RE-DRAWN
LoZ-FSA

Link's Awakening

Link sat up in a field; green, encircled by trees and filled with the sounds of an early spring morning. It was still pretty early in the morning, with the sun just shining over the top of the tree line which nearly encircled the field. The field itself was pretty grassy, and still damp. There was a strange post sticking out of the ground a few feet ahead of him and a decent sized rock near where he lay, and there were a couple of bushes scattered here and there across the field, none bigger than himself, but other than that, the field was empty. The grass around him was slightly uprooted and wind lashed, as though a great storm had passed throughout here, maybe even a tornado...

Tornado? Why does that ring a bell? Thought link, as a string of thoughts involving a whirlwind and cries for help ran through his head. He tried to remember why this was significant, as it had seemed very recent, but the more he thought more about it, the more details slipped further away.

Vaati his subconscious mumbled, and Link brushed the thought aside, that didn't seem to fit. This memory seemed different than those events so long ago…

His mind wandered as he tried to remember what he was so distraught about, and he decided to look at the environment and examine his surroundings to try and remember how he got here. The second he looked down, he regretted he had. Next to him lay the troublesome blade he once wielded so long ago, during his most rambunctious and wildest adventures. Link stared at the weapon with a look that could have been a mix of despair and disbelief when like a flash; all of the events of the previous night came rushing back to him with a horrific sense of dread.

The rain was coming down, and hard. But Link had his mind set on going outside. He was putting on his traditional green tunic as fast as he could, and totally disregarding his usual weapons and armor. Zelda had sent a summons to Link, saying he had to come to the sanctuary of the Four Sword as soon as he could. Most importantly though, she said come alone. Link knew that Zelda loved the rain, and the sanctuary was always under heavy guard by Hyrule's finest foot soldiers, but the inside was usually left empty. He had hoped that he could finally make some progress on their relationship, since Zelda still hadn't even given her hero a hug for saving her from a forced marriage with a one eyed abomination known as Vaati, the wind sorcerer. Life had been incredibly hectic since he returned the Four Sword to the shrine only about 6 months ago, and in that time, he had only seen Zelda in passing, or under the highest guard, thus leaving Link to fend for himself with his newfound fame.

Everywhere he went, he was praised by people for saving Hyrule and their families, but the one person that mattered most hadn't seemed to notice. Hopefully he could finally be "properly thanked" for saving the majestic maiden.
Link checked the room for any other supplies he would need for his 'quest' and decided to toss a bit of Lon Lon cologne on. For luck he thought, chuckling to himself. With high hopes, Link rushed to get his boots on and got a running start to the door. As he opened the door, a huge gust of wind knocked the door slamming into Link's eager face. Link silently swore to himself as water went flying into his open abode. He grabbed his shield to use as a temporary umbrella as he sprinted out the opened door towards the Sanctuary of the Four Sword to rendezvous with princess Zelda.

When he arrived completely drenched at the entrance to the sanctuary, Link noticed the guards looked terrified. They jumped at every thunderclap and would shake in fear if the strong winds blew as much as a leaf across the courtyard. It worried him; the guards were always a jumpy bunch who weren't the strictest training, but they had more discipline than this show of cowardice. In hindsight though, Link hadn't seen a single person out in the storm, and all doors were sealed shut with lights on, everyone was afraid of this storm, and what it would bring, whatever that was.

He went up to who was clearly the leader, a tall man that looked almost Goron-like due to his massive stature and bulky armor, his face obscured by the helmet he wore and by the pounding rain coming in from all sides. Link sized him up unconsciously and decided that he could tear that man apart on the battlefield. Size difference aside, a grizzled war veteran was still no match for the legendary warrior, after all, Link had fought bigger. As Link approached, the man looked down and noticed him as if for the first time and snapped his fingers and barked an undecipherable syllable. Almost instantaneously, his men jumped into a line to bar Link's path.

"I have direct clearance from Zelda herself to enter" Link said exasperatedly, he didn't have time for this, Zelda needed him now.

"Do you have your papers on you?" barked the commander over the roaring wind and thunder.

Link groaned, and pulled out a soggy sheet of paper that Zelda had sent. The commander examined the pass as it was briefly illuminated by a flash of lightning, and took what was left of it.
"I'll need to get this verified first, wait right here." the leader said condescendingly, and as Link opened his mouth to say something he would undoubtedly regret, a shrill and urgent voice cut across the courtyard.

