A/N: Hopefully I can get this one done and uploaded faster than the last one. Sorry, again, for taking two months to put the new chapter 8 up. :P

Rewritten as of 7/08/13, completed as of 10/11/13

Chapter 9: Primates and Parasites

"Hey Rose, you okay?" I heard Bethany ask. I absently nodded my head at her as we entered the room with the indoor wind bridge. I was, I was just getting big waves of memories at a time. Like before, short and fast, never giving me time to process them. Also as before, even trying to make sense of one memory before another came was giving me a headache. So, I was trying to tune them out and focus on the stuff around me.

"Yeah, fine. Just trying to figure out this stuff in my head." I replied, walking across the wind-bridge that Link had just turned. Aside from the memories, I felt really burnt out, honestly. We'd been going and going for the past few days, Link and I, and it was taking its toll on my body. I'd put it off to the side for now, we still had a job to do.

We climbed up the ledge that led to the door in front of us, and a chill swept over me as we entered the new room.

For the most part, it was just a big, dark hole. There were wind bridges to our right, vines to climb and another door, and to the left there was a large were several flat mushroom-like growths, most of which were occupied by the monkeys that we'd saved. There were three empty spots left. Three more monkeys. Midna came up from Link's shadow when we saw this.

"I guess in order to check out the rest of the temple we need the help of the monkeys." she stated. I nodded.

"It certainly looks that way." I agreed as she jumped back into the shadows. I pulled my phone out to check the map again. "Well, there's three rooms. One's locked. Should we split up again? They key to this room here," I pointed to the locked one. "Is in one of the others, and we'd be finished in here sooner."

Honestly, the whole thing was more dangerous and a heck of a lot less fun when you were living it out, as I was quickly learning, and at the moment I wanted nothing more than to just get out. I didn't even want to think about the other 'temples' ahead of us. The forest temple had never been hard, in fact it was probably one of the easiest. But the lakebed temple, or the city in the sky, those were just plain painful.

Goddesses help me.

So the pairs were the same as the last time we split up, and Bethany and I were headed to the room on the upper right, while Link went back with Midna. It took a bit of convincing on my part to get Bethany to climb the vines to the next level, as she doubted their ability to hold her. Heck, she didn't come within three feet of the vines until I'd cleared the walltulas away. We did have a good laugh when we tricked the Bokoblin into walking off the edge of the platform, though.

"Just climb it already, Bethany!"

"I don't trust it."

"But I climbed the same kind of vines in the village, and-"

"That was in Ordon."

"The same thing applies, Beth-"

"No, it doesn't. These ones have been here longer, for all you know they could be gross and noodle-y, and not hold my weight."

I sighed, slapping my hand to my face. This was getting nowhere fast.

"Fine, watch me." I said, taking a handful of the ropelike vines in my hand and hoisting myself up, letting my feet get purchase when they could and continuing to pull myself up with my hands, until I could clamber onto the midway platform. I poked my head over the edge, beckoning her up.

"Get your butt up here, if these vines can hold me I'm sure they can hold you." I ordered. Bethany sighed, but quickly joined me on the platform. I knew there was a Bokoblin up top, and Bethany waited on the platform while I climbed up to take care of it. It was dispatched quickly enough, and I was moving on autopilot as I pushed the round door open.

There were two large pools on either side of the room, with a pillar conveniently placed to reach the chest on the far right. But, there was a Deku Like. At a quick look I saw two Baba Serpents and one...dead, as I quickly confirmed, Deku Baba. One was quickly sent away -into the water, which was an unexpected plus- with a slash of my sword, and Bethany actually stunned the second one by throwing the head of the dead Deku Baba at it. I only raised my eyebrow at her as I slashed at the second one, wincing at the black ooze on my blade when it was finished.

"Is it just me, or does that remind you of the Leviathans?" Bethany asked, shuddering. I gave her a confused look. The only Leviathans I knew of were those...things, from Metroid.

