Clearer in Time

VI. Through Hazy Water
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The pool chamber echoed as Link’s blood dripped onto the ground. He was somehow back in the same room he had been in before his fight with Dark Link. He sat with his back against the master’s chamber’s door, the stone cool against his back.

Link faded in and out of consciousness, the world gray and swimming before his eyes. He clutched at his wound, trying in vain to staunch the bleeding. Already the flow of blood had slowed to a steady trickle, but he had already lost so much. He doubted he could hold out much longer. He closed his eyes and sighed, leaving the next move to the Goddesses.

As Link held on by a thread, he fancied he heard soft footsteps approaching. He felt a presence very near to him. A monster, perhaps? Or maybe his polar counterpart had found his way out of the mirror room, as well? If it was so, then Link was surely done for. Then again, perhaps it was just Princess Ruto, attempting to aid him in his dying moments.

Link moaned as he felt a soft hand press against his grisly injury. Something strange was happening to it, a warm, tingling feeling. Link felt as though he recognized it.

“Sheik…” he sighed. Sure enough, Link opened his eyes, and his blue eyes met with the mysterious woman’s entrancing amber ones. She was garbed in a blue formfitting tunic and tight blue swim shorts that revealed her sensual legs. Once again, most of her face was covered, this time by a strange, slightly transparent, blue veil. It seemed if Link concentrated hard enough, he could almost discern the features of her mouth and nose. He smiled, glad to see her. She smiled back, her grin just barely invisible beneath her veil.

“Honestly, Hero, what would you do without me?” She reached into a small sack tied to her waist and retrieved a small bottle. It was filled with a bright red liquid. Sheik pressed it into Link’s hand. “Drink this,” she said. “I’ve closed the wound as best I can. This will help with the blood loss.”

Link uncorked the bottle and pressed it to his lips, the thing feeling like a two ton weight in his weak arms. As the potion trickled down his throat, he could feel himself instantly growing stronger. He downed the entire contents in one swig.

With the bottle emptied, Link felt his strength returned. Partially, at least. He was still in immense pain, but he found the strength to get to his feet, and that was a start. He looked to Sheik, standing a few feet from him. She watched him nervously, unsure if he was still angry with her. Without warning, Link advanced towards her.

Sheik’s eyes widened with shock as Link wrapped his arms around her, embracing her in a hug. Then she relaxed, embracing him in return. “Link…” she whispered.

Link felt almost like a different person. The fight in the mirror room had opened his eyes. The dark version of himself had been much more than an adversary to defeat. Link had seen a look in Dark Link’s eyes that was all too familiar. Link had realized then that the evil mimic was exactly what he had been becoming. Ganondorf had been counting on the hero’s distrust and sorrow and bitterness to cost him the fight against his dark double. And it had almost worked. But with the trial overcome, Link felt within himself a new resolve. He would take his journey in stride, no matter how hard it was. His friends would no longer be a source of problems, but rather an incentive to keep on. Malon, Saria, perhaps even Zelda, wherever she was.

And especially Sheik. What ever her reasons for spying on him had been, she had helped him more than once, and had now literally saved his life. And besides all that, Link had dreaded the idea of questing alone again. He had grown fond of the mysterious girl, his feelings for her growing with each encounter. The hero smiled as he held her in his arms.

Suddenly, a splash came from the pool in the center of the room. The two youths turned their heads to see what may appear. It was a beautiful Zora woman, Sheik saw.

“Link! I found the key! We can enter the-” Ruto stopped, the smile vanishing from her mouth. Her fiancé was holding another woman. A thin, petite thing in blue. As quick as her smile had vanished, Ruto’s beautiful face twisted into a portrait of furious jealousy.

“What in the hell IS THIS!?!” Ruto screamed. She jumped out of the water and rushed towards them. “I trust that you’re bravely off trying to find the key, and here I find you all over some SKINNY LITTLE HUSSY!!! IS THIS ANY WAY TO TREAT YOUR BRIDE TO BE?!?”

At Ruto’s last remark, Sheik pushed away from Link’s embrace, her sepia eyes suddenly flaring angrily. “BRIDE TO BE!?!” She screamed at him. Link opened his mouth to try to explain, but just then Ruto dove at Sheik and tackled her to the ground, pinning her down.

“AND YOU!!!” Ruto shrieked. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH YOUR NASTY LITTLE HANDS ALL OVER MY FIANCE, YOU BONY LITTLE HARLOT!?!?”

