"How can she be gone again?! We were all here!" Naomi paces around the grass of Kakariko Village, trying to wrap her head around everything that has happened in the past few days. First, her best friend is trapped in Dodongo's Cavern, then the boy she met outside Hyrule Castle is the one to save her, and now she's missing again! This time, however, it's weird and confusing. No one saw any signs of Peyton leaving or anyone entering the village to take her at all last night. It's almost as if she was a ghost that vanished completely.

Peyton's parents aren't taking it very well either. Naomi believes it's the stress of losing their daughter twice in two days, but this time it's different. They have shut themselves in their house, refusing to go outside. Naomi has a feeling that they know what happened, and they are fearful of it.

Malon doesn't know what to do, but does the best she can to keep everyone from feeling hopeless. "It's okay, Naomi. We will find her."

"This doesn't make any sense! As Naomi said, we were all here last night. Three of you even slept in her house!" Carol starts to get frustrated and tears line the bottom of her eyes. She hates it when she can't find the answer to something, and it's even worse now that one of her friends is potentially in danger.

"But, we didn't see anything. The night was so peaceful." Link rubs his forehead and crosses his legs. He didn't wake up during his sleep. No loud noises disturbed him, although he is a heavy sleeper.

"Valerie, you've been a bit quiet. Something on your mind?" Malon leans over and sees the bushy haired girl standing still, her eyes fixed on something.

The other kids turn toward the young blacksmith in hopes for her to say something useful. However, Valerie doesn't say anything at first. She takes a step forward and follows her line of sight until she reaches a stone water well. After a moment, she turns back to the others and fearfully says, "I think I know what happened."

"You do? How?!" Naomi knows that Valerie is usually right when solving complex problems, but this situation is too risky to believe something based on speculation alone.

"It's hard to explain, but I..." Valerie fidgets and instinctively grabs her necklace. "The truth is... don't you remember the dark tale that has to do with this well?"

"Oh, I know. I read about it the first time I visited here." Carol smiles softly, wiping her eyes and trying to think straight. "There was a man who created this thing called the Lens of Truth. It's a device that can help you see through illusions. His house was said to be here where the well is, and... that's all I really remember."

"Right. He created the Lens of Truth for protection against a monster or something. What if the legends were true, and there is a monster inside the well?" Valerie suggests.

Link leans his head on his palm and sighs. "That's the first theory you come up with?"

"What, you think I'm lying!?" Valerie crosses her arms and glares at Link, making the boy stand up and try to defend himself.

"No, that's not it! It's just, how do you know it's the truth?" At Link's question, Valerie stutters and can't seem to make any words form.

Fortunately, she doesn't have to because the ground shakes, making everyone who's standing up fall back down. Out of the well, a giant hand raises. It looks like a shadow that was able to take form. Before anyone can react, the hand reaches down and snatches Carol off the grass. The blonde in aqua screams as she's dragged into the water and down the well.

Valerie quickly stands up and takes a knife out, the first ever weapon she forged. She takes a step back as the hand raises up once again. She slashes at it, but it doesn't seem to have any effect at all. The hand grabs her around the neck and shoulders, lifting her up, and pulling her down the well after Carol.

The hand comes back and zooms toward Malon, but Naomi runs forward and pushes her out of the way. The older girl is grabbed instead, the hand's fingers wrapping around her legs tightly. Naomi is dragged across the floor and into the well, but the blonde tries to keep herself up. Her fingers ache as she grips the top of the well and her face is barely above the water. She inhales shakily and starts to pull herself up, but the hand gives one hard yank, making her fingers slip.

Link grabs Malon's arm and pulls her up some stairs, into the nearest door. The two collapse by the wall, hugging each other until the floor stops shaking. Once it seems the ground is settled, Link slowly stands up. He turns to Malon and puts his hands on her shoulders. "I need your help. Can you get as many people together as you can? I'm going to find a way to get a head start and see if I can find them."

"Y-yeah." Malon wipes her eyes quickly and nods, knowing her job is important. She is so worried for her older sister, upset that the hand managed to grab Naomi instead of herself. "I'll be right behind you."

