest to fall from the ceiling onto the other palm. The hover boots would surely not reach to the other side due to the vast size of the structure, so he whipped out his longshot to give it a go. On his first try it didn't reach, and found himself having to stand at the very edge of the giant hand for the chain to finally hook to the chest. Once he was on the other side, he opened the chest and received a small key. He then returned to Dark who was still pretending to meditate and they went through the locked door that stood behind them.

A/N: Okay, I know it was short. But it really was 6 pages in a word document… okay 5 and a half. Um, I didn't finish it because I've been really busy this weekend. So… maybe there will be more than 30 chapters after all. I would feel terrible if I didn't post something today after I made a big statement about how I would. So here. Please don't be mad.