Author's Note: This is the rewritten version of the first chapter. I changed a lot of the content to give Link and Dark Link the right amount of character. Feel free to read the first version of this chapter over again to see the differences. I would also like your feedback! Is it better? Worse? I will be taking down the original first chapter once I post the rewritten second chapter and keep that pattern up until I run out of chapters to take down. Thanks for sticking with the story and sorry for the wait! Please enjoy.

Link was sopping wet. What else could he have expected? With the Forest Temple being filled with Wolfos, and the Fire Temple being hotter than he could stand, why wouldn't he expect the next temple to be difficult to an extreme? It figures, since he had been so desperately needing water in the Fire Temple, he should get a whole lot of it in the Water Temple.

To say the least, he was exhausted. His arms ached from the constant use of his Hookshot, and he was shivering from the icy cool water the temple was so full of. Navi wasn't very helpful either, telling him to listen as if he had planned on doing the opposite whenever she would call.

Link just wanted to be done with this temple. He was wet, he was cold, and he was fatigued. It surely was even more troublesome with this temple having intricate mechanics and three floors, approximately twenty rooms per floor. And suddenly, monsters wanting to kill him were very used to water, so that Link had no other option but to fight or to flee. He could only hope that by every room he entered, he was getting closer and closer to the end of the temple, rather than running around in circles and changing water levels for no obvious reason.

"Link! This way!" Navi called out, flying forward and ahead of him. Link struggled to climb up the ledge of a wall to a section with large spikes and more demons waiting for his very approach. It just gave him a headache. The room itself that he was in was no help whatsoever to his current condition. It was a room designed for trial and error until you got the function of the switching crystals and dragon-looking Hookshot targets. Even better, if you fell in the water, which Link did quite a few times, you had to start all over with the entire process. And by Goddesses, don't let the monsters in the water get near you.

When he was finally able to hoist his body up on the wall, he was met with a few Tektites that weren't going to let Link pass by as easily as he would have wished. Once they were cut in half and were no longer a threat, Link was forced to Hookshot onto a higher level area surrounded my large spikes and containing a Like Like. It only frustrated him further since he couldn't get by one of those without getting sucked in and getting his shield or tunic taken, which made fighting them that much more difficult.

Once launched up to the target and dropped down to the ground, Navi could only call, "Watch out!" a second before Link was swallowed up, churned about, and spat out on the floor. He didn't need to be told that the Zora tunic he was previously wearing was stripped from his body and that his shield was also taken from his back. With agility and speed, and without replacing the tunic, he maneuvered around the Like Like, slashing quickly and efficiently and defeating it with vigor. Once it sunk to the ground and died, Link picked up his tunic and rung it out, watching as a small, but lengthy stream of water came out of it.

Delightful.

He tugged it over his head and smoothed it down his body. He reattached his belt around the fabric and re-equipped his shield over the sheath of his sword. Navi didn't say a thing and only hovered to the door that led to a whole new room in the Temple. Was he closer to the end? He hoped so.

As he entered the room, he was surprised to see it wasn't a room in the slightest. It appeared to be a vast lake bed with a small island of sand in the center. Fog was everywhere in sight, making it seem like the water could go on for miles.

Link took a tentative step forward, to test how deep the water surrounding him in every direction could be. He almost stumbled when his foot met the ground at the same height as the floor was in the last room. The water was shallow and barely reached the sole of his boots. He walked forward and finally saw that in the center of the island surrounded by sand and water, there was a tall, dark brown tree. It looked dead, for it had no leaves and only two or three branches extending towards the ceiling, or rather, the sky.

Navi flew forward and farther into the room while Link waited at the door, waiting for Navi to report back on whether she sensed anything or not. Without noticing, Link was already starting to drift farther into the room without Navi's consent or approval. Once he realized it, instead of stopping, he reached his left hand back and gripped his sword, ready should any kind of threat reveal itself.

When he reached the island, Navi had caught up to him. "I don't think there's a threat or any kind of task in this room," She told Link, moving to hide under his hat as she has grown accustomed to. "I don't sense anything or anyone."

