A Cherry Blossom - The Necklace

Chapter 11

"Okay, I don't know how you did that, but you convinced him without even touching him. Impressive." Tatl fluttered along above us as she said this, and I stared up at her in disbelief.

"Tatl? Are you giving me a compliment?" I teased.

"Oh, shut up! I'm not good with stuff like this!" I could hear her embarrassment, and I giggled.

"No, it's totally fine. Thank you for saying that." She flew ahead after the skull head then, and I smiled at her for being so bashful.

Link squeezed my hand. "I don't appreciate how she treats things and certain people, but she's right about you being impressive." I turned my head to look in his blue eyes in wonder. "You were amazing back there. I would have never taken you as someone who would do something like that, but you proved me wrong. I couldn't believe it...it was so awesome."

I blushed and giggled, then looked down. "The reason I did that was because I couldn't stand to see you fight for Termina all by yourself. I felt so helpless...I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something!" I looked back up at him then.

He was giving me a surprised face, then lost it. Frowning, he looked down at the ground, and I gave a breath of guilt and surprise. "I wasn't just fighting for Termina. I mostly was...fighting for you." He glanced into my pink eyes.

I took it in for a second, then smiled, my eyes shimmering. "I'm sorry. I should have known you were." I shook my head in embarrassment. "I mean, of course you were, I...I'm sorry."

Link squeezed my hand again. "It's all right," he assured. "Don't put yourself down; you're worth so much more than that." He was smiling as I looked back him, and my heart skipped a beat.

"We are here," the king said, and we looked forward. I gasped in awe from what I saw, and looked at Stone Tower Temple. Every inch was stone, as the name suggested, and three floating platforms led to the giant entrance. It looked just like a giant square house with a face on it, but it didn't look anything like the moon, just had the shape. "This is where you must go."

"What's in there?" I asked.

"At the moment, it is all messed up, and it has been taken over by Twinmold. Be careful, and watch your step." The king's head disappeared by flying off back to his castle.

I looked up again at the temple, and took a deep breath. "Well, let's go." I pulled Link along, and he followed me without any complaints.

I then let go of his hand, and leaped from one platform to the next without a sweat. Link hopped close behind, and caught up to me swiftly after about five jumps. He came up to me, and I slowly stepped into the darkness of the temple.

The sunlight from outside brightened the place a bit, and I was able to get some visual things about the room, but I really didn't see anything more than a treasure chest that laid smack in the middle of the temple floor. There was literally nothing else in there that I could see. I pointed at the chest. "What's in there?"

"Dunno," Tatl answered. "Maybe it's something we need."

"Well, why don't we find out?" I started to step towards the chest, and didn't stop until I was able to open it. I glanced at Link for a minute, and he nodded for me to open it, his hands on his hips. I grinned, and turned back around to carefully lift the small latch on the wooden chest with golden rims on it. I then carefully pushed the lid up, opening the box. What I saw was almost disproving, but I then picked it up and showed it to Link and Tatl.

"Umm, am I supposed to wear this mask? Or is it for you?" The mask looked kind of like a statue's head, and had only a small number of designs along with the grayness for the color. I could only make out the eyes on the thing.