Malon leaves and Link takes a deep breath before grabbing the doorknob to follow her. However, a voice stops him and Link turns around. A bald man with a long brown beard stands there with a music box trapped to him. A tube wraps around the man, forming into a big horn above his head. "How are you going to do that? Remember, it is still a well."

"Um..." Link hadn't really thought about it that much. What was the plan supposed to be? Dive down and hope he could hold his breath long enough to reach the bottom? "I'm not sure. Is there a way to drain the well at all?"

"The well has never been drained." The man turns around and stares at the structure in the middle of the room. It's a spinning wooden pole, which makes the center platform in the room spin as well. The man starts turning the handle on his music box, the sound of which seems to be well in time with the spinning wood. "But, I do know that the well is connected to the windmill! It keeps the water from flooding."

"Wait... so if the windmill was going faster." Link mumbles to himself as he thinks. The music seems to have the same beat as the interior of the windmill. If the music speeds up, then the windmill will speed up. And if that happens, the well will drain! There's just the problem of knowing the music. But, for some reason, Link feels like he already knows the song.

Raise the sun, birds will sing
Off we go adventuring
Trailing through the sky
Leave your pain behind

Let us form the rain above
Wash the land with drops of love
As we play
The Song of Storms

Now you see, Destiny
Freedom from the symphony
Waves crash by the score
Miles from any shore

Follow Fate, we'll prevail
May our courage never fail
As we play
The Song of Storms

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" The music box man puts his hands on his head and falls to his knees, looking at the windmill's mechanics going haywire.

"Uh, sorry, but I have to go!" Link runs out of the building, leaving the man to yell in frustration and start kicking the spinning wooden pole.

The well has been drained of all its water, but oddly, the sunny sky is shrouded with grey clouds and it's pouring rain. Before the well can fill up again, Link runs down the stairs and starts climbing down the side of the stone well. A force seems to be pulling him downward, and he knows that if he tried to climb back up, he wouldn't have the strength to reach the top. Navi provides light which helps Link see as he reaches the bottom. He looks back up once to see the sky look like a grey dot above him, but then Link turns to the dark cave in front of him and walks silently through it.

Everything is made of dark greenish grey rock and it's dripping wet. The cave gets really small at one point, so Link has to crawl through some tight spots. Once it opens up again, Link doesn't believe what he's seeing. "A dead end? That doesn't make any sense! Where's Carol, Naomi, Valerie, and Peyton then?"

"AHH!" Navi screams, making Link turn to where she's facing. A moldy old skeleton sits propped up against the wall. "Link, you don't think it's..."

At first, Link believes what Navi is thinking. However, upon looking at it closer, it is way too old to be any of the girls' skeletons. "No, it's not them, but we have to find where they went. Quickly, too. Every second I spend here makes me more and more tired."

"I-it's probably just the atmosphere of this place." Navi takes a deep breath and flies closer to the skeleton. She sees that it is looking off to the side, and that one of its hands is reaching toward the far wall. "Look, the skeleton looks like it wants to go this way."

"I have half a mind to not follow the dead." Link says in an almost joking tone, trying to lighten the mood. He turns back to serious Link and walks up to the wall the skeleton is pointing at. "What's so special about - woah!"

Link puts his hand on the wall, but it goes right through the stone. Testing it again, he tries to kick the wall, but it hits nothing. Navi gasps and lands on Link's shoulder to get some rest. "It's an illusion! The story about the Lens of Truth, it's starting to make sense! Carol said that it was a device that saw through illusions."

"She also said it was made by the guy whose house was built where this well is. Do you think the Lens is down here somewhere?" Link asks as he steps through the wall.

"I hope so. It would be a huge help when trying to see through illusions." Navi sits down and lets her wings droop a bit to save some of her energy. "One thing at a time though, we have to find the girls."

"That's going to be a bit harder than expected..." Link's heart beats out of control as he stares at the room in front of him. A stream of water stretches out to the right and left. Chains hang from the wall past the stream and more skeletons are trapped, their bones tangled through the rusted chains.

