A/N: I'm just warning you now, this is probably the darkest, most gruesome thing I've ever done. But it's all symbolic. Read on if you dare. It's not that bad in retrospect, I suppose, but it is awful. I hope you enjoy to *some* degree, anyway. Please review. This is a sequel to "Sympathy for the Devil".

Masked

Does a dark side need to be visible?

I have secret, and it is no doubt one that will ensnare me forever. It is beyond question that it will harm me – and it is inevitable that it shall someday destroy me.

I gaze at the mirror before me – and I hate my reflection.

I loathe it, and abruptly, I can't take it any longer. Clenching my dainty, weak, and furious fingers into a fist, I swing my hand into the glass, driving it with all my power, my entire body – and watch it shatter in short-lived satisfaction.

Tsk, tsk, that's seven years of bad luck.

As the taunting voice seeps into my mind, I scream and cry and despair. "Why can't I be rid of you?"

You are only repaying your sin, Zelda. Don't hate me for your folly…

"Hate you? Hate you? Demon, devil, I loathe you! Goddess, leave me be…"

As I stream my fingers through my hair, ripping and tugging at the uncared-for locks, she replies, How can you hate me? I am you…

I throw my hands down, unfortunately swinging my arm just a little too far, because suddenly a sharp pain interrupts my torment. I glance down at my snow-white arm to see ruby-red pooling on my limp fingers.

"You are not me," I spit, examining my stinging palm as calmly as I can, endeavoring to resist from glancing into the mirror.

But of course I am!

I shake my head in some sort of denial, as if this would really drive my demon away. "Why must you continue to haunt me?" I am staring at the ceiling now, praying for this to end.

It wasn't my choice, Zelda. You chose this when you – well, let's describe it as when you were foolish…

I hasten to my room as her harsh yet undeniably true words force memories into my mind's eye. As the golden, looming doors swing shut behind me, closing with an echoing thud, I rush past my vanity, attempting to not glance into it. As my blurred silhouette sweeps past, my hand begins to pulse. I look at my throbbing limb, and abruptly I'm enraged. I cry out to my torturer, "Why must you agonize me so? Leave me, leave me!"

Of course I cannot…

Tears, streaking past my ghastly, gaunt face, cannot cool my livid emotions. "LEAVE ME!" I am agonized, terrorized, broken and lost, and I don't know if I can ever be recovered…

A quiet chuckle. I nearly wish I could…but this is too enjoyable.

Her voice repulses me, chills me to my frozen, desolate heart. It strikes terror into my very being; I learned long ago to never show a spark of rebellion. This is what makes me a coward, pathetic; this is what she feeds on, this is what she uses to haunt me. This is never what I asked for…

Be careful what you wish for, she sneers, because you may obtain it.

"NO!" I bellow once more, and I dash to my balcony; this is the view from which I first saw my savior, my light, my hope. The one whom I would give my all for…

And you have.

And I have.

And…?

Leaning over the edge, crazed, reasonable thoughts whorl through my depressed mind. Tricks prick on me and taunts haunt me as I hang over the side, wondering insanely what it would be like to fly over the edge, to jump the walls that have barred my entire life.

No no no, Princess. Haven't we learned our lesson?

"We have not learned anything. You are not me!"

Must I remind you—

"No, you mustn't." I straighten up; I cannot be entertaining suicidal thoughts, rebellious fires, and hopeless wishes. As a princess, it is my duty to work for my people, and I know I am not helping; I also know I am not the only person who knows a demon-possessed princess is residing within Hyrule Castle.

Unbidden, my legs drag my famished body forward; my strained eyelids lock shut of their own accord. My feeble frame is ghostly, instable, and starved; I have not eaten, I have not slept. Nay, there is nothing I can do but worry, scream, and break. I am as shattered as the mirror, as cut as my palm.

I am plunked gracelessly into a dainty stool, and I know where I am. She jerks my eyelids open; I try to keep them black, but to no avail.

Just as I knew would happen.

She forces me to stare into my vanity's glass, glorious and illuminating; but all I see are my shrunken features, helpless and desperate. I am at my breaking point; I am on the verge of insanity. I know she sees it too, because I can see her smirk in my reflection.

Oh dear, oh dear…you look exhausted.

I am too fatigued to glower.

How is it that you are not unconscious?