Sheik pushed Ruto off of her and pinned the Zora to the floor, their positions now reversed. “WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HARLOT!?!” Sheik cried. “SINCE WHEN DID YOU COME ALONG AND DECIDE YOU COULD MARRY ANYONE YOU PLEASED AT ANY MOMENT YOU FELT LIKE IT, YOU SNOTTY BRAT!?!?”

“FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I HAPPEN TO BE PRINCESS OF THE ZORAS!!! I DON’T HAVE TO DEFEND MYSELF TO YOU!!!”

OH, YEAH!?! THOSE ARE SOME MANNERS YOU HAVE THERE, YOUR HIGHNESS!!!”

The fight continued back and forth, Ruto and Sheik screaming insults and threats at one another. Link watched amusedly, not bothering to interfere. As he watched, the two women seemed to remember he was there, and turned their fierce gazes to him.

“AND YOU!!!” They cried in unison. Link flinched back as the screamed at him. He rubbed the back of his head nervously and spoke.

“So, how about that key?”

…

The door sealed shut behind them as they entered. Link stood in front, inspecting his surroundings. The two women stood behind him, their arms folded across their chests, whispering furiously at each other. Link shushed them.

The four walls of the room were lined with razor sharp spikes. In the center of the room was a large pool of water, four square platforms standing in it. The ceiling was covered with strange little hooks. Link noted them as fixtures that his hookshot would attach to.

Link drew his sword and turned to the girls, motioning for them to stay put. He then continued over to the platforms protruding from the pool. Ruto, as obstinate and stubborn as ever, rolled her eyes and followed him. Sheik followed the two of them, not wanting to be separated if the monster surfaced.

Link stood upon one of the four platforms, warily observing his surroundings. There was no monster anywhere. Perhaps it was invisible? It was so strange… something felt out of place, as it so often did in this temple. There had been no monsters. None, save for the fight with the mimic. Perhaps there was no monster at all, and they were simply trapped in this chamber forever.

A scream issued from behind him, Ruto’s. “Link!” Sheik called to him.

Link spun to look and gasped. It all made sense now, the way the water had seemed to try to keep him submerged when he swam, the way there had been no monsters anywhere. There had been one monster with him all the time.

Ruto was suspended ten feet in the air, screaming at the top of her lungs. She was held by a giant tentacle. It was transparent, seemingly made of the water itself. Running up and down through the center of the tentacle, Link could see a strange, pulsing yellow orb. Sheik was already charging towards the tentacle, her hand seeming to glow with a strange magic. With a swipe of her hand and a bright blue flash, the tendril of water was sliced in half. As she landed, her veil came loose. Link gasped as he had the tiniest, momentary glimpse at her features. Then she turned away from him.

Ruto fell with a shriek, only to land in Link’s outstretched arms. She looked up at him prettily, her eyes sparkling. She closed her eyes and slowly moved her face closer to Link’s, making to kiss him. Before Link could so much as respond, Sheik had zipped by and removed Ruto from his arms, determined to stop the kiss.

Ruto, eyes closed and unaware, continued her motion and met her pair of lips with another. She opened her eyes, realizing that it wasn’t Link’s tongue she felt. Sheik stared back at her, eyes wide, their mouths pressed together. Ruto didn’t particularly mind. She had remained pure of a man’s touch over the years, waiting for her fiancé, and in the process had developed quite a passion for women. She continued her kiss.

Sheik, although feeling a curious sort of pleasure, had not developed a passion for women, and released her arms, dropping Ruto to the floor with a thump.

“Ouch!” She exclaimed, looking up to see Sheik fixing her veil. “What the hell did you do that for?

Meanwhile, Link was battling fiercely against the morphing water monster. Tendrils spawned rapidly from the water’s surface. The young hero swung his blade fiercely, cutting down the tentacles as rapidly as they appeared. All the while, one tentacle remained in the center of the pool, the strange yellow orb seeming to watch the battle.

Sheik, about to charge forth and aid in battle, felt something around her foot. She looked down just as the tentacle yanked her off her feet, holding her up in the air. Through an upside down view of things, she could see Ruto suspended in midair, as well. Ruto screamed out for Link.

Link turned his attention from the battle and saw the girls in the clutches of the monster. In less than a second, with Link distracted, the main tentacle lashed out and wrapped around him. He cried out as it squeezed him in it’s coils, lifting him into the air. The Master Sword fell from his hand, down into the pool below.

As the tentacle held Link up in the air, the strange yellow orb sped up the length of the tendril to meet him. Link cried out in disgust as he saw it up close. It had a muddy red iris and obsidian pupil, pulsing as it stared. It was a giant eyeball.