Picking a direction, Link follows the stream of water. The water leads him to four left turns, making him find himself back at the place he started. There were no other entrances anywhere when he ran around the stream. "This is crazy. Where could they be?!"

"Remember, Link, look for illusions!" Navi reminds the boy. Link finds a spark of hope ignite inside him as he gets an idea. The last time he encountered an illusion, a skeleton pointed him in the right direction. Maybe skeletons are the well's creepy way of mapping out the routes.

Link looks at the wall where the skeletons are chained up and walks toward it. He reaches his hand out and, sure enough, the wall is fake. He steps through it and enters an even creepier room. Two wooden poles connect to the ceiling and the floor right in the middle of the room, but they are slanted so they make an 'X' shape. A dark red stain pops out on the floor right under the X, which reminds Link mysteriously of blood.

Observing the room a bit more, Link sees that there are two cages. One in the upper left corner, which is closed but empty, and one in the upper right corner that's open and houses - "Valerie!"

The young blacksmith's curly hair engulfs her face as she lies face down on the floor. Her arms are spewed out on either side of her, but seem to be reaching forward. Link sees her take a shaky breath, which makes him lighten up and start running toward her. Valerie lifts her head and peeks through her hair. She raises her hand and croaks in a dry voice, "S-stop!"

Link stops just outside the cage. He doesn't understand why Valerie wanted him to stop, he has to help her! "Valerie, it's okay. I'm going to get you out of here!"

"The floor is... an illusion..." Valerie points to the part of the floor that is between the open section of the cage. To prove her point, Valerie lets her hand drop into the floor. "Whoever captured us... they're smart."

"So, it's probably not just a monster." Link looks to his right at the wall. "There has to be another way inside. Don't worry, Valerie, I'm coming!"

Link enters through the wall to his right and finds himself back in the room with the water stream but on the other side. Skeletons might not always be there to guide him, so there's probably other secret passages that he's missed. Link scrapes his hand along the wall that he came from, and suddenly it's not there anymore. He smiles and walks through the wall, appearing inside the cell and in front of Valerie. Link grabs Valerie's hand and helps her stand up. "Told you I was coming."

"I never said I doubted you." Valerie inhales, trying to regain some of her energy. Seeing Link again gives her the strength to keep going. "We need to find the others."

"Yeah, let's go!" Link leads the way out of the cage and together the two walk along the stream. Navi still glows, but remains on Link's shoulder. The boy in green doesn't exactly know where to go next. "I walked in a circle all around this stream, but I couldn't find any other passageways."

Valerie thinks for a moment while staring at a stone wall in front of her. "If we keep our hands against the walls, then we should find another illusion. It seems like the only way to find new paths."

Link notices that Valerie spoke the last sentence a bit quicker than she normally talks, but decides not to ask what's bugging her. The two take Valerie's suggestion and brush their hands against the walls. After another turn, Valerie stops because she doesn't feel a wall against her hand anymore. The blacksmith gestures for Link to creep closer, and he does as she says. Valerie and Link hear whimpering coming from the wall, and the two don't hesitate before stepping through.

Skulls are placed in organized holes in the wall all around the tiny room. In the far corner, Carol is curled up with her head in her knees. Her pale hands cup her own face as she whimpers and cries softly into them. A warm, yellow aura glows faintly from Carol's chest, but it seems to be flickering and dying out. Valerie kneels down in front of Carol and gently places her hand on her knee. "Carol, it's me, Valerie. Link saved me and we are here to get you out."

"Sssshhhhh!" Carol harshly shushes Valerie and then peeks her eyes over her fingers. She slowly looks up at one of the skulls, making the other two kids look as well. In the skull's eye sockets shines an eerie, deep red light. "It's back..."

The glow in the skull's eye sockets seem to move and look around. Valerie steps in front of Carol quickly, shielding the girl in aqua from the red light. Link freezes in his place as the glow turns and slowly reaches his own eyes. The skull and Link make eye contact, but before anything happens, the skull bursts apart.

Link, Valerie, and Carol stare at the illusion wall to see a girl with brown hair holding a slingshot. The three all smile and Carol stands up, finding her energy once again. "Peyton!"