"LET HIM THROUGH!" the voice yelled.

The general turned to see who was ordering him, and Link peered around his huge frame.
Standing on the stormy path leading into the sanctuary was Princess Zelda. Her dark blonde hair tossed about wildly in the wind and her royal lavender dress was darkened to a deep purple by the pounding rain. She ushered with one hand to Link, indicating he should come in. She didn't need to invite twice, as Link skipped across the path almost as quickly as his heart, leaving behind him a dejected and cold general, scowling slightly at the hometown hero.

As Link and Zelda raced up the steps, she enveloped him in a soft towel.
"Thanks for coming so quick, I've already assembled all the maidens and we were just about to-"

"Hang on a second," interrupted Link "remind me why I'm here again?" Zelda stared blankly for a second, and then with a start said

"Oh! I must have forgotten to tell you our concern! I'm so sorry, the maidens and I were worried about these fierce storms. They're very unusual for this time of year, wouldn't you agree?"

Link nodded quickly, indicating politely she should get to the point.

"Right, so with Vaati now sealed in a questionably safe prison, the maidens and I thought we should check the seals... just in case something was going wrong."

"Understandable" said Link sympathetically; he couldn't even begin to imagine the terror she might have dealt with in the time it took for him to save her, with all the confusion he had on his end getting to her.

"Anyway, we've got all the maidens assembled inside and we were just about to carry on the ritual, we thought we'd wait a bit for you to arrive... You know, in case something went wrong again..."

He smiled and gave her comforting look "Don't worry about it, I wouldn't let the sorcerer lay a finger on you."

Zelda smiled sheepishly "Thanks." she said. She then went up and gave link a quick kiss on the cheek "for luck." she grinned and turned to open the door. Link was glad she had, since he was blushing, strongly embarrassed.

The scene indoors was calm and meditative, just as a sanctuary usually is. The stained glass window, still being lashed with the rain from outside, overlooked the main altar. The window showed the story of the Four Sword, with room being added for his recent endeavors with the blade. The sword in question was nowhere to be seen, but that was easily credited to the it's status as a powerful artifact that, when left in the open, was merely a tool in some egomaniac's sickest fantasies. The room was bare other than that, with symbols and glyphs placed ritualistically across the floor, not that Link knew what they meant though, he just saw them.

The 6 maidens were also here, as Zelda had said, each wearing their traditional ceremonial dresses corresponding to their color. The blue maid of the coast, the yellow maid of the mountain, the red maid from the Hyrule providence, the white maid from the Woods of Light, the purple maid of the desert the green maid of the countryside.
All had assumed a meditative stance and were preparing for the ritual; once the door opened they all looked up.

"Hi Liiiink!" they all swooned in one voice. Link smiled and bowed, become somewhat accustomed to the attention by now. Never gets old he thought to himself, regardless of what others said, he kinda enjoyed all the extra attention. It wasn't their fault though, he had saved each of their assigned Providences before he had even met them, and that added to his recent fame could probably bring even the wisest maiden to at least a giggle.

"-eady to start, then?"

He snapped back into focus as Zelda finished asking if the maidens had regained control. They all nodded, calming themselves for the coming incantation.

Link stood off to the side and waited. All of the maidens and Zelda closed their eyes and bowed their heads, and as hey did, a colored light began to appear around them. At first Link thought it was a trick to the eye, but the aura around the maidens quickly intensified. The air around them thrummed and small glowing energy particles began to condense around each maiden's head. Suddenly, all the maidens lifted their hands as one entity, made even more dramatic by the thunder rumble outside, and a great multicolored flower bloomed from the middle of the main altar. As the flower expanded more and more, the glow around the maidens quickly diminished. Soon, as it had appeared, the flower was fading away, as was the glow about the maidens. They all currently watched the flowers center breathlessly. Link looked and saw a small portal able to fit about four people in at a time. It shimmered and glowed like a rainbow, and Zelda slowly turned towards Link.

"The gate is open, lets go see if the sword is secure"

As she said that, there was a collective gasp from the maidens to whom Zelda had just turned her back to. Zelda turned again, making a full 360, and Link rushed to her side.
The portal was pitch black now and even seemed to draw in the light around itself, it was like all the joy and hope had been sucked out of the air and a foreboding sense overshadowed the group of eight. As the maidens began to turn to each other nervously, questioning what went wrong, a hand emerged from the pit.

