Everyone has a dark side...whether it is good or bad...that's theirs to decide
Sheik entered the water room. She walked over to the lone tree in the middle of nothingness. A figure was leaning against the tree. A person identical to the Hero of Time.
"Hello." Dark Link greeted.
Sheik nodded in return. "Hello Dark Link. Nothing to do as usual?"
"Yep." He scowled. "My tunic looks slightly blue, though."
"He will be coming soon." Sheik ignored his annoyed tone.
"Oh, him." Dark Link said bitterly. "I guess I would consider myself lucky. Few Umbra get to meet their counterparts."
"And you are ordered to kill him?" Sheik asked
"Of course." Dark Link unsheathed his sword and mimicked stabbing a person. "Ganondorf's orders and all...hmph, Ganondorf. More like Ganon-dork. Besides..."
Sheik smiled underneath her mask. "I won't tell him that." She promised. "He sent me to check on you and Morpha, apparently. It's stupid."
Dark Link raised an eyebrow. "Well I'm not the only who doesn't like him. Why are you following his orders then?"
"Why are you." Sheik countered, then sighed. "Ah this is useless...this place is too complicated in my taste. I'm just going to go now." She turned around and began walking back.
"What are you going to tell Ganondorf then?" Dark Link asked.
"Oh I won't return to him immediately." She called back. "He barely notices me anyways. I'll just tell him that you guys are fine but awfully bored." She waved goodbye to him with her right hand that bore the Sheikah symbol, and disappeared into the fog.
Dark Link sheathed his sword and slumped against the tree trunk. "That's an understatement." He muttered under his breath.
He then considered what Sheik said. Why did he follow Ganondorf's orders? Was it because he was big and imposing, or was it because he told him to kill his counterpart? It was it because he sent him here, all those years ago...
Dark Link thought back to the first few years he was alive. Unlike real people, the Umbra has infinite memory, remembering things down to the upmost detail. But because of that, they have little imagination.
He had emerged from the shadow of the young Link, while Link's mother was escaping from the terrors of the land. Being the umbra, he was obviously left behind. He laid there, studying the flames around him and the horrific landscape. After what seemed like forever, a great black horse appeared over him. And a hand lifted him up.
Ganondorf has taken one look and chuckled. Dark Link was brought to his domain and trained under him for about 15 years. After that, he was sent to the Water Temple, and has been there ever since.
Dark Link sighed and leaned against the tree, waiting for another disturbance.
Link shot the Like Like a couple times, hookshotted across and faced the door. "Okay...what do we have now..." He opened the door to find an enormously wide room, covered with white fog from who-knows-where, and there was a thin layer for water on the floor. There was a tree in the middle and a structure with a door in the distance.
"Awesome! Easy room." Link cheered. "Come on, Navi!"
He dashed towards the structure with Navi fluttering after him, ignored the tree, and found the door to be barred. Frowning, Link decided to check out the tree again
Link ran towards the tree and looked around it for a switch or something. Suddenly Navi yelled a loud HEY and swooped upwards. Link, startled, looked up just in time to see a figure leap at him with a sword.
Link backflipped to avoid being slashed. He unsheathed his sword and narrowed his eyes at the opponent, who looked...exactly like him! Surprised but not off stance, he dodged another stab from the doppelgänger, and came back with a jump attack, which promptly missed.
"Who are you?" Link yelled. Now you normally wouldn't talk when fighting, but Link wanted to know. "Why are you fighting me?" He slashed away at the shadow boy, which he all blocked, and retaliated with the same attacks. Navi tried to help by flying around the boy's head, but it didn't do much.
It took some time, but Link finally managed to pin him to the ground. Both of them suffered multiple cuts all over their body, but he pressed the tip of his sword to the dark hylian's throat. "Tell me, who are YOU?"
The shadow boy's calm face slowly contorted into a horrible snarl. With a howl of anger, he pushed Link up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying. Link smashed against the tree and groaned. Navi quickly swirled around him, healing some of his wounds.
The boy stood up, hate boiling in his red eyes. "I am your Umbra counterpart." He finally spoke, his voice slightly deeper than Link's. "You may call me Dark Link, if you wish." He then rushed up to him, attempting a jump attack, which Link barely blocked.
Link rolled away and came up standing to block another attack. "Why are you fighting me?" He managed to say.
This only made Dark Link's anger worse. "Why am i fighting you? Because YOU DID THIS TO ME." With another roar, he unleashed a fury of attacks that Link was just able to counter.
"I am your sadness, your anger, your pain. I am your Umbra, and I feel every negative thing you have ever felt. Do you have ANY IDEA how painful it is?." Dark Link continued to rant on as he fought. "Your negative feelings, and my own experiences from being in this world...I've killed innocent people, for his bidding, simply for him! No, you don't have any idea of how that feels. Nobody does!" Tears were streaming down his face now. "The only people, the only person, who had ever even a little cared for me, was..." He broke down just then, dropping his sword and collapsing. Link, out of reflex, barely caught him before he fell completely.
Dark Link was softly sobbing. Navi was fluttering nearby, keeping quiet. Link, still slightly shocked about what his counterpart had said, only held him close, listening to his cries. He wondered if he should kill him right then and now, then hated himself for thinking that.
After a while, Link heard Dark Link mutter something. "Yes?" Link asked.
"Why didn't you kill me...just before..." Dark Link asked quietly.
Link thought about it. "I don't know. I felt like maybe you weren't simply a mindless monster that Ganondorf's got, i guess, or something."
"But everything I did..." Dark Link's voice cracked.
"I don't blame you for any of that either." Link reassured him. "I mean, you've lived alone in this world. I have to guess that you were taught to kill...and I'm sorry."