"Good thing I left my Fairy Slingshot with you," Link says.

"A lucky thing indeed." Peyton nods and smiles, leading the three out of the room to avoid another one of the skulls coming to life. "I'm glad I found you."

"Yes, how even did you find us?" Valerie asks with a huge hint of curiosity in her voice. She crosses her arms and squints a bit.

"I was walking around when I found the illusion wall. We have to find Naomi right away." Peyton quickly takes a turn and stops at the end of the hallway. "This is the only wall I haven't checked yet, so I'm guessing she's inside here."

"Hold on a second, Peyton! How do you know-" Link is cut off by the villager sprinting into the wall.

"Come on guys, this way!" Looking at each other for a moment, Link, Carol, and Valerie all decide they can't leave Peyton behind. They follow her and rush into the illusion wall.

Problem number one: Peyton is gone. Problem number two: the wall cracks and hardens behind them. Finally, problem number three: there are six coffins in the room, spaced out evenly across the stone floor in two rows of three. There's an unlit torch by each of the coffins, making the atmosphere of the room even more creepy.

"P-P-Peyton?!" Link starts to get really scared. Why was Peyton acting so weird earlier, and where did she vanish to?

Navi gathers her strength and says, "I don't think she's here, Link..."

"Oh no!" Carol looks at Navi when she talks and carefully scoops the fairy off Link's shoulder. "Something about this place is making your fairy's light go out."

Sure enough, when Link looks at Navi he sees her light blue glow flicker in and out every time she goes to close her eyes. The yellow light in Carol's chest is getting dimmer as well, and Link can see how tired she is from her expression. When he looks over at Valerie, Link sees dark bags under her eyes and her skin is becoming ghostly white. "This place is draining us and making us tired."

"Peyton didn't seem like it was affecting her that much." Valerie rubs one of her eyes with her wrist to try and see clearer.

"First things first, we have to get out of this room. Everyone, start feeling the walls!" Link gives an order and the two girls are grateful. Having something to do and focus on helps them stay awake.

However, when searching the entire room for an illusion wall, they find nothing. Valerie doesn't want to say it, but it's the only other thing she can think of. "Maybe the coffins hold a secret."

"Might as well try. Come on." Link nods, keeping determination in his voice for the sake of the group.

The three work together to push one of the lids open. Since the coffins are made of a very heavy metal, it requires the strength of all three of them to move the lid. When it falls off, Carol gasps. "That's my name!"

Inscribed at the bottom of the coffin where the body would lie is Carol's name embedded into the stone. Valerie hugs the blonde as she starts crying. "W-we are here, Carol. No one is g-gonna get you, don't worry!"

Link is in awe at how Valerie is able to sound so confident. Despite her shaking, Valerie is doing her best to calm Carol down. Link steps in and says, "We got this, Carol. All we have to do is find Naomi and Peyton, and then get out of here. Simple!"

"O-okay..." Carol sniffs and wipes her eyes before taking a breath. After a moment to compose herself, she nods confidently and helps Valerie and Link push open some more lids. "This one has Malon's name on it."

"This one is for you, Link." Valerie points out and goes to the next coffin. "And this one is for me."

"Two left." Link scratches his head anxiously. If these last two coffins don't hold a secret, they will be trapped in this room for good. No, there has to be a way out.

Carol, Valerie, and Link push open the next coffin and they all scream when they see what's inside. It's Naomi. Her hair is messed up and her clothes are dirty. Her complexion is a lot more pale than normal, and her face looks worn and tired. White bandages wrap around her hands messily, like it was done in a hurry.

"Ma...lon..." Naomi groans and opens her eyes. She blinks to clear her vision and she sees three of her friends looking down at her fearfully. "Ugh my head. What happened?"

Link snaps out of his shock first and relief washes over him. "I'm so glad we found you! All of you were dragged to the bottom of the well, do you remember?"

"Sort of. I recall trying to keep myself above the water. I was going to pull myself up and then everything went black." Naomi sits up despite her pounding head and looks at her hands. "What the...? Did someone bandage my hands?"

