Chapter 62: Reunion
There were many emotions one could have when stuck within the innards of a gargantuan whale. Navi thought of many that would have made complete sense. Fear, obviously. Anxiety over the omnipresent sense that she was about to be crushed or digested. Even bewilderment at the path her life had gone. What she didn't expect was to feel calm, a strange near disquieting calm. There was no starlit sky overhead, nor verdant forests, no rainbows nor sunrises. None of the worldly joys she loved. Only the ridging of bones, rippling of muscles and veins contorting the inner flesh of the lord whale.
And yet the energy that surrounded her was a magic as pure as she felt when she had flown among the branches of the Great Deku Tree. Not the same, not the same at all, but similar. Like two meals of the same ingredients mixed in their own unique ways. Every beat of her wings drew the magic of Lord Jabu-Jabu into her. But that power wasn't what pushed her onward.
Everywhere she flew, she saw the signs of Link. Squidlike monsters bore purpling bruises where someone must have beaten them back. Others were cowed into corners unwilling to move. Some few would try to reach out to her, grasping with their tentacles, or try to spit at her. But she flew too quick and too high for any of them.
Those creatures were not important. They would not hurt her they could not stop her. She would not let them. Not when she had come so far. Not when she was so close.
She stopped at one of the constricting valves that separated the various chambers in Lord Jabu-Jabu's digestion.
Link was in there.
She couldn't feel him, exactly. Instead, there were two sources of magic that felt like the flower she clutched tight to her chest. Two of them. And a third sense of magic, that also felt familiar. But the magic did not matter. Link had found the other two stones. Of course, he did. Nothing would ever stop that boy. All she had to do would be to reach out, get the muscles to open and they would be united once again.
And yet, she stopped.
He was in there.
What would he say when he saw her? What would she say when she saw him?
Did he know about her imprisonment? Would he blame her for abandoning him? He had been alone for so long. They both had been.
I'm being foolish. Waiting out here just delays whatever comes next. If he blames me I will just explain things to him. He's a good boy. The best. I will make him understand.
Yet her arm still did not move to open the valve. After all the time she spent racing after him, why were the last few wingbeats the hardest? A year ago, she would never have made it past the sea of monsters, and the only worry when seeing Link was whether he had gotten himself into trouble. Today a room of creatures trying to kill her was unimportant, less than unimportant. They were nothing. And seeing Link was a grave unsurmountable task.
What if he hated her?
Her hand trembled, but she forced it to raise. Pressing her palm against the warm and damp muscle. All while her stomach twisted like an eel, as if on the verge of vomiting.
The muscle pulled open revealing a dark room. A foul acrid odor rolled over her that did nothing to help settle her stomach. Her light filled the room, revealing the three figures all within a pool of grime. One a massive shape, like one of the monsters she passed over as she reached this last chamber, only far far larger. Still, it lay battered and twisted. Unmoving except for one of its tentacles shifting from movement in the water. The second figure was a little Zora girl. She rummaged through the liquid, hunched over and crying.
And the last was Link.
Half-submerged beneath the filth. His face ashen white, his eyes wide. He saw her, Navi was certain. He looked right at her.
Then he sank beneath the liquid.
She called his name and flew to him. "Help!" she shouted to the girl. "You have to help him." She hurtled into the liquid, the viscous fluid clung to her body and plastered over her wings. Blinded she reached out and grabbed the strands of Link's hair. Her wings would not beat through the sludge, she floundered, kicking, and pulling herself up. Trying to bring him to the surface. But even the strongest of faeries could not lift a boy through strength alone.
She managed to poke her head up, gasping for air. Still pulling on the boy with all her might. The girl was no longer by their side. She was walking away, rubbing a massive blue gemstone clean. "Help us," Navi begged. "Why aren't you helping us?"
The girl turned, tears streaming down her cheeks. But her eyes did not have any sorrow within them. They did not have any emotion at all. How had she not noticed it before? The magic twisting within her. Navi had focused so much on Link she missed the reeking sense of magic that tumbled out those eyes. Just a taste of that same power she had felt when he spoke to the Great Deku Tree, when he rode past in Castle Town, and stirring within the center of the army at the base of the plateau.
"My love needs his jewel," she said in a cold emotionless tone. A spasm twisted across her face. For a moment those emotionless eyes went wide in rage and grief, her mouth opened in a silent howl. But only for the heartbeat it took the tremor to end. Her mouth closed, the emotion leeched from her eyes. "He needs this." She waded out of the waters and walked through the muscled valve, leaving Navi alone with her dying child.