Link began to wander around the island, surveying every detail; it's slope, the bark on the tree, an even the appearance of the sand beneath his feet. There wasn't a thing out of the ordinary that would spark any sense of hostility.

Deciding to examine the entire room, he headed somewhere west of the island and seemingly into the abyss of nowhere. However, while he was walking leisurely, he ran into something solid that felt like a wall, but looked like more fog and water. Link ran his hands over the surface, feeling it spread farther left and right. He followed it right, heading towards the north side of the room that he hadn't explored yet. Navi was also out from underneath his hat and was alert as well.

With one hand on the wall and the other poised to reach anything on him that could serve as a weapon, he reached a corner, and the beginning of a whole new wall. Link looked to the right and saw something in the distance; a something that looked an awful lot like a door!

He ran for it, hoping that there was some way to keep going through the temple instead of being stuck in this room. Much to his dismay and frustration, there was a door, but there were bars halting his entry to whatever awaited him on the other side.

He just couldn't wrap his head around the purpose of the room. It was all an illusion; the water, the sand, the island. He saw through it, but now what? What left was there to accomplish? Link grabbed hold of a bar and was contemplating leaving back the way he came in when Navi flew above his head. "Link," She said. "There's something here."

Link's hand automatically gripped his sword as he turned his body around the face the island and the other side of the room. There, right next to the tree, was a silhouette of a person just standing. They didn't move an inch.

"Where did they come from?" Navi asked. Link would have answered, but he was running through a list of possible human-like monsters it could be. Could it be a Stalfos? A ReDead? It was a long shot, but it could also be a Moblin, if you disregarded their massive size. It couldn't be human because humans don't just appear out of nowhere, and within a temple at that.

"I don't know," Link finally answered after coming up with no clue on who or what that silhouette could end up being. He risked a few steps forward, but the figure stood idly, as if it couldn't move at all. It couldn't be a monster or demon since they attack or prepare to attack if they sense danger, and it couldn't be human for obvious reasons.

He risked a few more steps forward until he was a few feet away and the fog surrounding them began to clear. The silhouette began to come to life; the monotone colors of his tunic and hat, the pale, almost gray color of his skin, and the ebony, almost black color of his hair. The dark red hue of his eyes.

He ripped The Master Sword from its sheath in alarm and almost like a mirror, the black-clad figure mimicked him. Link moved his sword in front of him defensively to see what the figure would do, but against his expectations, the mysterious man shot forward and pushed his also black copy of The Master Sword against Link's. With them being so close in proximity, Link stared into the face of the figure attacking him. The dark hair almost covering his eyes, the features that mirrored his own, and the deadly smirk played on his lips.

With a forceful shove that Link wasn't anticipating, Link was forced back and the figure jumped back with his sword poised to attack once again. When Link regained his balance, he ran forward with his sword to stab the imitation of him, but at the last moment and with a speed he'd never seen before, he leapt up, and crouched on the blade. Startled, because of the quickness of the movement and because his sword should have felt heavier but didn't, he couldn't move an inch. Dark Link raised his sword until the blade rubbed against Link's face, dangerously but carefully, before jumping backwards and resuming his earlier position.

Once Link came back to his senses, he held his sword defensively and called upon Navi. "What is he?" He asked her with a sideways glance. He didn't want to lose sight of an enemy under any circumstances.

Navi flew off of his shoulder where she was perched and floated in the air ahead of him. Under a hushed whisper, she told him, "He seems to be a dangerous and violent facsimile of you." Link looked at the copy of himself and saw that the figure smirked wider and narrowed his eyes. "I'm pretty sure, you're supposed to kill him."

Link wanted to get this over with and done, so whatever he needed to do, he would do. Yet, he couldn't seem to find the drive to kill someone who looked so much like him. It was unnerving. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't pay any attention to the figure who had raised his hands up in surrender, his sword nowhere to be seen. He took a few, slow steps forward, taking Link's silence as acceptance of him coming closer. He kept his hands up, trying to show he didn't want to fight anymore.

"Link!" Navi called, trying to get Link's attention back on the matter at hand. She hadn't seen the imitation creep forward either, but she knew they need to keep sights on the fight.