"Wait, you're saying that you didn't do that?" Valerie points to Naomi's bandaged hands and the blonde shakes her head. When Naomi unwraps them, her hands seem perfectly fine.

"Well, we found Naomi. Now how do we get out of here?" Carol asks, partially relieved and scared because of their current situation.

"We have one more coffin to try." Link walks over to Peyton's coffin, hoping the girl is there as well. Naomi climbs out of her coffin, a bit shaken when she spots her name engraved inside it, but waves it off and decides to worry about it when she gets out of here. She helps the three other kids push the lid off and everyone is surprised to see the coffin completely empty. The only thing there is Peyton's name.

"No! It can't be!" Link starts pacing around the room. He keeps his head down so that the girls can't see his tears of frustration falling down his face. There has to be something, a clue or illusion, that can help them exit this place.

Link turns around and freezes when he sees Peyton. She giggles and waves at him. "Hi, Link!"

Instead of being relieved to see her, Link gets fearful and takes a step back. She trapped them all in here, this isn't Peyton. "You're not real."

"What? Of course I'm real!" Peyton huffs and stomps her foot on the ground.

"Link's right. Her face doesn't look drained or tired at all! You're just another illusion made to lead us into traps." Valerie confidently points out.

The fake Peyton blinks, smiles, and waves. When the kids themselves blink, she is no longer there. Carol rubs her forehead. "This place is going to drive me crazy."

"It doesn't make any sense. We look everywhere!" Link sighs and walks over to where the illusion Peyton was standing. "If she leads us into traps, then-" Link is cut off when he loses his footing and falls through the floor. "AHHHHH!"

"Link!" Naomi screams the boy's name, but doesn't get a response. She takes Carol's and Valerie's hands and squeezes them. "We have to follow him. It's the only way out of here."

Valerie and Carol nod before the three jump and find themselves falling. A wooden platform stops their fall, but it doesn't stop Carol from falling on top of Link. "OWWW!"

"Sorry, Link!" Carol quickly stands up and helps up the boy as well. There is a dirt path below them, so the four jump off the platform and onto the floor.

It looks like a cave, and it's massive. When the group gets up to the main area of the cave, they almost scream. Naomi grabs Valerie and Carol, and presses her hands against their mouths to keep them from making a sound. Link covers his own mouth and hides behind Naomi. The blonde farmer makes eye contact with Link and whispers, "ReDeads."

Link is frozen with fear as he looks upon the creatures. Their flesh is brown and wrinkled, but it looks like it was stretched out and deteriorating. Their eyes are hollow and black along with their mouths. Their hands are bony with what looks like their skin flaking off of them. There are four of these ReDeads, and two of them are walking toward a small girl with brown, stringy hair still up in its ponytail.

In the middle of the room is a deep green pool, which looks like acid. When the kids notice it, they get a huge rush of strong and impactful scent invading their noses. When they smell the poison, their energy drains even more.

"That's the real Peyton. What do we do?!" Valerie feels tears flow down her face as she watches a passed out Peyton helplessly.

"We create a distraction." Link suggests, knowing he can't sit around and wait for the monsters to kill Peyton.

"Like a diversion?" Carol asks with a hopeful tone in her voice.

"That's what a distraction is, Carol." Naomi pats Carol's head, trying to comfort her.

Link smiles and tells them the plan. After everyone understands their part, they get ready. Naomi sneaks over to the other side of the room and places one of Link's bombs on the floor. She ignites the fuse and runs back to the other side. Carol, Valerie, and Link get a head start and creep up behind the ReDeads who are surrounding Peyton. When the bomb goes off, all four ReDeads in the room turn and start walking slowly over to where the noise came from. The three kids prop Peyton up and help place her onto Naomi's back once the farmer gets to them. Quickly, they speed walk to the other side of the acid pool and find a ladder.

Naomi goes first, using one hand to climb the ladder while using the other to hold up Peyton's leg. Link goes next so that he can catch Peyton if she were to fall. Link is followed by Carol and finally Valerie. The blacksmith's breaths are rapid when she looks down and sees the ReDeads walking back to their original places. Thankfully, the group is able to reach the top without any more trouble from the monsters.