Navi could only groan in annoyance and anger before she plunged back beneath the depths. It couldn't end like this. She would not spend months as a prisoner only to return to Link and watch him die, completely unable to help him. It wasn't fair. Why was the world so cruel?
She wanted to cry. To scream. To hide away within Link's ocarina until her fears had run their course. But Link needed her. Her fingers slipped as she tried to pull at Link's hair while still holding on to the flower. Causing her to fumble and grasp in the dark until she found Link again.
The flower.
The last of the Great Mother's magic.
How had she forgotten?
She let go of Link and grasped the flower with both hands. Come on, be useful for something! She drew all the power she could. The flower condensed, hardened, grew too heavy to hold. It slipped from her fingers and sank. Still she drew from its power until there was no trace of the Great Faerie left.
She pushed her hands forward, opening her mouth to scream only to have it fill with the foul liquid. It stung her throat, her nose, her eyes. But it did not matter. She forced the air above her to spiral as fast as it could. It formed a cyclone before it touched down to the waters, pushing the sludge around, spiraling it upward. The grime pulled away from her head. She coughed as air filled her lungs. It wasn't enough. She needed more power.
"Lord Jabu-Jabu," she shouted. "I'm here! I found them. I need your help."
The walls shook with a groan so deep and so vast Navi did not hear it so much as feel the reverberations pulse through her body. The winds strengthened above her, pulling the waters away from Link's head. But still it was not enough. She sobbed and begged for more power. Forcing the waters away, to reveal his shoulders and part of his arm. She needed more.
Then she heard singing. Not loud. So soft in fact, she was unsure if it was only her imagination. The two near imperceptible voices formed a duet, one deep and strong set a beat while a higher voice trilled and danced around the former. The muffled sound came from deep within the sludge. Two lights appeared below her glowing within the waters, one red and one pale green.
The stones!
It was coming from the stones. Beneath the waters the Ruby drummed with a steady determined might, and the Emerald soared with crackling joy. They found Navi struggling and filled her with more strength than she had ever felt before. Her blue light burned through the dark. The wind ripped through the room. The waters split. Navi raised her hand, and the air pushed all the waters away from Link. Cushioning him and lifting him high. The green grime dripped from his face and clothes, mixing with the red seeping from his side. Run through by his own sword.
The monster could not have done that.
The Zora girl, it must have been her.
Had she taken too long? Was he even still alive? No. I can't think like that. She flew to the handle of the sword, clutched it, and pulled. Using the whirling air to strengthen her wings she forced the blade out. Pressing her hands against the wound she poured her energy into him. Flesh knitted together, the blood stopped flowing, red and purple skin turned into blistered scabs, then a deep scar that ran across his side. Months of healing rushing into an instant.
But Link did not wake up.
He wasn't breathing. Why wasn't he breathing? The winds took him across the room out of the pool and onto the flesh of the beast, laying him down as flat as she could. How can she get him to breathe? Navi flew above him and lifted the swirling air high and thrust it down onto Link's chest, and forced the air into Link's mouth, down his throat, into his lungs. He did not move.
Again, she raised the air, before plunging it back upon Link. Surging over and over. Letting it strike his chest and press into his lifeless form. Work. Wake up. I can't lose you again. I will keep you breathing for the rest of my life if I must. Wake up! "Wake up!"
Link's mouth twitched. Green slime frothed over his lips. First dribbling out the side of his mouth, then spurting out as a cough wracked his body. His body curled, twisting to his side as he spewed out the muck. Weak arms wiped at his face, scrubbing his lips clean as another expulsion of liquid splattered to the ground.
He was alive.
All the magic in the world could not keep her aloft any longer. Navi fell to the ground, landing in front of him. Tears that could no longer be held back poured from her eyes. He was alive. He was safe. He was alive. He was alive!
"Navi?" came a hoarse whisper, from a throat torn to pieces from coughing and the air forced down it. A more beautiful voice Navi could hardly imagine. "Is that you?"
"It's me."
Link crawled to her, slowly, as if every slight movement hurt. But he did not stop until his face was so close he needed to squint just to look at her. "I'm sorry."
"What?"
"You were happy," he said. "You found a new home and you were happy. I don't know how you knew that I needed you. That I wasn't strong enough. That I was stupid and couldn't do anything by myself. I don't know how you knew. But I'm sorry for taking you away from everything." Link's eyes gleamed, he sniffed as he held back his own tears. "I missed you so much. But I never- I didn't mean to make you so mad to leave. I know I messed everything up. I just want you to be happy."
