His mission burned into his mind. The final words from the sorceress still ringing clear in his ears, 'Kill her. Do not hesitate.'
He walked through villages, no one taking mind of the stranger in the black traveling cloak. He blended in well - gone was his skin of ebony, and it was replaced with the color of white ash - his black hair tucked under his cap spilled over the sides, and he met all who addressed him with steel grey eyes - the hellish red of the other minions made in his image long erased.
The dust from the road sprinkled up lightly as he continued his trek - and he turned slightly every few minutes to make sure he wasn't being followed. As much as he didn't want to, the slight sense of paranoia lingered - knowing she would send someone to trail after him - to ensure the mission was done.
She couldn't send another one of her minions to do the job, no, he had to be the one. Although she had replicated her beloved hero many times, he was different - he had free will and a mind not controlled by hers.
He glanced down at the intricate design laced across his hand - a binding agreement, in the form of a tattoo. He was bound to her, until their arrangement dissolved - which he didn't see any signs of.
He wiped his hand across his brow, brushing beads of sweat from his face. The same face that she lusted over - and used him for.
Night after night she would take him into her chambers, her lovemaking obsessive and aggressive. He was forced to pleasure her - the illusions that the actual hero was the one in bed with her driving her madness.
Cia had witnessed the hero and Zelda find each over the centuries. Her first heartbreak was when Link decided to stay with Zelda on the surface after Demise had been sealed away..
She witnessed their friendship turn into more, the first kiss they shared on top of the fallen Goddess statue and the day she noticed the slight bulge taking over Zelda's frame indicating she was pregnant with their first child.
Link had built a life for them, and she had watched from the sidelines - her anger simmering - as he held his wife close to his side each night.
Their love was legendary and burned brightly - that same light was the one that followed them throughout each of their lifetimes, when they found eachother again and again.
Cia would request for him to hold her when they would share moments together in bed - and now that his face was the same skin tone as the hero, her lust for him grew stronger - which now led him to his mission.
He was to infiltrate Zelda's home - become 'friends' with whomever until he could get close enough to her. They had timed this mission around a peace treaty mission Link and the royal family had been planning. Link was the peace-maker between the different races of Hyrule, and it was a mission he would be making alone - without Zelda.
Leaving Zelda alone and vulnerable, aside from her aide Impa.
There would be no hesitation. Zelda would be killed, and Cia after all these years would get what she wanted - and so would he.
His freedom.
XXXXX
He settled for the night in a barn, an escape from the rain - and to keep a low guard. As he neared Hyrule's boarder's, he noticed the presence of castle guards stationed at every village - guards that stopped traveling strangers - especially those who were traveling alone.
He sighed and leaned against the wood of the barn wall, the hay sticking him uncomfortably as he sat propped up. Despite the sleepy village he was in, his guard wouldn't falter.
The air around him shifted and he opened one eye lazily, "Cia."
Her familiar melodious laugh filled the air, "How did you know? Am I that obvious?"
He closed his eye again and shifted further into the hay, "You don't need to watch over me like one of your pets, I haven't been gone long."
He heard the sound of her boots crunching against hay told him she was moving closer to him, he sighed, "What do you want?"
He opened an eye and they settled on her long slender legs, her red tattoo racing up her left leg, "You are one of my pets, remember that."
She motioned to his hand, "As long as we're bound together, you have to do exactly as I say - and speaking of which."
She bent on one knee and ran a hand through the ties of his white shirt, loosening them to expose part of his bare chest, "I've missed you."
"You haven't missed me, Cia - you've missed the illusion."
Her face contorted in anger and she slapped him across the face, bending closer, "You'll do fine to remember that I own you Link, and what I do with you is my business."
She raced a hand down his leg, grabbing him in his manhood, "Looks like you've missed me too."
He rolled his eyes, "No, that's what you want to believe."
She pushed down his garments taking him into her mouth, after a moment she surfaced and using her magic forced him to lay against the floor, "You'll enjoy this."
He was paralyzed, as he often was when she wanted her way with him - her obsessive behavior caused her to use a forcing magic that he would not be able to escape until she resolved their contract.
She slid herself onto him, wet and hot with desire and rode him aggressively - the instinct kicked in and soon he found himself thrusting into her, the sickening feeling returning to his stomach. He thrusted one last time and she moaned out - collapsing onto his chest.
This sad reality was his life. He had no choice, and she manipulated him to feel pleasure and desire - she kissed him sloppily and slid off, straightening her robes.
"Do not defy me Link. You will not hear from me until a fortnight - I can not have that Sheikah trash suspecting anything, so I've removed all traces of my magic from you."
His hand shot up and he looked it up and down, no sign of the tattoo.
"What does this mean?"
"That our contract is temporarily on hold - however, if you attempt to break it, I can bind us back together - our contract is only valid when both parties agree to end it, and I certainly haven't agreed to anything - you are just missing a tattoo."
She walked closer and traced a hand along his cheekbone, "I've made you in his image, you will be easily trusted in the village - Impa will question you, but you must never put the mission in jeopardy."
She leaned forward and captured his lips gently, "I don't like doing this to you, but I deserve to have him all my own."
"Why can't you understand that he doesn't want you," he whispered against her lips. He saw the sadness in her eyes, how he knew she was misunderstood - but all pity had been left behind for her when she began using him.
Yes, he was a dark entity with dark ambitions, but the reason why he broke free from the pack was that he was able to think with the consciousness of the hero - Cia hadn't made him to be this way, he just was. He wasn't another minion of hers, he was more. The other 'dark link's' had no sense of being, they just existed. He was a man - and he craved the freedom to make his own choices.
And this was a choice that was being made for him.