I make a vague, faint noise. My voice sounds stressed and hoarse; perhaps from all of my recent yelling. Perhaps I am dying.

Perhaps?

I know I am dying. I am losing this battle. I am despondent.

My once-keen ears tune in on a small, redundant sound. I muster the energy to turn my head to the right, my jaw-bone jutting from my tight, thin, and pallid skin, scraping my bare shoulder. Slipping off my lifeless, curled fingers is a scarlet-staining liquid, forming a small puddle on the polished marble tile.

The unseen can hurt, can it not?

"You're right, demon…"

I know I am.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I beg, my eyelids covering my sunken eyes. "Can't you leave me…"

We both know why I am forced to be here. This was not my choosing, dearest. It was your wish…

I heave a hasty, miserable breath, unwillingly dragging my eyes open. "I thought…I thought pleas made in…made in the right intentions…and heart…would never turn back on me…"

And this is where you are wrong, my Zelda. This is where you are oh, so wrong…Her sadistic leer shines through the expressionless mirror, but I am impassive, simply because I am too weary to express any emotion.

You chose this. Shall we recall why?

"Don't – don't do this to me – PLEASE!" My shriek splits through the air, but my demon only laughs – I only receive her giggles as comfort to my overwhelming despair. "DON'T DO THIS TO ME!" I scream in renewed vigor, my absolute, harrowing terror seizing through my veins, bringing back some of my departed energy.

But I must.

"NO!" I tremble where I sit, but I am immobile. Fear wraps its spiky, slimy claws around my forlorn heart, and I am horrified enough to scream again. "I CAN'T – I CAN'T, NO! DON'T! I AM BEGGING YOU—"

You must learn your lesson, child.

"I DID!" I am sobbing now, so intensely I cannot see straight; my eyes are blurred angles. My mind is reeling blankly in horror. "I CAN'T BEAR IT!"

It's the only way.

Suddenly I am falling through a world of anguish and woe, a devastating world that I locked away so no one else could see my "madness". No one else would have fathomed it, anyway, but it is shut away so I can retain at least an inch of my sanity.

I land gracelessly on deceivingly cheerful grass, the greensward adorned with bright, beautiful, and betraying buds. As I stagger to my dazed feet, the first thing I see is my demon.

She is in scanty blue and white rags, these dirty bandages covering every part of her body, including a white swatch of cloth masking her lips. Her bloody eyes peer relentlessly, amusedly at me as she languidly advances toward me; her steps are weighted yet light, balanced and precise and controlled. Her figure is that of a warrior, and her straw-colored braid sashays behind her as she nears me.

Her garnet orbs pierce me as the sides of her cheeks lift: she grins. Gesturing in front of her with swathed fingers, she acknowledges the serene meadow in which my life would be forever traumatized.

I am not uneasy with my personal tormenter lingering beside me; I know there is nothing worse she can do to me.

I see myself, on the shallow gray steps, rigid against the frame of the window I used to occupy as a child. But then I was a young woman, and our land was not saved; I had barely avoided capture, and I decided to visit the place once again.

I suppose this can be referenced to as my greatest folly, but I don't think it was so. In all honesty, I still don't believe my "greatest folly" is my "greatest folly". I truly don't believe I have made a mistake at all.

But now I observe myself as she shrinks into the cold wall. "What do you want from me?"

The masked thing looks at her, coming a step closer. "I do not mean to frighten you—"

"Then tell me what you came for." Her voice is strong, assured, yet disguises a note of desperation that would eventually become an all-out scream.

"I only wish to warn you." The boy comes a step closer; and I remember why I recoiled. His mask is deep purple, with colorful fringes, and leering, eerie twilight-golden spiraled eyes. He takes a deep breath, and quietly explains to the girl. Who is myself. "There is a shade, a demon, awaiting him in the temple. I know because I welcomed him there. I have no doubt your hero is strong – but it is impossible that the Light is stronger than Dark. He will penetrate your hero, and he will be a hero no more. I'm sorry."

The girl's face is appalled, unbelieving, and I remember my horror. Link a demon? Impossible. Inconceivable.

I knew the boy thought I didn't believe him, and I didn't. Twitching slightly, he gazes up at the girl; now that I can see through his wicked mask, I can see the look of cunning upon his curious face.

"I can help you."

The girl stares at him. "What…do you mean?"