Navi flew to him, grasping around the side of his neck. She pressed herself into him as close of a hug as she could give. "Link, you are my happiness."
His wail started low and quiet, before it broke completely. She could feel his body shake as his tears joined her own.
"I won't leave you again. Not for all the world."
They did not move again for a long time. Not until their tears ended, and were replaced with frantic laughter, and that turned into a peaceful silence, just enjoying each other's presence. Link was the first to move.
"Princess Ruto," he said with a groan as he got to his feet. "I have to stop her. She has the Sapphire. Also, she stabbed me. In the back. And she's the worst person I have ever met."
"It's not her," Navi said. "I could tell when I spoke to her, she is under an enchantment. One I've grown all too familiar with over the last few months."
"Oh," Link sounded disappointed, as he wiped his blade clean of his own blood and sheathed it. "So I can't just beat her up and take the stone back then?"
"No."
His face scrunched into a frown. "Even if she deserves it?"
"No."
The frown broke into a smile. "I'm glad you're back Navi."
In that moment, the faerie did not know if her wings or her heart fluttered faster.
"So how do we break the enchantment?"
"I can work at it. But it helps if the person under the enchantment is strong willed, and if they are reminded of who they really are. Do you think you can do that?"
"Remind her who she is?" Link's eyes squinted and jaw clenched as he thought. Just as he had always done when faced with a difficult problem, even when he was a toddler. "I haven't known her long, but I think I can do that."
"Good."
He waded back into the pool and scooped up his bag and the two stones. Slinging it over his shoulder he marched straight to the valve and opened it up. He looked over his shoulder to Navi, smiled, then marched out among the monsters. The few remaining creatures were washed to the side of the room. Some made angry gurgles at them, but most did nothing as they passed.
Only the last of the octoroks pulled itself up on its tentacles and rushed at them, Link did little more than glare at the monster, and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. He did not even draw it. Just the threat of violence was enough for the monster to stop, staying well away and made squelching noises. But it did not dare get within Link's reach.
He was a warrior.
Had they seriously been parted for so long?
The last time she saw him, he had been a boy trying to teach himself how to swing a sword. Navi did not know much of war, but she had watched him fight off the lizardmen. He had been skilled, but he had only survived by luck.
He had been scared. Rushing in because it was the right thing to do. She did not even know if he truly thought he could win. He struggled just to stay alive.
When had he become so confident?
Each batch of creatures they passed all treated him the same. They were afraid of him. The most he had to do was throw a boomerang to ward off one of the translucent creatures alive with electricity. And when that one monster backed away, he looked at her, smiled and said. "Well that one got a little close." As though it was nothing.
How much violence had he been forced to endure without her?
She should have been there to help him. And nothing she could do would ever give them that lost time back.
They heard the girl far before they saw her. They had to march through two more chambers of monsters thrown into disarray before they found her in the first chamber that Navi had entered. A great barren room of veinous tubing, but the only way forward was up far out of reach of any creature without wings. Into the throat and mouth of the Lord Jabu-Jabu.
The princess stomped her foot and shouted toward the valve high above her. "I have what I came for! I order you to let me out!" Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. "Let me out. I know you know who I am! My father will drive you from the sea unless you do what I say!"
"Ruto!" Link said. The girl turned, again her face spasmed, the ghost of a smile disappeared almost instantly. Replaced with dead eyes and an imperiously lifted chin.
"You survived. I will not let you take my engagement stone from me."
"It's not your engagement stone," Link muttered, drawing his sword. "How close do you need to be, Navi?"
"Touching her would be best."
"Got it. Fly high, I'll try and keep her focused on me."
Navi did as he asked. The Zora's eyes were on her, but there was nothing she could do to stop her from lifting high into the air. Until she was almost to the roof.
"Ruto, this isn't you."
"One such as you shall refer to me as Princess Ruto."
"Princess Ruto, listen this isn't you. You didn't want to hurt me."
"Of course, I did. You are the most impudent, disrespectful, child that has ever darkened my presence. And you attempted to take my love's jewel."
"I didn't understand before," he took a step closer to Ruto. His voice was quiet and calm. Like Malon taught him when handling an angry horse. "Your love, I think I know who he is."
"As if one such as you would ever meet one such as him."
"But I have, I've talked to him. I've eaten with him. I've fought him. But why do you love him?"
"You do not ask 'why' for love! It is something that is true. That is part of me. That compels me."
"But it's not a part of you. Is it? When did you first see him?"
That twitch ran across her face again. She was fighting inside herself. That had to be the opening. Navi dived toward her. Hands outreached.
