I don't own Zelda.

So this is a concept I've been toying with for a while. I've had a thing for Dark Link for a while, and he seems like he could be a pretty tragic character. Maybe it's my sympathy for villians or something. Either way, I enjoy turning canon on its head.

This'll be no more than 13 chapters.

Hope, Still Standing

by Rin

Chapter One: A Time to Celebrate

He was gone. It was a thought that ran under all of Zelda's musings as she sat on one of Lon Lon Ranch's many fences, watching the shadows of the festival dance in the firelight. She knew she had sent Link back for all the right reasons, but oh, how she missed him now.

She should have been thinking of all the ways she could be rebuilding Hyrule, but instead she tried to smile at the Gorons' wild dance to Saria's ocarina, her sweet melodies accompanied by a veritable orchestra of Kokiri woodwinds and drums. For now, she watched quietly, anonymous in rough men's clothes, hair plaited, her overly-decadent dress thankfully ruined by the final battle.

Zelda did her best to think optimistically, but no matter her effort, she could not escape the realization that Ganondorf was truly gone, and now she did not know what to do. Quick on its heels came the grim knowledge that it was time for her life as Sheik to die, and with it any kind of hope for a normal life.

"I heard you would be here." A hoarse, almost familiar voice said from behind her. A lesser person would have jumped, a woman would have shrieked, so silently sudden was the appearance. But with seven years masquerading as a Sheikah under her belt, Zelda instead turned to the speaker, outwardly unshaken.

The firelight and moon's glow were enough to make out the man's features. Garbed in a black tunic and trousers, his posture spoke of exhaustion, as if he'd covered a long distance too fast. Dull, tired blue eyes gazed at her through blonde bangs; face faintly creased with premature lines. He sat down beside the Princess, much to her wary discomfort. A quick touch to the falcata strapped to the small of her back calmed her somewhat, but her anxiety was impossible to miss.

"Dark Link…" She murmured, and the man frowned at her.

"Is that what I'm to be called now, Princess?" He wasn't Link, no matter how similar he seemed, sounded with his strong voice rough from seven years disuse, nor the pleasant warmth he lent to the crisp night air.

"What else could we call you?" She queried tersely, and the Hero's double shuffled his boots uncomfortably.

"I don't know… something." He turned away, to face the bonfire in the center of Lon Lon Ranch. "So the Hero…he's gone?"

"Yes. I sent him back to the past."

"I thought so." Dark Link sighed, scratching his left hand tiredly. "I felt something the other day.. Must've been when the kid left." In the distance, a horse whinnied and Malon laughed in the dark.

"Yes. It was yesterday."

"And the Black King?" There was something hard and tense in the query.

"Sealed away in the Dark Realm."

"I remember everything, you know. Of being a child." When there was no response, he went on. "And now I have this…" He gestured vaguely at his hand. "Am I going to get all the hand-me-downs?"

"You have the Triforce? May I see?" She touched his left hand, and sure enough, the Triforce piece mark gleamed on the back of his hand, sharp in the dark of night. "So you're to be the next Hero of Time." She laughed weakly, shaking her head, her heart heavy with the end of a burden, and too many new possibilities. "For all my wisdom, I will never understand the way the Goddesses work. I throw away the Hero of Time, only to get a new one in Ganon's man."

"I'm such a monster?" 'Dark' Link asked sharply, eyes losing their dull gleam in his outburst. "Seven years, Zelda. Ganondorf kept me locked up for seven damned years, and then my doppelganger appears from nowhere and all but kills me. Do you think I would be the same as a man-child who slept through all those years?" Muscles in his jaw tensed, teeth clenched. Watching him, she couldn't see the evil taint in him, just an embittered, older version of her friend and Hero. As an adult, Link had lit up the world around him with his innocence. However, in this man she could see the toll of years, his light gone, and perhaps he was a kindred spirit, in that he had been left behind too.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't." Zelda acquiesced, "I'm sorry." He relaxed at the apology, and the lines on his face disappeared, and for the first time since she'd seen him washed up on Lake Hylia's shore, he truly looked his age.

"I don't need my name, but I have waited, and trained all this time to kill Ganondorf, and now I don't even have that. Even so, you have my loyalty."

"Thank you… Dark." Somehow, the world seemed a little brighter when he smiled faintly at her.

"No problem." His next smile was gentle, but strained. "You never needed to ask, anyway." Strong, dirty fingers scratched at the Triforce mark again, absently as if he couldn't help it. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure everything balances out now."

"How so?" Dark shrugs.

"The kid comes, saves the day. Everyone loves him. For his efforts he gets sent back to a Hyrule untarnished by Ganon. Lucky him."

"Now wait one moment --" Zelda said, anger rising. "You have no idea how hard he worked to save this land--"

"I'm not done yet." He interrupted, voice like steel - rusty and corroded but still sharp enough to cut. "I've had a few months recuperating in a Lake Hylia town. Time enough to think about things. He was larger than life, after he woke up a year ago, wasn't he? Taller than I grew – though that might be malnutrition on my part – shoulders broader. Stronger than any normal Hylian. Magic more potent. Faster too, in both speed and healing. A better version of me in all ways except maturity."

"A better ver– for Nayru's sake, Dark Link, you're the copy." She said, exasperated and exhausted. He was good, and definitely dark, loyalty sworn or not. The way he seemed to ignite her doubts…

"Thing is, I don't think so. I think I'm the real one. Din made the earth, Nayru the sky, Farore life. Why couldn't they make a copy of me, only better? Put him to sleep until he's grown - keeping him innocent enough to wield that damned sword, but physically old enough to fight well, and thus defeat the Black King. Ganon didn't make me, or I'd have been stronger than the kid. He would've made me like him, obey his every wish, be a perfect pawn." Zelda could tell she was staring. Dark Link laughed softly, shaing his head. "I'm not a creation of the Water Temple, a shade to test the worthy – because I'm out of that cursed place and I still exist. It all makes sense to me, but hey – you're the smart one here, you have the Triforce of Wisdom and everything. So you tell me."

He looked over at her in the dark, and saw she was speechless.

"Fine." He sighed, shoulders slumping. "I'm leaving. I'll be in Lake Hylia when you decide what to do with me. I ask only one favor – tell everyone they're not to kill me on sight? I'd appreciate it." Dark Link slid off the fence and disappeared into the night. "Til then, Princess."

Zelda turned around, looking for a rapidly fading figure outlined in the moonlight. Nothing. Not even a shadow.

He was gone.

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