I’m running again... Through the darkness.

It can’t be this same dream again. I’m still trying to forget it. If I run faster, maybe I can escape it. Maybe... My pace gets faster, until my breathing is ragged and my face is covered in sweat. My feet make dull thuds on the ground that echo through the abyss. Could I have gone far enough? It probably can’t reach me here—hopefully.

The area in front of me lights up again, and Ghirahim and Link are illuminated in the heavenly light in the midst of the hellish place. No, no, please!

“Link!” I scream, but he lays on his side like before. I want to look away, I want to run away, but I can’t. I have to help him. “Link, you can’t be defeated by him! You’ve lived through worse, and you’re telling me that he will be the one to kill you? Are you weak enough to be done in by Ghirahim?”

But the scene keeps unfolding. Ghirahim steadies his sword above his head, and I shield my eyes. Hylia, please, not again! I hear sputtering and the blood hitting the nonexistent floor, along with the ring of the metal hitting the target. I can’t look at it. I can’t bear to see this again.

This time all that is heard is my sobbing.

I roll over and clench my fists. He can’t be dead. My eyes open again, but this time they look at the sunrise. The sunrise? I bolt upright and look in every direction. I’m not in that horrifying dream anymore. Thank goodness.

Why does it keep coming to me? Why do I keep seeing it? Is it because I’m the reincarnation of the Goddess? No, because then that would have to mean that I just...saw the future. No, Link can’t die in the future! Especially not because of Ghirahim.

“I bid you a good morning, Mistress,” Fi says from beside me.

“Oh, uh, yeah, good morning to you too,” I stammer. Should I tell her about my dreams? Fi could probably help. Actually, never mind. It’s probably just a regular, meaningless, dream. I must be on my toes because of this whole ‘Hyrule isn’t supposed to be real’ situation I’m in. It’s probably just stress.

“Midna. Midna, wake up.” I shake Midna awake with my Triforce-marked hand, although she barely murmurs. “If you get up now, then we can listen to music later.”

She rolls over and starts to slowly rub her eyes, her small mouth widening in a yawn. “That better be a promise,” she slurs.

I chuckle, and say, “It will, don’t worry. Now, here’s another deal. You clean up the supplies, and I’ll wake up Link.” She stares at me for less than a second before she’s on her feet and making things disappear. I have a special way of waking up Link, though.

“Hey! Midna!” I call. She looks at me instead of the blanket she was hauling. “Do you have any cold water?”

Midna gets a devilish smile, immediately knowing what I’m going to do. The water appears in a bucket the size of my head, and my first thought is Oh, this will do nicely. First I take a few sips and splash some onto my cheeks and forehead, then pick up the bucket—it’s slightly heavy.

Setting the bucket by Link, I lean down to his ear and whisper, “Link, I have a surprise for you.” A goofy smile spreads across his face, like he’s been love struck. Link, love struck? Yeah, right. “Do you want your surprise?” He nods slightly, itches his nose and continues to smile like a moron. “Then... Here it is!”

I dump the whole thing on him, and he jumps upright with a yelp. Midna and I lose it and laugh our asses off, while he takes deep breathes and tries to ascertain the situation, then glares at us and twisting the edges of his tunic.

“What is wrong with you?” Link asks, trying to not strangle me.

“Nothing. You’re the one that could sleep through an earthquake,” I shoot back. He twists his hat to dry it, and then lets it go and whips it at me. It makes a sharp snap and hits my bottom, and I shriek.

“Did you just dare to whip me with your hat?” I threaten. He shrugs and grins, putting his hat back on and tucking his hair back to perfection with a smug smile.

“Ladies, ladies”—both of us look at Midna—“just forget it so we can get to Eldin Volcano.”

After a glaring contest, we both lose our grudge and start laughing, and decide to get moving. We walk for another few hours, until it starts getting hot and steamy...literally. The mountain that was barely visible against the sky’s canvas has now come to life, growing ever closer until the grassy field beneath our feet is replaced with red rocks and rubble. We’re nearing the base of the volcano, so it’s going to get very hot. Streams of lava rake down the sides of the mountain, and you can see molten rock floating down like a log in a river.