"I can save him."

"How?"

His grin grows wider. "Make a wish, Princess. That's all you must do."

I want to look away, but I cannot.

"Make a wish? To whom? How do you know these things?"

The mask seems to smile along with him. "I am experienced in things such as these. I knew about the specter, didn't I? Link helped me a time ago in the past…I'd like to…return the favor. What do you say? Or, better yet, what will you say when he is driven mad by a demon you could have prevented?"

Link's face came to my mind, I recall that. His beautiful, honest, heroic, trustworthy face. I could not abandon him.

"Alright," the future-queen declares. "What must I do?"

It wasn't about saving my land – it wasn't for Hyrule anymore. That was for me, because I could not live without him.

I ultimately turn away, my demon beaming beside me. She looks down at me, at the water welling in my blood-shot eyes, some already caressing my downward face.

"Come along, dearest," she says sweetly, as my past incarnation continues speaking the strange enchantment.

I submit to her innocent command, and in an instant, I find myself back in my endless revolving miseries. Thankfully my devil is not personified, and I allow myself the tiniest moment of peace, to remember Link.

Forgive me, Link…I tried.

Her voice slithers into my grieving mind. Oh, so sweet. You tried! Well, too bad. You're in my arms now.

"Is that all you want?"

She snaps my head back up to the glass, and I involuntarily release a cry of pain. Abruptly she throws me from the stool, and I bang sharply into the ground, screaming as my body breaks in protest.

Did you learn your lesson?

"YES!" I cry, but she forces my arm up behind my back. A sickening pop, and my scream is ringing in my own ears; it's an unhinged, delusional sound, and it sends shivers down my spine.

Did you really?

She is agitated, irritated, exasperated, livid; I feel it as she yanks my head up then slams it to the floor. I am too weak to work my tongue, and my hair hangs limply in space as she suspends my throbbing head.

Let's review, shall we?

She crashes my skull into the grooved artwork of the floor anew, and my yelp of agony does nothing to her. I bawl into the ground as she finally drops me. How did it end like this?

How, my darling? Because you sold your soul for a pathetic, WORTHLESS, 'HERO'!

"He…is none of those things…"

Blinding pain sears through my arm as I scream the loudest, most disturbing shriek that I've heard, blended in with the snapping of my wrist.

My voice breaks of my screech as her jagged nails claw at my throat. Then her hand whips across my face, and I drop back to the floor. Groans of pain and moans of misery are all I can utter as she laughs ecstatically.

That's like music to my ears.

I was only trying to save Link…

And look where he is now. Deserting you for that other girl, and when he said he loved you!

He…no…he didn't desert—

She kicks me onto my back, and I can feel the place where her foot connected with my fragile spine swelling. Beat me till I'm black and blue…

I'll do worse than that, love.

Link…he loves me. I know he does.

Her high-pitched laughter rumbles throughout the room. That's ridiculous. He could never love you! She shunts me onto my stomach again.

He…does…I endeavor to pull myself to my elbows, but I yell faintly as my wrist bends.

She shoves me back down, and I hear her smiling. Nope. He would have saved you.

I am not you…and we are both tortured. He is not himself, and now I am lost…

Correct, my child. He won't save you.

He can't save me…

Is there a difference? She gleefully rips her claws down my back, her dagger-sharp talons severing the cloth in two, leaving jagged, throbbing, heavily bleeding incisions marring my once-perfect skin.

Of course there is, I insist through my tortured screams. He loves me.

Link NEVER LOVED YOU!

He always has…

I can't see her, and I have never been able to, not even when my blood is bathing her hands. I can't see her now as she furiously, derisively, and indolently drags her severing blades down my face, engraving three long and bloody slashes down my cheeks. My tears drip into them, and I still can't see her as she slaps my sliced face away.

As my head thuds to the floor, my chopped skin burning, I cannot see her. But that was why I always refused to look into the mirror –

The first time I did, I saw nothing.

And nothing was what I saw every time after that, and her voice would get louder and louder in my brain. Now, as she continues to sadistically lacerate my once-beautiful flesh….

I don't care.

I cannot bear your defiance any longer.

I had tried my best to save Link, and this is all that matters to me. Perhaps it hasn't fixed things in the end, but I gave up everything for my love.

Because I know he'll always love me.

Goodbye, my beauty.