Without warning, the tendril swung around and threw Link’s body. He flew towards the wall of the room, spikes glinting dangerously. Speeding through the air, Link grabbed the hookshot and fired it at towards one of the hooks on the ceiling. With a signature thwip, the chain shot out and latched to the ceiling. Link winced as the chain yanked him hard in the opposite direction. He could feel the half closed injury on his chest tearing open again.

Link dropped down into the pool, swimming as fast as he could. The Master Sword glinted at the bottom of the pool. He could feel the water contorting, trying to pull him back. But it was no use. He reached out and clasped the hilt of the blade, then pushed off of the bottom of the pool.

He surfaced to see the tentacles swinging the girls around the room in a wild fashion. At times they would come dangerously close to the barbed walls. The women screamed for Link to do something.

Link swam to a platform and pulled himself onto it. Next to the platform was the base of the tentacle that held Sheik. He looked above and saw Sheik thrashing about, trying to free herself from the tentacles grip.

Suddenly, a huge tendril shot out of the water’s surface, charging towards the hero at amazing speed. The horrid eye floated in the center of it, staring grotesquely at him. Link was ready for it this time.

He fired the hookshot and pierced through the eye in the middle, pulling it out of the aqua tendril. The tentacle dematerialized immediately as the eye whizzed towards the hero. The chain retracted and the eye rolled frantically at Link’s feet, bleeding a strange blue liquid from the hookshot wound.

Link dropped to a knee and drove his sword through the revolting orb, piercing it right through the pupil. The eye writhed up and down the length of the blade in an absolutely nauseating manner, but then fell still. It slid to the ground and melted into a puddle of blue discharge.

The tentacles, one by one, began to dissolve back into water. The tentacle holding Ruto dissolved and she fell into the pool with a yelp. Sheik’s tentacle melted away and dropped her. Link outstretched his arms and Sheik fell cleanly into them with a small gasp. She looked to him and smiled weakly.

Link closed his eyes, the strange blue light already glowing at his feet his feet, and waited to return to the Sacred Realm.

…

Link opened his eyes to the Temple of Light, Sheik still in his arms. Before him stood the Sage of Water, exactly who he had suspected it to be.

Ruto smiled prettily at him. “Well, this certainly puts a hold on our marriage, I think.” Link heard her voice in his head. He smiled and nodded.

“I’m afraid so,” he replied telepathically. Ruto approached him and planted a light kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you for your help, my darling. Now that I’m helping you to save Hyrule, I think we’re closer than we ever would have been otherwise.”

Link nodded again. “Goodbye, Ruto,” he thought.

“Goodbye, my Hero,” she replied. “I wish you luck on your quest.” She stepped back from him, and Link felt himself leaving the Sacred Realm.

…

They appeared on the shore of Lake Hylia. Epona uttered a startled whinny as she saw her rider appear out of nowhere.

The sky was no longer gloomy and overcast. The sun shined brightly in the blue sky, the water in the lake crystal clear. Link smiled at the beauty of it. He looked down at the woman in his arms, and his smile faded.

Sheik was deathly pale, her eyes closed. Upon closer inspection, he spotted a wound. It looked as though something had pierced through her shoulder. Link thought back to when the water demon was swinging the girls around the room, dangerously near the spikes on the walls. Sheik must have hit one.

Link checked her pulse, trying not to panic. It was there, yet weak and slow. She had lost a lot of blood. She needed medical attention. Link had none of the healing powers or strange red potions that she had. He racked his brain. If he could get her to where there was people, a doctor could be sent for.

But where? The only place he could think of was Kakariko Village, and that was a good day’s ride away.

Well, he thought. There was one place closer. Two hours if he rode hard. Sheik wouldn’t like it.

Link shook his head, rushing towards Epona. Her life was all that mattered at the moment. He could mull over the consequences of it later.

With Sheik on the horse with Link, he spurred Epona to a run. He looked down at Sheik as they rode, and noticed something, his eyes wide. Her veil had become unfixed, and Link gazed upon her face for the first time.

She was absolutely stunning. Her skin was tanned and gorgeous, her features soft and feminine. Her lips were slightly parted, giving her a look of beautiful innocence.

There was something strange about her, though. Looking at her gave Link an odd feeling of déjà vu, as if he had known her face all along. It was almost as if he were seeing a familiar face, but distorted somehow, as if through hazy water.

Link, turned his attention back to the field, unsure as to what the strange feeling was. He urged Epona faster, riding hard. After an hour of travel, their destination appeared on the horizon.

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Where could they be going??? I'm sure you can guess. Thanks for the reviews, you two!!! You know who you are! Like always, If you have an opinion/suggestion, feel free to speak up. I'd love to hear it. Until next chapter, I suppose. It'll be up pretty soon.