Chapter Twenty Three
"What is this place?" Canvas whispered as they walked through the door. The entire room seemed sacred, like you weren't allowed to speak above the hushed whisper she had used.
"The Temple of Time. That's where I pulled the Master Sword out." Time answered, pointing to the pedestal in front of them. Next to him was Mask, rubbing his forehead. Apparently even just the small pass through the Sacred Realm to get from Termina to here was enough to cause a small headache. It didn't look as bad as it had before though.
"It looks like we're in my adult timeline," Time continued. "Which means we should be prepared for Castle Town to be-"
"Overrun with Redeads?" Shad shuddered. "I remember."
"At least you've never seen the inside of one." Spirit joined him in shuddering.
"Where do we go first?" Mini asked.
"Let's go outside and let Fi dowse for a bit. Once we know how many things are in this time that we need, then we'll decide." Sky suggested.
The rest of the group nodded and followed Time and Sheik as they led the way through the doors.
Outside the Temple, the world seemed barren, depressing.
Byrne raised an eyebrow at the sight of the broken town in front of them, filled with shuffling Redeads. "And here I thought the Dark Realm was depressing."
"It used to be worse. Awakening the Sages has helped throughout Hyrule, but Castle Town is still…broken." Sheik sighed.
"Over there is where I saw them take the statue of Zelda." Shad said, pointing ahead of them, just past the town where they could see the top of a dark castle above a cliff.
"That's Hyrule Castle, now Ganondorf's castle. If she's in there, it'll be a tough fight." Mask said, crossing his arms.
"You heard the Goddess of Time though! The more people who fell through time that we save, the more we help her!" Ciela trilled.
"And I'm not saying that we won't, I'm saying we should be prepared." he huffed at her.
"Dowsing complete Master." Fi's voice interrupted them, cutting off Ciela's reply.
The group turned to look at Sky's sword which glowed again as Fi spun out.
"There are currently two Triforce Pieces located in this time period, a Triforce of Courage and a Triforce of Wisdom."
"That makes me feel better after what happened in Termina." Merge said, "Where are they?"
Fi turned, pointing towards the volcano in the distance, "One is in this direction, seemingly at the base of the volcano. The other is in this direction." She turned almost a complete 180, her flowing arm held out straight in front of her.
"That sounds like Kakariko for the first one." Sheik said, "As for the other-"
"It could be Lon Lon Ranch, the desert, the Spirit Temple, anything in between." Time finished, lips pressed together tightly, "I can warp us to both Temples, save some time?"
"What about my Zelda?" Mini spoke up, looking at him with wide eyes, "She's right there! Why can't we save her first?!"
"Thank you Fi." Sky told his friend. She nodded and went back into his sword before Sky knelt down in front of Mini, "Hey, I know all about wanting to save Zelda, ok? And we will, I promise. We won't stop until we get her back."
"I should hope so." Ezlo huffed, sitting up on Mini's head, "She's been a statue long enough!"
"Maybe we split up?" Tael suggested. "Send our best fighters to rescue Zelda and the others to get a Triforce Piece?"
"If you think I'm letting you wander off without me again then-"
"Sis! Calm down! I wasn't suggesting that you and I split up!" Tael groaned, "Why do you have to be so paranoid?!"
"I think I have a right to be considering-"
"Both of you shut up!" Ciela snapped at them, "We don't have time to bicker anymore! We already lost one Triforce Piece, and the freaking moon, we can't lose anymore!"
"She's right." Light joined in, glaring at the two fairies, "We don't know much longer we have until time collapses from Ganondorf's attacks. We need to move now. Splitting up makes the most sense."
"I agree." Grace said, "As much as we may not like it, it's the best plan."
"So who goes where?" Pipit asked, "Only a few of us know where everything is in this time."
"I have to go with whatever group goes after the Triforce piece." Sky stood back up, facing them, "Fi has to dowse for it and I refuse to let go of her again."
"At least one person from this time should go with you." Sheik said.