The farmer lays Peyton down on the stone floor once she climbs the last rung. She moves the brunette's bangs out of her face, and is relieved to see only a few scratches. What's not okay is that Peyton's skin is so white, it's almost transparent.

When the rest of the kids get up, Link gently shakes Peyton's shoulder. "Peyton, wake up. Please!"

The girl's eyes flutter and focus on each of her friends staring back at her. She coughs a few times before slowly sitting up. "Is that really you guys? You came for me?"

"Of course, girlie." Naomi smiles and can't hold back her tears as they silently roll from her eyes. Peyton manages to stand up, making the rest do as well, and Peyton gives Naomi a hug. She gives Link a hug as well, which surprises the boy.

"Since we are all together, we should leave." Peyton tries to speak as confidently as possible. "Does anyone know the exit?"

"I do. It's this way." Link looks around and notices they're back in the room with the stream of water. He knows where the illusion wall was that got him here before.

Link leads the group around the path. Everyone makes a point to step in the water to avoid any floor illusions. Valerie points out something that has been bugging the group since they entered the bottom of the well. "I think that poison in the basement of this place is the stuff that's draining our energy."

"That makes sense. It must be contaminating the air down here." Naomi is glad to have something reasonable to think about. Not everything down here is illusions and monsters, some of it is understandable.

"If the air is poison, then that means..." Carol doesn't finish her thought, scared that if she says it out loud then it will become a reality.

Peyton weakly smiles and puts a hand on Carol's shoulder. "We can make it. Link will save us just like he saved me in Dodongo's Cavern."

Yeah, no pressure. Link sighs internally and makes another turn. He finally makes it back to the wall where he first entered the bottom of the well. He walks up to the illusion wall and puts his hand on it. On it, not in it. "No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO! This was the wall - the exit! It can't have sealed up, we are so close!"

"And your bombs aren't strong enough to break the wall?" Peyton asks, remembering how she was saved in the last temple. When Link shakes his head, Peyton sighs and strokes her hand against the stone. "Well, let's hope that everyone at the surface is forming a search party. Maybe they are having more luck than we are right now."

Malon managed to gather everyone up in Kakariko Village within an hour. She ran to the Castletown Market to retrieve Valerie's parents, and even ran to Carol's house at the other side of Hyrule Field. Now, she runs into her own home, Lon Lon Ranch, and bursts through the front door. "DAD!"

"What in tarnation?!" Talon jumps up from his seat and looks around in confusion. His eyes rest on his youngest daughter and he smiles. "Malon, what's the commotion?"

"Dad, Naomi fell down the Kakariko well!" Malon gives the extremely short version of what happened.

Talon furrows his eyebrows and bursts through the door. Malon follows him over to the ranch where the horses are kept, and Talon turns toward his daughter. "Hop on, honey. We're getting our Naomi back."

Malon does as her father instructs and hops on the horse. She rides in front so that Talon makes sure she doesn't fall off. Together, they ride off to Kakariko Village. Malon realizes that the sun is starting to set. It must have taken longer to reach Valerie's and Carol's parents than expected. She hopes that Link has found Naomi and the rest, and that they are holding out alright.

"I'm sure they're doing the best they can, but we need to get out now! Every moment we spend here is another breath of poison we take. Now, there must be another way out. If we check the walls-" Valerie is cut off by Link.

"No, we've checked everything. This was the entrance and our only exit. Navi was there, she knows. Right, Navi?" Link takes off his hat and scoops the fairy in his hands. He gasps and feels tears rim the bottom of his eyes. "Oh no..."

Navi's light has completely dimmed and her eyes are closed. Everyone stares at the fairy in shock, and they all know that Valerie is right. If they stay here any longer, then they won't make it. They'll end up like all the other skeletons in here.

"Link! Oh, thank the goddesses!" The group turns around to come face to face with a brown haired green eyed young girl.

"Reyna?! Is this another illusion?" Link asks, feeling like he's losing his mind. He places Navi back under his hat to try and hide her from the poison.

Valerie shakes her head, her eyes still wide with disbelief. "She's real, I can tell."