The princess glanced toward her and waved her hand. The waters rose around her. A wave smashed into Navi, sending her tumbling and splattered against the ground. She gasped as the waters drained around her. Her wings ached. There was a tear in her left wing. Would they still work?
"That's what I get for listening to a drowner. Why Lord Jabu-Jabu decided to send someone so useless and traitorous to my aid I will never understand."
"Navi! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Navi rubbed her hand onto the torn wing. Willing what magic remained within her to bind the membrane back together. "I just need a moment."
The girl hissed. "Then I shall finish my work."
"Ruto. Look back at me," Link took another step forward. The point of his sword aimed at the girl's chest. "This isn't you."
"Be silent."
"You cried when you stabbed me. You didn't want to do it."
"I command you to be silent."
"Princess Ruto would not let anyone or anything make her do something she does not want."
Her hand raised and the waters rushed toward Link. Navi shouted as the liquid rolled him up inside it and pushed him against the wall.
"I have suffered your impudence and stupidity for long enough! Your endless criticism and complaining. How dare you." Tears once again flowed down the side of her emotionless face. "You are beneath me! All of you are beneath me!"
Navi took to the air.
Beneath the rushing waters, Link pushed himself forward. Struggling to break free of it, only for another pulse from the princess would send him tumbling back as a wave of water slammed against him.
"And you!" She screeched and raised her hand toward Navi.
Water lashed up, licking at her ankles. Navi flew as high and fast as she could. Liquid arrows splashed behind her. She darted all about, as the child flung water at her. Keep her focus high, her eyes toward her. She flew to the side of the room opposite Link. Keeping the girl's eyes on her, while Link forced himself out of the now stagnant wave.
"Stay still!" A wet splash struck just in front of Navi, forcing her to dive away. Careening wildly as the splashes grew closer and closer. Come on Link. You have this. She glanced back to see how far he'd gotten.
A mistake.
The water struck her thigh. The force of it spun her about, dashing her against the roof of the chamber. The air knocked out of her, sending her gasping and falling. Flapping her wings as fast and hard as she could, she managed to keep herself from striking the ground as the girl laughed.
"I got you! And I'll- wait. What are you doing? Let go!"
Link had wrapped his arms around Ruto, forcing her arms to her side.
"You don't love him, Ruto. He's using you. Don't let him use you."
"Unhand me!" She kicked and thrashed in his arms, but Link was stronger. She cursed at him, at both of them, at Lord Jabu-Jabu. But as Navi caught her breath and managed to fly to the girl, she could see the anger and fear and sorrow that battled across the princess' mind. This one had a strong will. With some more time, perhaps she would break the spell herself.
But she wouldn't have to.
Navi touched her palms against the girl's forehead. Feeling the sleek texture of her scales and something more. A dark magic, stronger than even the Great Fairy. So much stronger. Perhaps not as practiced, the spell was not as well constructed, the caster did not have a hundred lifetimes to master the craft. But the pure might that nearly burst forth as Navi tried to severe it was frightening. A black rage that bit at Navi's hands and tore at her mind. Nearly forcing the little fairy away.
"Do you have it?" Link asked.
"Almost," Navi said through gritted teeth as she forced herself back upon the spell. All that power all that rage bearing down upon her. No matter the racking pain across her skull, no matter how hard the spell fought for its survival she pressed forward. Finding the strands of magic that held the spell's grip on the girl's mind, she wiped it clean.
The surge of malice shot through her, sending her tumbling back away from the girl. Clutching her head, hissing in breath at the memory of all that hatred.
Had it worked?
The girl's eyes found Navi. Sharp and angry, but that anger did not seem directed at her. "Link. Unhand me right now."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that."
"I'm me. You will unhand me, I will not ask again."
Navi returned to the girl's head and touched her. The influence was gone. "She's not lying, Link, it's her."
"Are we absolutely sure?"
"Link unhand me, or I will have my father take your hand for me."
Link sighed, but released his grip. The girl stepped away and positioned herself so she could look at both of them. Still clutching the Sapphire in her hand.
"Lord Jabu-Jabu," she said, still absolutely livid. "It is done."
A grumble came deep and low from inside the beast. The smell of salty sea air filled the room, the air swirled around them. Whipping Link's clothing around before lifting Hylian, Zora, and fairy all into the air. Much as Navi had done with Link not too long before. Only with such considerable force and gentleness that Navi would never be able to match. The three of them rose high, through the last of the valves, up into the damp tube of Lord Jabu-Jabu's esophagus and out his mouth, into fresh air and a new day.