"If you're referring to the phazon seed Leviathans, then no." I shook my head, moving towards the right of the room, where the chest with the key was, and the Deku Like that blocked the way.

"I mean the ones from Supernatural, dummy." I could practically hear my friend rolling her eyes at the back of my head. Ah, those Leviathans. I remembered them, creepy bastards.

"Yeah, the black ooze is...disturbingly familiar." I admitted absently as I looked at the small plateau that held the chest. It was elevated, about a foot from the water-level. "Hey, d'you think I'd be able to pull myself up there from the water?" I asked, pointing to it as I turned back to Bethany.

Link still had the boomerang, he needed it to get to the other unlocked room. That was the one with the tile-worms, if I was right. I certainly didn't envy Link for the task of rescuing a monkey from that particular room. I only hoped Midna would help, make sure he didn't get too badly hurt if at all.

I didn't hear Bethany's answer, if she even gave one, as I unstrapped my effects, setting them on the ground before slipping into the water. I treaded on the spot for a few seconds, keeping my head in the air as I tried to keep quiet, waiting to adjust to the cool temperature of the water. Well, that's an understatement, actually. It was really cold. I think I was given a life-lesson on why you shouldn't go swimming so close to fall, or winter. By a tree. I'm pretty sure it's the Deku tree, but still. Because it's cold. Then I was used to it, after who-knows-how-long, and I started to move my cold-stiffened limbs, the feeling returning to them quickly.

"Remind me why you're not just getting a bombling, or using Farore's wind?" Bethany asked from behind me. I waved a hand, as though to bat away her questions, as I pulled myself up onto the plateau with some difficulty.

"Because. I'm burning out, like Link's Magic-Meter in Ocarina of Time." I explained, nearly biting my tongue as I stopped my teeth from chattering as I spoke. "It's like... my batteries are running low, they need to recharge." I finished lamely, opening the chest and grabbing the key. "Think fast," I called, before tossing the key. Bethany caught it, I knew she would, but then she gave me that 'what do you expect me to do with this' look.

"Go back to the room with the monkeys. I'm sure Link's nearly finished, I'll meet you back there." I suggested. Bethany opened her mouth to protest, but I silenced her with a look. "I'll free the monkey, and meet you back there." I insisted. There was a contemplative silence for several moments, in reply, before my closest friend gave me a terse nod.

"If you get hurt..." her warning was left hanging, the meaning clear as she walked back to the door. I knew that there was truth in the fact that if I did get hurt, I'd be in trouble with her.

"Yeah yeah, love you too." I called dismissively as the door rolled closed behind her. As soon as the door was closed, I let out a heavy breath that I'd been holding in, and it came out as more of a breathy squeak as I returned to the water to cross back over to the other side.

If I were asked, I had no idea what I was planning to do. I just figured that it would be...safer, if Bethany was some distance away when I put a plan into action. That being said, it probably wouldn't be a very good plan.

The moment I was on dry land, I was strapping my stuff back on, yanking my cloak out of my bag and throwing it over my back. With the task of -somewhat- drying off out of the way, I looked around the room to figure out my next move.

'Hm, I can't just climb up. That boulder's in the way. But then, I don't have the Gale Boomerang, so I can't just use a bombling to blow it to kingdom come either.' I but my lip as I considered this, frowning in thought as water dripped onto the ground, making a soft pattering on the ground. 'Maybe if there was a hand-hold on the ledge, I could inch across and climb up...' I mused, eying the ledge.

"But how do I free the monkey?" I demanded aloud, my voice bouncing back to me - along with the sound of a Baba Serpent awakening. Right in front of me. I hadn't noticed, but I'd begun to pace as I thought, which, I guess, brought me close enough to sense.

As ashamed as I am to say, my initial reaction was a girlish scream as I skittered back several steps. Even with all the monster-fighting I'd done lately, I was almost as jumpy as Bethany's kitten, Cas.