Midna reminds me of the deal I made with her this morning, so I give her my iPod. She selects (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life, the original 1987 version from the movie Dirty Dancing. She listens contentedly as it plays at full volume out loud. Link’s already heard every song on my iPod, so he’s familiar with this one.

Amazingly, he actually sings it. He sings Bill Medley’s part, pitch perfect. Listening to his voice is like listening to the most beautiful thing on Earth. It whisks me away, into nothing short of euphoria. His singing is spectacular. Finally, Jennifer Warnes’s part comes. Deciding to take a part in the fun, I sing her solo in my best soprano tone. Link starts his singing again, and I echo him and duet as Jennifer Warnes. When both our voice fade as the song ends, Midna stares at us in shock.

“Wow,” she says simply.

“What?” Link and I ask.

“That was...really cool. Both of you are so good!” Midna gushes, very unexpectedly.

“Uh... Thanks,” I try to say sincerely—I’m not sure if that was a compliment.

“Hey Midna, Neri, check this out,” Link interrupts. We both look away, and see him pointing to a rock face on the side of the volcano. But not just a plain rock face, there’s a little cave. More like...a tunnel. Similar to the small holes you crawl through in Skyward Sword.

Just a small hole in the side of a staggering mountain is a little bit suspicious, in my opinion.

“Should we go inside?” I ask. Then the thought of the volcano exploding while we’re in there makes its way into my mind, and I know that if worse comes to worst, we won’t make it out in time.

“Probably. It might be the location of the Fire Crystal,” Link replies. Well, crap. I shouldn’t have asked. We walk to the hole, and see that it’s barely big enough to fit Link. But he’ll definitely make it through.

“Ladies first?” He gestures to the hole. I’m not about to let him see that I’m scared.

“Fine.” I adjust my sheath on my back and roll my shoulders, whispering, “Here we go, Fi...” I could’ve sworn that the hilt glowed a little brighter, if only for a moment.

“Go Neri!” Midna cheers.

Wedging myself in between the rock walls, I army crawl forwards. The tunnel is maybe about fifty feet long, so that’s not too bad. There’s light coming from the other end and I can make out some magma too—fun stuff.

I hear Midna slip into Link’s shadow, and he lowers himself and crawls the same way as me, less than a foot behind me. We continue to crawl until we see the other end of the tunnel, and I pick up my pace as I feel claustrophobia make the walls tighten against my sides.

As soon as I almost peek my head out, I slam into something, and clutch my broken-feeling nose. But Link hasn’t caught on yet, so...

“Oof!”

“Ow!”

“What are you two doing up there?”

“I-I’m sorry!”

“You should be! You just rammed into my ass!”

“It’s not like I tried to! I said I’m sorry!”

“Bwahahaha! Great job, Link!”

“Shut up Midna!”

“I feel violated...”

“Can’t you keep going?” Link questions, pushing aside Midna.

“No, there’s a wall in the way. I can’t get through.” I try pushing against it, but it doesn’t give.

“So that means only one of us can get through?” Midna asks.

“Mm hm.”

“Well it’s obviously not Neri.”

“Thanks, Tips. Okay then, let’s try Fi,” I suggest. My hands take the sword out of the sheath and bring it in front of me. That may have sounded simple, but it’s pretty difficult in an enclosed space. I prod the wall with the sword, but it hits the invisible wall too.

“It’s not Fi!” I announce. “It’s either you or Midna!”

“Alright then, let me get past you.” My face breaks out into a blush immediately, knowing what will happen. In a small tunnel, there will be some...close contact, to put it bluntly. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

“O-okay,” I stutter.

I begin to shift myself over to the right side of the small tunnel, and Link begins to push himself past me and to my left. The farthest he can pull himself to is past my hips, which unfortunately, as I have studied during anatomy practice, is the widest part of the female’s body; exempting the shoulders. He tries pulling himself more, shoving his feet against the wall to propel himself forward. I realize what will become of it a second before it happens.

“L-Link, wait—”

The moment his right foot slips his arm accidentally takes me down, hitting my side and pulling me under him. We both let out small shrieks as our legs tangle and we hit the ground—this is where it gets awkward.