His senses rushing back to him and thinking that Navi was attempting to get him to attack, he swung his sword downwards and heading directly towards the figure. Luckily for the other fighter, he sidestepped immediately and the sword hit the water instead. Without missing a beat, the dark-haired opponent summoned his sword and stepped behind the hero, his sword at Link's neck. With his right foot, he kicked the back of Link's knee, causing the him to fall to his knees in the water, and lowered his arm, making sure he didn't accidently decapitate Link.

Link's mind was reeling from the sudden change of events. He was much better than this and he knew it. Perhaps he was simply too tired and exhausted to be in his right mind of fighting. He would have never zoned out during a fight any other time. Not to mention how scary and unsettling it was to fight someone who looked exactly like you.

"I don't want to fight you."

Link heard a voice from right behind him. He thought it was all in his head, but he felt the blade poised at his neck lifting and moving away from his throat. He blinked a couple of times before attempting to stand. He was surprised to find that there was nothing blocking his movement and realized why. The figure was standing few feet away from him, standing far enough away to see an attack coming and to be able to prepare for it.

"Why don't you want to fight?" Link asked. He was in the perfect position to kill him, yet he hadn't. As frightening a thought, he was still alive.

The strange figure shrugged, holding his hand with the sword out in front of him. Link automatically stood in a defensive position, but stopped once he saw that the sword was dissipating in the air just like bits of black sand. "It was boring."

Link was taken aback by his answer. He just got beat and his opponent was bored?

His opponent saw Link's dismay and tried to correct the misunderstanding. "I'm not being cocky. I just don't want to fight you anymore." He continued when Link's raised an eyebrow. "I'm here to kill you, but I'm not going to."

"Who are you?" Navi asked, only to have the facsimile shrug as a reply. "You don't know who you are? Do you have a name?"

"I wasn't given one."

"No?"

"No."

"Where did you come from then?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Link quietly listened to their banter, trying to figure out what they were going to do. If his opponent wasn't going to fight him and was obviously opposing his master or whoever created him, why wouldn't he help them instead? That couldn't be boring, now could it?

"Do you think you'll be able to help us?" Link called out, sheathing his sword. His copy looked at him closely and then smirked.

"What makes you think you want a nameless, soulless, demon following you around through temples? You don't even know what I'm capable of."

"We might not, but it's something for you to consider." Link countered. His copy was faster and far more skilled than he when it came down to sword fighting and if they were to become allies, he could teach Link what he knew. And perhaps Link knew something that his copy didn't and they could exchange skills.

The black-clad figure stood idly for a moment, contemplating the thought.

"What should we call you?" Navi asked. She found it silly that he didn't have a name. Even if he didn't have one, they could find a name for him. When he didn't respond, she threw out an idea. "What about Dark Link?"

Link cringed. "I don't think I'd like to have the same name. Wouldn't it get somewhat confusing?"

"Well aren't you being stingy?"

"I'm being reasonable! That's the same name, just with an adjective in front of it! I can have some say in this too, right?"

The figure interjected. "Dark is fine. You don't have to give me your name just because I look like you."

Navi and Link both nodded and Dark smirked. With a snap of his fingers, he began to disappear in a whirlwind of black sand starting at his feet and moving upwards. "Wait!" Link called out, running forward, but far enough away that the black sand wouldn't touch him. "You're leaving?"

Dark laughed in response. "What else am I supposed to do here?" The sand was at his waist.

"Are you going to help us?" He asked, watching as the sand enveloped his chest and worked its way to his neck.

"I'll think about it," Dark replied before the whirlwind of sand covered his lips and made its way to the top of his head, taking them away. The whirlwind dissipated and all that was left were a few stray grains of sand floating in the air.

Simultaneously as Dark disappeared, the fog, tree, are island began to disappear until all there was left was the water on the ground and the blue tint of the walls all around the Water Temple. Even the floors beneath the water matched the normal floors of the temple. The bars on the door at the other side of the room opened and Link walked towards it. As he opened the door though, he couldn't help but to turn around to see if Dark was still there.

Only a fewer number of sand grains remained when Link exited the room for good.

Author's Note: How was it? Be sure to review if you have time. I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for reading!