I didn't have time to think on that, as I saw the Baba Serpent lunging towards me. The only thing I could do in time was raise my sword, and that was all I needed to do. The carnivorous plant was moving too fast to stop, and my blade ended up piercing through its throat as it impaled itself.

My pulse was thundering in my ears, pumping adrenaline through my veins as I tried to calm myself. With a jerk of my arm, my sword was free. And bloody. Suppressing a gag, I wiped the blade off on the corner of my cloak. I'd probably have to wash it soon, with how things seemed to be going.

Then I got an idea. Bomblings were activated by direct force, but in the fight with Diababa, I remembered Ook holding bomblings by their legs and no fuse burning.

See, in a cartoon this would be the moment when a lightbulb would appear above the character's head.

Everything was planned out and ready. I'd cut off a few lengths of vine to use as a rope, now I just needed to get the bomblings. As burnt out as I was, I'd have to use Farore's Wind to reach the nest. Which, I did. I managed to rope up two of the bomblings without activating before I had to go back. I left one on the ground gingerly, knowing that if its fuse started burning it would be...problematic. The other one I took with me as I approached the ledge.

Once I got it sparking, I lobbed the explosive pest onto the ledge beside the boulder. I took several steps back, crouched, and raised my shield in front of me in case of flying debris.

Boom!

The ground shook, and there was the sound of rocks clattering against wood, and each other. When I lifted my head, I saw the rock was gone, shattered into a million pieces.

Dirt and dust hung heavy in the air, sticking to my damp skin and hair, and caused me to cough when I inhaled.

"Well, that was effective." I said to myself, wiping the wet dirt off my face. I saw the Bokoblin guarding the monkey as it ran up to the edge to investigate the explosion, noticed me, and started the usual 'angrily scream, then jump down to attack the intruder' routine.

"Here we go again..." I sighed.

Boom!

With a second slightly-more-deafening explosion, after having lugged the second bombling onto the ledge and thrown it at the rock, the monkey was free.

"Y'know what?" I asked, my voice coming out breathless as the monkey squeaked happily. "You l're lucky that we need all of you little buggers to get out of here, because I'm never doing that again." I answered myself as we climbed down to get out of the room.

The monkey just squeaked at me.

"Well it's about time you came out!" Bethany hollered at me from below. "I was just about to come get you myself!" her voice echoed in the cavernous room.

"I don't doubt you, Bethany." I responded, my voice just a bit quieter as I made to descend to the bottom level. I met her and Link halfway, on the bridges, and that was when I noticed something; all of the monkeys were in their places now.

"Did I really take that long?" I asked incredulously. Long enough for Link to come back, get the key from Bethany, and rescue the monkey from the room filled with giant spiders?

"Yep. Slowpoke." Bethany teased, elbowing me in the ribs lightly. "...you alright?" She asked. I nodded, but my hands unconsciously clenched I to fists when I saw the monkeys start to move, climbing up the tree and onto the high branch in the middle of the bottomless pit that separated us from Diababa. I knew we'd be crossing that bottomless pit soon, and it made my stomach flip anxiously.

"Did you remember to grab the Big Key?" I asked as we watched the monkeys make their little living chain, to help us across.

"Not yet, but I remember seeing the chest, I know how to get it." Link said. And so, he was gone again a few seconds later, while I was left warding off an impending panic attack at what was about to happen.

"You sure you're alright?" I heard Bethany ask when I resorted to deep breaths to calm myself. I nodded at her, but was still very pointedly not looking to where the monkeys were still swinging.

I don't think I convinced her.

"I'd suggest that you hang back, but something tells me Link's gonna need you to help him take out that ugly bugger on the next room." she said, and I sighed as I heard the concern and sympathy in her voice. I didn't want either.

"I know, and I also know that at some point I'm gonna have to get over this silly fear. Pretty quickly, actually," I sighed again. With the upcoming 'adventure', there would be a lot of high climbing, definitely more than I could currently handle. I barely maneuvered around Hyrule Castle to get to Zelda, how would I handle Snowpeak, or the City in the Sky? Hell, even the Water Temple had bottomless pits. Ugh. I wasn't cut out for this.