"I can do it." Time volunteered, "I know Hyrule really well, but not the castle. Mask is the one that actually explored it. He'd be the best to guide you through."
"I thought we agreed to stick together for the sake of avoiding my migraines?" Mask raised an eyebrow at his younger self.
Time shrugged, "Your memories fill in with mine as we go, provided neither of us hop timelines again. That should be good enough, right?"
He snorted, "Fine, just don't go dying on me, ok? You die, I die."
"Same goes for you. I don't want to hear about my death in the future and then willingly walk towards it when the time comes. It would be a really weird suicide."
"Is it considered suicide if I was killed by someone else and you just knew about it before hand?"
"Well, I'm not sure I can be an accessory to my own murder…"
"Maybe it would just be considered a self-inflicted homicide?" Shad put in helpfully.
"How is that any different from suicide?" Mask asked.
Shad shrugged, "Suicide is death by your own hand. Homicide is death by someone else's hand."
"Could we not discuss language right now?" Canvas sighed, but was smirking slightly, "Not that it isn't fascinating, but there is another version of me that needs rescuing so…"
"Right, back on track! Yeah, I'll lead the group through the castle." Mask raised his hand.
"I'll go with you." Sheik said.
Navi bobbed in the air before flying to Time's side, "I'll stay with Time! I won't be much help in a fight, but I can help navigate across Hyrule!"
Wind raised a hand, "I'll go with the group to the castle."
"I'll join you." Tetra said, both of them going to stand with Mask and Sheik.
After that everyone began sorting themselves into the two groups, trying to keep it even.
In the end it ended up with Sky, Time, Navi, Fi, Pipit, Medli, Quill, Ravio, Sheerow, Irene, Flute, Spirit, and Light going to find the Triforce Piece.
Mask, Sheik, Wind, Tetra, Grace, Impa, Merge, Canvas, Ciela, Leaf, Neri, Tatl, Tael, Byrne, Beast, Mini, Ezlo, Midna, Shad, Revali, and Urbosa were headed for the castle.
"That's settled then." Light looked at the two groups proudly. The one going to the castle was larger, yes, but they knew for a fact that there was going to be a fight there. The Triforce Pieces may just be guarded by puzzles instead of enemies. They wouldn't know until they got there.
"Which Triforce Piece will you be going after first?" Midna asked her. Light turned to Time curiously.
"Probably the one in Kakariko. It's closer." he answered. "After that we can meet up with you either at the castle or outside the town and everyone can make our way to the last piece together."
"Sounds like a good plan to me!" Grace smiled brightly.
"How are we getting past the Redeads?" Shad looked back at the town with dread. He'd hated having to sneak through that the first time.
Time laughed, "That's the easy part. Come on!"
He waved them after him, heading towards the edge of town. Mask ran after him, obviously knowing what was going to happen.
When they got to the edge of town, Time pulled out his ocarina, putting it to his lips and playing a quick song.
A few of the others' eyes widened when they recognized the melody.
The last notes of the Sun's Song echoed around them before the Redeads froze, paralyzed in the middle of their movements.
"The Sun's Song can stop them?!" Wind burst out, jaw hanging open.
"Yep! Learned that when I found the song and played it for the first time!"
"Made things really easy a couple times too." Mask said.
Wind turned from gaping to glaring at the nearest Redead, "I'm so mad I didn't know that. Do you know how many times I could've used that knowledge?!"
"The entire Earth Temple would've been a lot easier." Medli agreed. "You would've never almost gotten killed!"
Sheik laughed, "Well now you know at least."
"Could you teach me that song?" Flute asked.
Time grinned, "Easily."
"Come on!" Mask yelled out, turning to the right, "All those bound for a terrifying fight in a castle above a pit of lava, this way!"
"Way to make it sound inviting." Tetra muttered sarcastically.
"Good luck!" Medli called out to them before rushing to catch up with her group, trying to wave behind her.
"They'll be fine." Quill whispered reassuringly.
"I know, but I'm still worried." She admitted.