The other four kids of the group don't question how Valerie knew Reyna was real and start bombarding the princess with questions. Reyna raises her voice just a bit to settle them down and, once everyone is listening to her, she starts explaining. "I don't have much time, everyone, so please listen. Link, you have to hurry. Zelda and I have hidden the Ocarina of Time, but there's no telling how long it will be until the evil man finds it. I came to warn you that I think he knows of our plan. Get the last Spiritual Stone, it's with the Zoras up the river, and then come back to us for the Ocarina. We will teach you the song that opens the Door of Time."

"But... but we don't even know how to get out of here!" Link gestures to the other kids and to himself.

Reyna looks at everyone with worry and takes a moment to think. She looks down at her feet and notices the stream of water her purple shoes are stepping in. "Drain the water. Play the lullaby by the fountain. I'm sorry, but I have to go! My sister needs me."

The Princess of Fate turns around and follows the stream of water. When she turns the corner, Link and the others run after her. However, Reyna is nowhere to be seen. Instead, against the wall is a huge stone face with water falling out of its mouth. It's the source of the stream of water.

Link quickly pulls out his ocarina and plays the Princess Lullaby. The water immediately stops flowing, making the stream drain once it runs off. With a last ray of hope, the group hurries back to the exit wall and Link feels for the illusion. He laughs with pure joy when his hand falls through the wall. Link turns back to the others, a bright smile on his face, and sprints through the wall.

Link squeezes Peyton's hand as she runs behind him, not wanting to lose her. Naomi grips Peyton's hand and also reaches behind her to hold onto Carol's. The girl in aqua finishes the chain by holding onto Valerie's hand. Everyone crawls through the hole and reaches a bright light ahead of them.

Every single villager of Kakariko, some Castletown residents, and even some Gorons stare down the well at the kids. They hear some adults shout with joy and say, "There they are! It's the children! Oh, gods, they're okay! Someone get some rope!"

The group lets Peyton ride up the rope first since she's been down there the longest. Naomi makes the younger ones ride up next, and then she is pulled out of the well. Malon tackles her sister in a hug and Naomi says how proud she is of rallying up all these Hylians. Heck, even some Gorons!

Valerie is smothered by her own parents. At first they yell at her and scold her for "recklessly falling down a small well", but then they burst into tears and hold her close. Carol's parents attack her with kisses, which the girl gleefully accepts. Usually she is embarrassed by all the attention, but she is so grateful that she is able to see her family again. Peyton's parents break down once they see their daughter. They keep proclaiming that they are so proud of her for being brave and being able to outwit the monsters. Link watches everything with a small smile on his face, but then a small voice makes his heart jump with joy. "Fresh air, finally!"

"Navi!" Link catches the fairy once she flies out of his hat, and he hugs her close to his chest.

Once everything settles down, the kids gather near the entrance of the town to get some space from the crowd. Valerie pulls something out of her pocket and holds it up for everyone to see. "This appeared in my pocket after we got out. I think it's the legendary treasure."

To be honest, the object looks like a deep purple mirror. The lens is navy blue with three red gems on the top. Naomi chuckles as she looks at it. "Would have been nice to have that down there with us."

"I wonder why you got it." Peyton wants to think of a logical reason and figure out the puzzle, but she is way too exhausted to even form a solid thought in her mind. "But it's really cool."

"I think Link should keep it." Valerie hands the item to the boy in green, but he takes a step back.

"Call me crazy, but I think Peyton should keep it. That thing grabbed her first, and I think she should have that on her if it drags her back down the well." Link gestures to the girl who was captured first. When Valerie gives him a questioning look, he says, "Trust me."

Valerie smiles and hands the Lens of Truth to Peyton. The ten year old girl holds the item close to her chest, feeling way more protected than she had before. She doesn't know what she would do without her group of friends. Carol claps her hands and hugs Valerie. "I'm glad all that is over."

Everyone nods with a smile. Navi hovers above Link's head which gives the group some light. The kids all stay close for the rest of the night, refusing to leave each other's sides. Their most recent experience has left the group closer than ever before, and for that Link is very grateful.