'Apparently the goddesses thought you were, otherwise you wouldn't have a Triforce piece, would you?' a part of my mind whispered. I mentally shrugged at it. 'Wait... if there's four pieces, wouldn't it be a Tetraforce?' it added. I shrugged again.

Bethany's voice brought me back to reality as she asked, "And until you do get over it?" I shrugged noncommittally at her.

"I'll just have to grin and bear it, and not look down."

From then on, we sat in silence until Link returned with an evil-looking key clutched in one hand. The design, though more detailed than the game let on, seemed unconventional. More for looks than functionality.

"Is it just me, or does this all seem just a bit too easy?"Bethany asked, looking closely at the key. I shrugged at her.

"I can deal with it, so long as it gets us out of here." I said, though I could feel panic rising in my chest, at the thought of what was gonna happen next. But, I did my best to force it down. "So, who's going first?" I asked, turning to the monkeys again and secretly feeling proud that I'd kept my voice from squeaking or cracking. Link silently volunteered by stepping up to the ede. I heard him take a deep breath, wait for the monkeys to swing in our direction, before leaping off the edge.

My breath caught in my throat, and it went out in a 'whoosh' when the monkey at the bottom grabbed Link's hands, swung him to the other side and let go. He landed loudly, falling into a somersault on the other side. He made it look so easy!

"If I die, I'm coping back to haunt you." I muttered to Bethany with a shaky breath.

"Then it's a good thing you're not gonna die, I don't want my best friend going vengeful on me." she teased, and I rolled my eyes.

"Right. Here we go..." I took a few steps back from the edge as I watched them swing. Forward...back...forward...back...forward...now!

Before I could lose my already-dwindling nerve, I shot forward the few steps I'd taken back and jumped. There were a few paralyzing moments where I was in the air with nothing holding me and nothing below me, before I felt the lowest monkey's grip on my hands. Then I was swinging for a second or three, and I was flying and falling again. I made a fearful noise at this realization, and when I neared the other edge, I quickly used Farore's wind to soften my landing, and to land me far from the edge.

I probably could have made it without the use of my magic, but I hadn't wanted to take that chance. "Are you alright?" Link asked. As I tried to get my breathing regulated, wait for my frantic heartbeat to slow, and the irritation to pass at constantly being asked that question lately, I nodded my head. It was quickly becoming apparent that I shouldn't have used my magic again.

"Just... Just give me a minute." I said, taking a moment to rest against the wall as we waited for Bethany to come across.

And when she did, in a typical Bethany fashion, she made sure anything and everything still alive in the temple heard her. Unlike me, Bethany was a total adrenaline junkie who had no problem (now, anyways, as I recall her saying earlier something about not putting her life in the hands of monkeys) free-jumping into the air above a bottomless pit.

When she landed, taking several steadying steps to slow herself, I said, "You're definitely insane." She grinned at me.

"Absolutely." she said in agreement. "So, should we-" I opened my eyes at her pause, and saw the curiosity on her face. "What's that?" she asked. I looked to where she was looking, and saw a light pink glow coming from a ceramic jar on the floor. A fairy!

Reaching my hand into the opening of the dar, I gently cupped it around the fairy and lifted it out. Its wings were a little hard to get out without hurting the fairy, which I theorized was the reason it had gotten stuck in the first place. It fluttered happily around me, its little pink light glowing brighter for a few seconds before it took to the air and started fluttering around me.

My skin tingled as it circled, and when it was finished I felt wide awake, my body no longer protesting me being on my feet. I turned to Bethany, gaping open-mouthed at what had just happened.

"I've never seen a fairy before. That was..." I trailed off, looking down at my hands. My wrists no longer ached where the manacles had cut into them, and the puncture wounds in my arm were the same. "Wow."