Dark Link stiffened, sighed, and looked up at Link, his face wet and his red eyes filled with regret. "I'm sorry too. Its common knowledge for all Umbra that they feel the pain of their counterpart. Nobody knows why, and since they can't find anyone to blame it for, they blame it on their counterpart. Besides, I guess trying to kill you was stupid." He looked down. "It inflicted more pain on me, especially when I kicked you into the tree. I'll just die anyways when I kill you as well."
He stood up and offered Link his hand, which Link gladly took. "I guess you'll be on your way now." Dark Link said, as he pulled Link up.
Link scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess." He picked up both swords and offered Dark Link his. He then felt something bumping against one of his pouches. "What the..." Link opened the pouch and a fairy fluttered out. With a huff, she healed the two of them and flew away. "Uh, thanks?" Link called. He reached into the same pouch and pulled out several pieces of glass: the remainders of an empty bottle. "Ugh..." He made a sour face.
Dark Link felt the corners of his mouth tugging up, and he laughed, then stopped. "What, did i just do. And what am I feeling?"
Link smiled. "Dude! You laughed!"
Dark Link, however, was more caution than happy. "What is, laugh?" He asked.
"Laughing is something you do when you feel happy." Link explained. "Like what you just did. Its nothing harmful."
"Oh...but I thought I couldn't feel emotions like that..." Dark Link still looked slightly scared.
"Often even though you think that way, doesn't mean that it is." Link said, grinning.
"Um, okay!" Dark Link tried for a smile, and ended up with a crooked smile that slightly resembles Ganondorf's. Link decided to shrug it off. Dark Link then pointed at the door at the other side of the room, which had become unbarred. "In there is the Longshot. Honestly, I have never found much use for it, so you can have it. Im going to get out of here."
Link nodded. "Sure thing. Thanks." He gave Dark Link a hug, which he returned. "I hope we meet again." The two Links split ways and say goodbye, Link heading for the Longshot to further progress the Water Temple, Dark Link finally going out of the Water Temple for a long time.
Overhead, Sheik smiled as she watched the two depart. "Time passes, people move, like a rivers flow, it never ends, a childish mind will turn to noble ambition, young love will become deep affection, a fierce hatred will become a loyal brotherhood, the clear water's surface reflects growth..."
Some time later, Sheik found Dark Link lounging on a tree near the graveyard of Kakariko Village. She dropped down on the branches opposite his. "Nice day?"
"Oh Sheik!" Dark Link sat up and grinned, which Sheik found a little unsettling, then drew back with a scared expression. "You're not going to tell Ganondorf about this, right?"
Sheik shook her head. "No. I just came to tell you that while i was looking for Zelda," It felt weird referring to herself in third person. "I found her diary. She wrote about the Master Sword, that if it is returned to it's pedestal, Link will go back, because he was not being old enough to wield it when he first needed to, and he will return it to the pedestal when he's finished with Ganondorf."
"What does that mean?" Dark Link asked.
"It means that everything that has happened during the past 7 years may be erased from your memory, and you will be returned to where you were 7 years ago." Sheik explained
Dark Link gasped. "No. I don't want to go back!" He began to freak out, frantically thinking of something else.
"I can, however, offer you an alternate solution." Sheik said
Dark Link looked at her.
Sheik continued. "Since you are Link's Umbra, I take it that you can become his shadow?" Dark Link nodded. "You become his shadow when he goes back, and you will retain your memories from here. You will still go back to the location you were 7 years ago, but I think you have more than enough information on how to get out."
Dark Link nodded again. "Thanks! Why are you telling me this?" He looked confused.
Sheik looked away. "Maybe I'm not loyal to Ganondorf. Maybe I want to help Link. Maybe I want to see you happy. But, I will meet you again, I promise." She looked back at him, flashed her right hand again in goodbye, and disappeared.
Dark Link pondered her words. He shrugged. At least he wasn't the only who always seemed to disappear.
Ganondorf was killed, Hyrule was restored, everyone was happy.
And now, Link was to return the Master Sword back into it's pedestal.
Zelda was accompanying Link to the Temple of Time, while Dark Link had already jumped into Link's shadow.
They approached the pedestal. Before taking his sword out, Link turned around to hug Zelda, which she returned. He then thrust the Master Sword into the pedestal, and turned to watch Zelda and the rest of the world fade away. Dark Link was also watching from Link's shadow, and he saw Zelda say goodbye and wave.
During that, he noticed the red mark on her right hand.
The mark of the Sheikah!
He did not want to jump out and ruin his only chance to survive, but he did wave his hand in a way so that Link did not notice, but Zelda definitely did. She winked back at him before everything turned white.
He appeared in the middle of a group of moblins, who shrieked and charged him. Dark Link quickly jumped out of the way and used his now Dark Kokiri Sword to kill the monsters. Then he made his way out of Gerudo valley, killing any monster who got in his way. He evaded a patrol of knights, probably there to sedate Ganondorf. Nabooru ought help them.
He ran all the way to Kakariko Village, back to the graveyard, back to the same tree he was, apparently 7 years later. Not long after, a small girl resembling Sheik appeared out of the shadows, though with the mask. Delighted, Dark Link ran over and hugged her, happy to have his old friend back. She then brought him to Hyrule Castle to meet Link again.
AN: I've been wanting to write this for a long time, and I finally did! Sorry for the short fight though...I'm not good with those...
I have always been fond of the Sheik and Dark Link pairing. I don't think it's much of a popular one? I don't see it a lot, but honestly I think it's rather cute.
As for my other stories, I might complete them...I might not...I'm sorry, but I phase in and out a lot, and now there's school! So, sorry...