I fall onto my back on the ground and his body falls onto mine, him being a full fifty to sixty pounds heavier than me. Link’s arms falls to my sides and his face lands directly in my chest. I blush furiously and let out a surprised wheeze, and it isn’t until a few seconds later that he realizes exactly where he landed. He takes a sharp intake of breath and his face turns as red a tomato, starting from the tips of his ears inward. The first thing he does is try to stutter an apology. “N-Neri, I-I didn’t m-mean to—”

I can’t meet his eyes. “I-it’s fine. Never m-mind that.”

He gulps and nods, his face only grower redder. Link lifts himself up and then realizes another thing, to our dismay.

“Uh… Neri?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m… I’m stuck.”

I roll my eyes and my blush begins to make my face feel hot. We both try to think of ways to get out of this position before the strength in Link’s arms fades and he falls on me again. Even the low roof of this tunnel begins to push Link back down onto me. Nothing is heard but our ragged breathing.

Focus on the task at hand, Neri… Not Link’s admittedly amazing eyes.

Focus! So, the only way we can really fit is if we’re on our sides, if I’m correct. So then Link would lift his arm and I could get to the side and he would be across from me. Even then, we’d be too close for comfort. Then maybe we could pull past each other…

After a second, I whisper, “Link…” He looks down to me, his red cheeks contrasting his cobalt eyes. “If you lifted your right arm and I moved to my left…”

He does exactly that, and I roll to the left and stay on my side in the tunnel to allow him room to let himself down. Link does exactly that and rolls to the opposite of the tunnel like me, but we’re still only inches apart. His eyes flick up to mine despite his maddening blush, and I meet his gaze. I can feel his cool breath on my nose and cheeks, and he must feel mine too. For a few moments, like a cheesy romantic-comedy, we just stare at each other until we both regain our senses. “Ready?” he asks.

I nod again and begin to shimmy down and he starts to crawl up. It’s still a combined effort because every time I shimmy I have to move my arms and hips, so he has to stop using his legs for a second to avoid kicking me. We take turns until we’re almost past each other, but then my right arm miraculously slips out from under me as well.

I let out a gasp as my left arm flies out to catch me, and instead my fist flies to Link’s area where it counts.

I barely manage to move my left arm aside and instead end up holding his hips, which is more or less—you guessed it—awkward.

Link must feel my hands holding his hips, because he stops and looks down at me. Let me just say that seeing a young woman cradling his waist is probably not what Link expected, because his mouth parts in confusion and his eyes widen. Oh, yeah, and his blush practically makes steam spiral from his ears.

“N-Neri!” he almost whimpers.

“I-I’m sorry! I-I almost pu-punched you a-and…” I understand it’s useless to explain how it happened, but then I see that I’m still holding his hips.

I squeal and retract my hands while the blood flushes to my face. Making sure not to look at him again, I shimmy all the way down until I’m past him and he clambers over me, unintentionally kicking me in the jaw. “Ah!” I lament.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Link quickly replies, and I just shake it off and keep moving past him.

“It’s fine.”

Finally I back up to allow Link more room, and now we’ve managed to successfully switch positions. But then I wonder, would that really be considered a success?

“Can you get through?” I call. Hearing a dull thump, I know the answer.

“Nope. Midna?”

The shadow girl hops out and appears beside Link. When she crawls, the top of her mask barely even scrapes the top of the tunnel—lucky for her. She shimmies past Link and walks through no problem.

“I guess it is Midna, after all,” Link chuckles.

“Go get ‘em, Midna!” I cheer from behind him.

“Don’t worry! I’ll look for the Fire Crystal and be back soon!” she replies. I hope she’ll be safe.

So after we managed to reverse-army crawl out of the small cavern, we decided to set up camp. It’s best to stay here, really. We sit around a small fire which wasn’t that hard to make, considering we’re at the base of a volcano, and chat, allowing occasional silences to drift between awkward breaks in the conversation.

“Hey, how about another story, Neri? A Disney one. It’ll make the time go by quicker,” Link says.

“Okay, but how about we switch it up and I tell you one that isn’t a Disney story?”

“I don’t know any of them anyways, so it makes no difference to me. I’m up for it.”