Everyone looked on with horror frozen on their faces as a lightning strike illuminated what was simply a dark grey hand groping about for a handhold, then another hand arose. Zelda turned to Link, and looked for comfort with worry written all over her face, but all he could do was stare. Suddenly, the creature inside the hole decided to drop all it's theatrics and leaped out of the hole shrieking off a primal battle cry. As the thingsailed through the air, Link sized it up. It was humanoid, with solid black clothes and dark grey ashy hands. The thing was roughly the size of himself, and Link tensed up, ready for battle. It landed in front of Zelda and Link and crouched forward onto one leg, leaving only its back and head visible, almost as if mockingly bowing to Zelda. Then It suddenly jerked it's face up towards Link. When their gaze met, blue eyes to a pair of red eyes, everyone in the room froze. Not simply because they were shocked that the thing from the dark portal was Link, but also because this shadow of Link was casting. Before any of the maidens could get over their shock, a crystallized barrier surrounded them one by one, slowly dragging them into the dark abyss.

It was Link's living nightmare, he was struck still from shock and he could do nothing but watch the maidens helpless and silent struggles, he saw their mouths make motions indicating that they were all screaming his name, he heard no noise though, they could he pleading for help, cursing him for whatever he had done, or just crying out in terror from there ton, but he couldn't know. He turned to see whether Zelda was alright, and she had been quicker than the other maidens and had the time to shoot off a counter-spell, which simply negated the crystal prison, but it took nearly all her focus to stave off the dark magic.

The Shadow Link noticed, and as the 6 other maidens were sucked into the portal, he rushed forward and stomped his weight onto Link's foot and shoved hard against Link's torso, pushing Link off-balance. Link flailed his arms about, trying to re-balance himself, but to no avail. Link landed heavily on his seemingly useless ass and got a grip of his self.

SAVE HER YOU DOLT!

Link jumped to his feet and saw Shadow Link dragging the still focused and struggling Zelda down towards the dark portal, and Link rushed boldly to meet himself in combat.

Shadow Link stood on the edge of the pit, and heard an angry bellow from behind him. He saw the normal Link charging him, and Shadow Link simply grinned and let out an unearthly chuckle. It was high pitched and had almost a childlike glee to it, rising in pitch each time it escaped his dark lips. He loosened his grip on Zelda, and waited until link was only seconds away from him, then he released Zelda, letting her fall into the corrupted portal. Side stepping Link's rush, Shadow link twirled his weight onto his right foot, spinning his left foot behind him and around in a circle to gain momentum, then slammed Link in the face with a punishing roundhouse as he charged forward. The blow knocked link off balance, and he tumbled headlong into the pit.

As he fell, he saw Zelda's face cry out in anguish and a slight crystal slowly formed around her falling body. She was loosing the telepathic battle that Link couldn't save her from. Helplessly, both of them tumbled downward, and Link saw the floor rushing at him.

Great job hero he thought as he prepared himself for a meeting with his demise you saved the princess.

He continued to tumble towards deaths cold, hard embrace, but when he opened his eyes, he notices he was just 2 feet above the ground and stabilized. He scanned the new area, and suffered a bout of nostalgia. The room he was in was the TRUE Four Swords Sanctuary, with 4 pillars with asymmetrical design adorning the path to the blade's resting place. Immediately, all other thoughts left his head when he saw his shadow glaring darkly at a still fighting Zelda next to the stone the four sword rested in. maybe there's still time he thought.

Zelda slowly floated off the floor, a look of defeat slowly creeping upon her face as the dark clouds that covered this tainted place slowly filled the crystal she had become encased in. Maybe not another part of him suggested. The voice sounded vaguely familiar.

"NO!" he screamed, rushing forward blindly. He had to save Zelda, had to prove he was worth her. Had to defend his honor. Had to- WHAK.

Link fell face first into the ground, sliding neatly across the polished marble leading up to the stone which housed the Four Sword. His shadow had calmly tripped him, and let out that same eerie laugh he had used, distracting him from his magic standoff with Zelda.

Zelda used the distraction, and shouted encouragement to her hero through her crystallized bonds.

"Quit fighting like a fool and use your brains!"