I snapped back to the task at hand - that was, opening this door with the big key- and saw that the key Link once held was floating up and into the lock of its own accord.

Magic. There was just no figuring it out.

With a series of mechanical clicks as the key inserted and twisted itself, the lock fell with a ground-shaking crash.

That had been easier that I'd thought. Well, now there was just the matter of rolling the giant doors out of the way. Easy, right?

It had taken a combined effort to roll the large wooden plate-doors out of the way, and given their size, we'd only been able to roll them one at a time, and were nearly crushed by the first plate as we rolled the second one, when it decided to roll down again.

And I swear I heard Link say, "This place is a death trap." I wanted to laugh, but at the same time I agreed.

'Just wait til we get to the next temple, Link,' I thought. Now we were in the "Boss Chamber", and I was anxiously waiting for the parasite, Diababa, to rear its ugly heads.

At the same time, I was trying to put together a battle plan to get this over and done with as quickly as possible. There wasn't much I could do about the first part, I didn't have the Gale Boomerang, but the second part... Well, I had my bow and arrows, but I only had a few left. Like... ten. That would be enought to take out the big head, we'd only need to hit the thing three times. I just had to not miss too many times.

I watched as the murky purple water beganto bubble in two places before us. I belatedly noticed that the entire room smelled. Though, that was probably because of Diababa. Moments later, the two smaller heads surfaced, sending the water splashing onto the dry ground in front of us. The places the water hit seemed to hiss, like the water was burning it. Corrosive and acidic, then. Perfect.

"Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear." I mused. I caught Link's confused look in the corner of my eye, promising, "When we've got time, I'll tell you all about it." with a shrug. I saw one of the heads wiggle, like a cat settling on its haunches before it pounced, and I remembered it as a telltale sign of a lunge moments before it did so. Before I could even warn Link to watch out, as it seemed to want to attack him, he was rolling out of the way. I realized I'd underestimated his reaction time.

And suddenly I was being tackled by my best friend, and I felt the rush of air where I'd been standing moments earlier. Right, there were two heads right now.

"Thanks!" I gasped out, pulling both of us to our feet.

"Both of you stay back," Link called to us. That had been the plan, actually, since there wasn't much either of us could do quite yet.

Link took out the two smaller heads without a fuss, and when they submerged into the toxic water again, I got my bow and arrow out and ready.

"Link, you mught want to move back here." I called to him when I saw the water bubbing again. As far as my memories knew, Diababa's third head was about to violently emerge from the water; and if that water was like a burning acid, I didn't want Link to get hurt.

Now the three of us were grouped at the door, and the heads had re-emerged from the water. The third head, the middle head, seemed to roar, an eye being exposed in its mouth during the action. I made a "Why?" gesture.

"There is... No feasible way that that could even work!" I muttered.

"Well what do you expect?" Bethany demanded. There was an unspoken "it's a Zelda game!" in her tone, and I shrugged before getting my head back in the game - both literally and figuratively- when I saw the middle head rear its - well, itself back. I knew what came next, and I was prepared to run in case the creature's range was longer than the game depicted.

Thankfully, when the anticipated spray of corrosive acid didn't reach us where we were pressed against the door, when Diababa tried to hit us with it.

"Any ideas on how to take this thing out without the bomblings?" Link asked when the spray receded. I gestured with my free hand to my bow.

"If I can hit the middle head's eye, it'll go down long enough for us to attack. But we can't take out the other two without-" My explanation was suddenly halted by an obnoxious screech to our right.

Ook, the monkey we'd fought and freed earlier, was standing in what looked like a mine shaft up high on the right wall, with a bombling in his hand.

"Well, without those." I finished.

My plan to shoot Diababa in the eye with an arrow went mostly well. I missed a few times, but finally managed to get it just as Link hit it in the side of the head with a bombling. THe middle head lurched forward, shaking the ground when it impaged.