I already have an amazing idea—as a freshman I had to read Romeo and Juliet, as a sophomore I had to read Macbeth, and I’ve only recently finished Hamlet as a senior. Due to my poor decision-making skills, I participated in the school play we did of Romeo and Juliet, where I was the star of the show—Servant 1 of the Capulets. My five lines were impacting, but I still managed to memorize nearly the whole thing.  Shakespearian stories seem to take place in a time period that’s about as technologically advanced as this one, so I think it will be easy for Link to comprehend.

“How about a…romance?”

“A romance?” Link retorts, then he dwells on it. “Actually, yeah. I could go for something relaxing and happy.”

I snicker. “What I’m about to tell you is anything but happy—it’s the most famous story of tragic love in all of my world. Sure, it’s hundreds of years old, but there’s still many people who love it. I’m one of them.”

“What’s it called?”

“Romeo and Juliet.”

Link smiles and lays down on the ground to peer up at the sky. He beckons for me to lay next to him, so I do. “Please begin whenever you’re ready,” he murmurs.

I nod and look up to the blue sky as well as I begin the age-old tale of love and tragedy.

“Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;

Whole misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.”

So, I tell Romeo and Juliet. The sun begins to set a little, and I continue talking through what should be supper. Midna isn’t here to give us what we stored for food, and both of us ignore our growling stomachs as the story is told. We both stare into the star-filled as I tell the tale; and finally it’s ended with a “For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

“That was a depressing story,” Link says. “It wasn’t like the others.”

“That’s because this one is about star-crossed love!” I declare. “Did you like it?”

Link closes his eyes. “Honestly, I really liked it. Especially Romeo’s dedication—even if he was rushed. My favourite part was when they rhymed together… What was it that he said…?”

He sits up and pushes himself to his feet, thinking deeply. I sit up and watch him struggle for the words for a second, but then my jaw drops when he turns to me and grabs my hand. He pulls me into him and twirls me around like we’re ball dancing and says in the most believable tone:

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!

So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,

As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.

The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand,

And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.

Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!

For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”

I stare at him, dumbfounded as he twirls me around. “How… How did you…?”

“When I was a kid I loved reading—I found myself acting out books I read by myself because I didn’t have any friends after my parents passed away. It’s like a secret skill of mine. I can read or hear things once and then remember them for short periods of time.”

“It took me a day to learn just that one sonnet, and you only heard it once!”

“Secret skill,” he reminds me with a flick of his wrist, then spins me a final time and lets me go.

I give him an incredulous stare, then close my eyes, clasp my hands, and say ever-so-sweetly, “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, / Which mannerly devotion shows in this; / For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, / And palm to palm is a holy palmers’ kiss.”

Link grins and swoops down on his knee as though proposing to me and takes my hand. “Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?”

I smile. “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.”

Link stands and cups my hands, exclaiming dramatically, “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do: / They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”

“Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.”

Link smiles and stands, squeezing my hands and leaning over me with an expression I can’t place. He whispers softly, “Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take. / Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.”

For a second, I seriously ask myself if Link is about to kiss me—after all, the play calls for it. Instead, he raises my hand and presses his lips to the back of it. Instead of blushing I smile and murmur, “Then have my lips the sin that they have took.”

Hearing Link’s next words fluster me, but…in a good way. “Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! / Give me my sin again.”

Instead of facing the embarrassment that Link is oblivious to because he deems it as ‘acting and nothing more,’ I pull my hands away and whisper the final words of that scene. “You kiss by the book.”

A soft blush spreads across my cheeks. “That was fun… Thank you.”

Link grins and leads me back to the fire. “Don’t thank me—I haven’t been able to do that in years.”

“I imagine that you would be that one kid to be the lead in every drama production.”

“I’d love to, if I had the time. My predetermined fate kind of screwed with things.”

I smile and turn to him, batting my eyelashes comically. “We could always elope together and live off the land, away from responsibility and civilization!”

He laughs and eventually I can’t keep a straight face, so we laugh together.

Our laughter and chuckles and chortles all grow louder and louder for no reason; and I’m pretty sure that after a while we are just laughing for the sake of laughing. Or even laughing at our own laughter, for all we know. After not even a minute, we collapse to the ground clutching our sides and rolling around. I can’t even remember the last time I laughed this hard.

And I don’t want it to stop.