Link pulled himself up, spitting out a bit of blood. He had barely heard Zelda's advice, but he was transfixed on one goal. Saving Zelda and being the hero.
He turned back to his foe, and stomped forward, his pride and his love were at steak, and neither of them were going to fall to this snide imposter. Link put his hands in front of him in a boxing position, and Shadow Link merely laughed with his inhuman mirth.
Aggravated, Link swung the first blow, with a strong left overhand, which his shadow casually dodged by leaning backwards. Link followed up with a spinning drop kick, using his punch's momentum to bring his right foot over his head and in a downward arc, intending to crush his dark counterpart's skull in. His foot smashed into where Dark was just standing, and a grey hand griped Link in the shoulder from behind and turned him around, so that he received the full force of the other ashy fist under his chin. Link stumbled backwards up the stairs and landed flat on his tailbone, he look up to see Zelda worried, helpless, and ashamed, and Link was instantly filled with failure and humiliation.

"I'm going to kill the shit outta you" Link growled, his face bright red and his large blue eyes glaring menacingly at his Shadow. Link jumped up and spun around on his heel and grabbed the sword stuck in the pedestal, drawing the Four Sword from its ritualistic place, and finished his turn, left arm wielding the legendary, HIS legendary, blade and the other reaching for the shield off his back.

"LINK, NO!" Zelda screamed, and snapped Link out of his pride stricken bloodlust. Shadow turned his head and threw out a dark and clawed hand toward the princess. With her focus smashed, Zelda was powerless to stop the flowing waves of darkness that filled and enveloped her crystalline casket. Link watched in horror as she floated away into the ever thickening darkness around the chamber, and then his gaze shifted to the now glowing sword he held in his hand.

"What have I done?" he asked himself, in the calm before the storm.

And what a storm.

A bright light enveloped link, sending pain searing through his body. His energy and life force were being divided evenly between the four he felt resurfacing inside his body. Link fell to the ground, unable to support himself any longer in his drained state, and he let out a final cry, then he ripped.

He opened his eyes with his vision fluttering in and out of darkness; he saw a dark version of himself approach the fallen hero. Link lowered his head, strained by the effort to look up, and he felt a grip tighten under his chin. He was slowly lifted until he was face to face with his self, and he gazed into his own blood red eyes.

Are those really my eyes? He wondered, as the shadow of him stretched its mouth farther than any human mouth could stretch, and revealed a row of wicked teeth. Link couldn't even turn his head to look away, such a weak state he was in, but it didn't matter, since the tight and powerful hand lifting his chin turned his head towards his right.
Lying as feebly as Link was were now three more people, each slowly awakening just as Link had. All of them were wearing tunics with the same design as Link's, but each with varying color, and all had a sword and shield strapped on their backs. The three other boys slowly begun to stir, and before Link could examine any further, the ebony hand griping his chin continued turning his Link's gaze the overflowing pedestal.

The Four Sword's pedestal had acted like a cork on a bottle of wine, wine made of pure malice and misanthropy; and when the contents were shaken, they would quickly come bubbling out once the cork was removed. Unlike the jovial spirit accompanying overflowing wine, Link felt an tremendous sense of doom after he saw the contents of the pedestal blasting out. First came a set of dark bat wings, on top of a bulbous shape, also black. Then emerged another wing from the right side of the circular center, and it shifted into a long, black claw, which shattered the ground around it as it rammed down to gain a hold. Link struggled slightly, trying to turn away, but Shadow just leaned over and whispered 'Shhhhh' into Link's ear, mocking affection, such a human trait for such an inhuman monster. The left side of the shape rose up and the bottom half slid out easily, floating into the air. The wind sorcerer Vaati opened his single eye located in the middle of his circular body, and it blinked twice, and looked around almost curiously at freedom.

Shadow smiled and laughed one last time for good measure and to draw attention, and dropped link down to the floor, running off as he did. Vaati turn his one red eye toward the source of the noise, and while he didn't see the shadow of link skipping away towards the portal, he did see the hero who had banished him into the cursed slab what felt like an eternity ago.

"YOU!" Vaati roared, a phrase more spoken through his actions than his non-existent mouth. The chamber filled with gale like winds as dirt and rocks flew about the sanctuary. Vaati had opened his dark maws and was releasing years of pent up hatred and rage, directed towards the 4 unconscious and doomed boys.

Link felt the winds pick up, and used every ounce of strength in his weakened body to look up and see a furious wind sorcerer with a sizeable tornado forming behind him. Link looked on in plain and simple disbelief as the rocks scattered about went sailed through the air.

"Well, fuc-" Link heard, till a sizeable rock made a solid connection with his head, knocking Link out cold and at a vengeful wind sorcerer's mercy.