"The eye's its weak spot!" I said unneccesarily, seeing as Link was way ahead of me with his sword drawn up. Diababa writhed and shrieked -I still have no idea how it even did that- when he started to slash at the eye, and I ooked away with a shudder when said eye began to bleed a purple-black ooze. It was times like this where I missed the days when it was just a game.

After mayve a dozen hits, the head straightened up again, the other two resurfacing a third time. Now it was time for the "wash, rinse, repeat" part.

"Whoo! Take that, you ugly bugger!" Bethany whooped when we made the final blow to the parasite's eye. It writhed and thrashed for several seconds, like it wasn't willing to admit defeat, splashing the ground and the walls. Then it started to shrivel in on itself, its colours draining away until it was just a dead, shriveled husk.

Then it exploded into hundreds of little black squares, Twilight Squares as I'd come to call them, which floated aimlessly for a moment before coming together through some unseen force to form our first piece of the Fused Shadows. It floated down until it was hovering in front of us, maybe a foot away. Something in me was practically screaming for me to just reach out and touch it.

I didn't realize I was reaching out until a gloved hand closed around my wrist, stopping me. I blinked in surprise, realizing what I'd been about to do.

"You did it!" Midna said as she came up from the shadows. "That's...what I was looking for." she stated.

"What is it?" Link asked.

"That's a Fused Shadow. It's what the light spirit called dark power..." Midna explained, using her magic hair to pick it up. "Do you remember what that spirit said, about how you had to match the power of the king of shadows? Could it really be so easy? Is this all there is to it? Eee hee hee!" she giggled.

"If you thought this was easy, I really don't want to know what you'd classify as hard.." Bethany muttered under her breath. Midna ignored her, which I kind of came to expect at this point.

"There's a total of three Fused Shadows. I think the other light spirits have the rest...If you want to know exactly what Fused Shadows are... Well, maybe I'll tell you if you find the other two. I guess you'd better do your best to find them, huh? Eee hee hee! So let's not waste any more time here when we could be looking for the other two... I'll get you out of here..." she said, floating to an open spot behind us and opening portal on the floor.

"Want to go outside? Are you all done here?" she asked. We all nodded, walking onto the blue portal. Then the familiar feeling of being broken into many pieces, and being formed together again somewhere else made my vision go white, before I was in the Spirit Spring of Faron Woods. Then the peaceful ethereal voice of Faron sounded in the spring.

"Heroic Link, Brave Rose... Do not think that Hyrule is now saved from the spread of twilight..." Faron breathed. "Leave these woods and go to the west, where you will find the land protected by the spirit Eldin. There you will find those you seek, as well as the second traveler from another world..."

Technically, whoever was in the Eldin region was the third traveler, but I wasn't about to go correcting a light spirit.

"But know that these lands lie in twilight... They are now a dark realm covered by the clouds of dusk. Link.. If you set foot beyond the curtains of twilight, you will revert to your beast form, so be prepared. Hero chosen by the gods, leave these woods and go west, to the land of the spirit Eldin..." Then his voice faded away to the noises of the forest.

Midna once again materialized out of nowhere.

"That's better. Searching should be much easier now. Eee hee! But... Of course, you feel the need to go help the other light spirits, don't you?" she asked rhetorically. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, don't worry Link. When you turn into a beast again, I'll take good care of you. The first thing you need to do is find the land covered in twilight. Once you do, I'll help you out. Eee hee hee! See you later!" she said with her typical parting giggle, disappearing once again. Then a thought struck my mind.

"What are we going to do about Bethany? What if she turns into a spirit? She won't know where to..." I trailed off at my best friend's offended expression.

"I know how to get to Kakariko, I'll just follow the path there while you take out the monsters." she said firmly. I sighed slightly. She did know a lot about this game, though not as much as I did. I finally, after considering it, nodded my head. Albeit reluctantly.

"Okay, let's go." I said, turning to the North, where Hyrule Field lied in wait.

A/N: I feel like I'm apologizing each time I put a new chapter up, for taking so long. But, here you have it!