Ahead of them, Time led them out of Castle Town, helping them cross the broken down drawbridge before they were finally in Hyrule Field.
Pulling out his ocarina again, he said, "I'm gonna use a song to warp us to Kakariko. Can Fi lead us from there?"
Sky nodded, confident in Fi's abilities.
Time put the instrument to his lips again and began to play.
"Hard to believe that so little time has passed since the Goddess grabbed me from here." Sky muttered to himself, looking around the small town, "It feels like so much has happened."
"Benefits of paused time." Pipit joked next to him.
Sky rolled his eyes at his friend, following Fi and Time as they led them out of the graveyard they had warped to.
"Did you really fight a giant bug here?" Pipit asked.
He nodded, "It flew all over the town and had these giant horns."
"It almost sounds like Stagnox." Spirit said. Sky turned in surprise, not realizing that the spectral girl was right behind them. "We fought him at the Forest Temple in our time."
"Was he covered in this weird purple smoke when you did?"
She nodded.
"That would be him then I guess."
"I wonder why they pulled him out of time to send him here." she wondered.
Sky shrugged, not having a good answer for her.
"Right here Master." Fi's voice grabbed their attention and they looked up, seeing her hover above the well in the center of town. The townspeople looked at them curiously, but none came forward to stop them.
"The Triforce is located at the bottom of this well."
Time hissed, "Not good."
"Why is that not good?" Light asked.
"Remember the Shadow Temple in my story?" When they nodded, he continued, "The bottom of the well is like that. It's where I found the Lens of Truth. And, even worse, half of us won't be able to fit down there."
"What do you mean?"
"The hole at the bottom is only so big."
"Well I can go down there!" Flute volunteered. "Other than Mask and Mini, I'm the smallest Link."
"We can't send you down alone though, it's too dangerous."
"You did it on your own and I basically did all of my temples by myself. No offense." he directed the last part to Spirit.
"Just give me credit for everything in the Tower of Spirits."
"Will do, but my point stands. Yes, I'm young, but I'm both big enough and old enough to drive a train. If I can do that, I can go down a well." he crossed his arms, glaring at Time.
"It has nothing to do with your age." he sighed, "Mentally, I'm nine, remember? Mini is seven!"
"Then what's the problem?"
"The problem is that we don't know what's guarding it. It could be a lot more dangerous than it was when Time went down there." Light told him diplomatically.
"Well how small is this hole? Is there any way that the rest of us could fit?" Irene asked.
"Let me double check!" Navi said, flying down to the bottom of the well. A minute later she came zooming back up, "I'd say Ravio is maybe the tallest person here who could get through…if he took the bunny hood off."
"I don't suppose I'd need it down there anyway." he frowned. Sheerow chirped at him, but Ravio waved his comment off. "Would I have to go? I'm more…magic support, not fighting."
Sheerow chirped again and Ravio glared at him, "I am not too scared to go down there!"
"I could come." Medli offered quietly, "I'm still learning my powers as a Sage but-"
"Every little bit helps." Light assured her.
"Is this really our best plan?" Quill looked at them, "Splitting up again?"
"Our other choice is to wait until Mask is done at the castle so that he can join them." Time said, "He's me, so he knows the well too, but we don't have that kind of time."
"I'll go with them!" Navi exclaimed, "I remember the layout from when we explored it!"
"You hated the well!"
"I hate time collapsing even more!"
"We shouldn't waste anymore time." Flute huffed, going to the well and slinging one leg over the side, "I'm going down."
"Me too!" Spirit flew down to the bottom.
"We don't really have a choice." Light told Quill, patting his arm consolingly. He still watched sadly as Medli began climbing down. "I'd rather be going too, believe me."
Time, Light, Quill, Pipit, and Sky stood at the top, making sure that everyone got to the bottom without an issue. Flute went into the tunnel first, crawling along his belly. Irene followed him.
Quill let out a long breath. "The Chieftain is going to kill me if anything happens to her down there."