Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything Zelda related, except for the discs and game cartridges I bought at the stores. C: The only thing I do own in the fic is my OC.
Warning: This story is slightly AU. Aside from the flashback, the story takes place after the events of OoT, without Zelda having sent Link back in time seven years to grow up again. Basically, Link is still in the same time frame in which he killed Ganon.
It had been years since that day. I was never very good at counting how many years old I was, as I didn't have a birthday, but the Princess had guessed I must have been twenty-two the last time I saw her. I visit her at the newly built Hyrule Castle now and then. She keeps offering to make me a knight, but the thought of everyone calling me "Sir Link" makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. Nevertheless, it must have been at least five years since my quest as the Hero of Time. Five years since that battle in the Water Temple that changed me so much…
I am so sick of this temple! Water, water, and more water! That's all it is! I mean, I go through all these rooms and battles just to change the water level to get into ONE room, to find that that room only leads to a place to make the water level go back to how it was in the first place! It doesn't help that Navi nags about everything and won't shut up. "Oh, you should go that way!" "This door is locked, you need a key!" "Hey! Listen!" My head hurts.
Finally, I reach a door I had found earlier, but didn't have the key to. I had climbed all the way up this stupid waterfall just to discover a locked door and I had no keys. So I had to scour the temple for one more danged key. Well, now I'm here again. My map indicates there's a large room on the other side of the door, followed by a tinier room, whilst my compass says that there's a treasure chest in the smaller room. I break the pots near the door and capture the fairies inside, 'cause I have this feeling something is in there waiting for me…
I unlock the door and step inside. I sniffle and rub my arms. It's even chillier in here than the rest of the temple! I'm already catching a cold from walking around wet in a damp, cold place, and now I'm in what looks like a misty, shallow lake. Up ahead, I see a lump of ground sticking up from under the water with a dead tree jutting out of it, and beyond that is a door. I wait, but nothing happens. Nothing attacks me, no monsters pop out… It was just silent. If it weren't so cold, this place could be very pretty and serene. I sigh, hug my arms to keep myself warm, and begin to shuffle over to the other side of the room. I glance down to see my perfect reflection in the crystal water. I look a mess.
As I pass by the tree, my shoulder brushes it. Then all of a sudden, I feel cold and empty. Not the kind of cold I had felt before, but a bitter chill, like a ghost had passed through me. I feel like something is missing.. something important… I become a little lightheaded for a second, then I recover, but the empty feeling in me does not vanish. I shiver, deciding to keep going. I step off the little island, and continue my trek. As I walk, I glance down again. But.. my reflection is gone!! I freeze and stare down at the water, bewildered, until Navi screams something in my ear. "The door.. there's bars on it, it's locked!" She just kept getting louder. My ears were ringing. "Link!! Turn around, there's something here!!" I do as she says, and turn around. I nearly gasp, seeing somebody had suddenly appeared on the island. Although the room is brightly lit from an unseen source, he looks as though he's covered in shadows. The only clear feature I can make out on his face were these horrible, red, gleaming eyes. He doesn't move, and I don't move. Nothing happens. My teeth chattering, I inched closer, and he mimicked me. I stop, and he stops too. I stare at him, and then I notice something. He's wearing a tunic, a funny floppy kokiri hat, and he carries his sword and shield on his back.. This man, whoever he is, was.. just like me! As we step closer to one another, some of the darkness around him dissolves a little. His skin was pure white and translucent. His face was shaped the same as mine, and he had the same nose and hairstyle. By 'style', I mean his hair was a mess that framed his face. Only, his hair was black. His tunic, though the same design as mine, was also black, as was the hilt of his version of my master sword. But the biggest difference between us was those eyes…
Navi quickly flies in front of me, and I nearly fall back, startled by her sudden appearance. She yells something along the lines of "Link, it's your shadow, Dark Link! You've got to fight yourself, you are your worst enemy!" I decide not to try and figure out what that means, but I know I need to fight. I draw my sword, and 'Dark Link' does the same. I begin to circle him, but he circles too, so we were both just walking in a big circle. Now I make my move. I jump at him, but then he jumps with me! Our swords clash and we smack into one another. We both get knocked back a few feet. I pause, and of course, he does as well.
Ok, so, everything I do, he copies. But it would be hard to block a stab, and he didn't have fairies and Lon Lon milk to heal him when he gets hurt, so I can take the risk.. I quickly thrust my sword forward. I expected him to do the same, so or swords would glance past each other and stab us both, but instead, he jumps up and.. stands on my blade! I don't even now how that's possible, but then he slashes at me and I fall back. He jumps away to wait for my next move. Obviously, he was smarter than I thought.
Navi is yelling things as usual, but I don't pay attention. I have a new plan. I run at him and start swinging wildly, and he does too. Our simultaneous swings just keep bouncing off the other's sword, until after a wide swing, I quickly slash at him before he has time to react.
At last, I hit him! He grunts and falls back, right into the water. Yet, he doesn't stop at the ground, he just keeps going like he was just a simple reflection… Then I hear something behind me, and turn around to see him standing there, ready for the next round. Seeing what just happened, I hesitate think. He turned into a reflection in the water, and then appeared behind me… and I was also missing my reflection, and it appeared I didn't have a shadow either. That empty feeling I've had since I stepped foot on that island.. was my shadow, my darkness, leaving my body to become a separate being! Perhaps Ganondorf had put some kind of separation spell on that island or something, I have no idea, but that's a part of my own soul I'm fighting. I bit my lip, unsure of how to react. So, instead, I fight again.
This round went pretty much the same as the first. I hurt him, and he falls through the ground and appears behind me once again. How many times will I have to hit him? I keep at it, and every now and then, he uses my tactic and hits me before I can hit him. After a few minutes, I was down a whole bottle of milk, but I still had two fairies. Then finally, I slash at him one more time, and he lets out a scream of pain and falls to the floor.. and vanishes for the last time. Panting and bleeding, I stare at the spot he had just been at. I expected that my darkness would come back to me, and that empty feeling would go away. I look down, seeing my reflection had returned to me. Yet, it seems somewhat.. blurry. But that's probably my imagination coupled with the rippling of the water. Then, the water vanishes, as the does the mist and the island. I'm standing in a room like every other room in this temple. It was an illusion, a mirage… I turn around, just as the bars blocking the way into the treasure chest room withdraw. I step inside and receive my prize, a hook shot with a longer chain. I pocket the long shot, and reenter the 'Room of Illusion' and continue my journey to the temple boss and free the sage of water. Yet, something is wrong. I still feel… empty. As if my darkness didn't really return, even though I'm casting a shadow and I had seen my reflection. Perhaps, while the physical evidence was back, maybe that piece of my soul has gone.. missing. I shudder; ignoring whatever Navi is talking about, and walk through the door, leaving that room forever.
Although it has been so long, I still feel that strange, disturbing feeling that a piece of my soul had been wrenched from me. Ever since then, I've been looking for him. I refuse to believe I killed him that day. After all, he was my darkness, my shadow… you can't destroy something like that, can you? I have this feeling that he's out there, somewhere, perhaps waiting for me. I'm determined to find him. All I want is for my mind and soul to be whole again, for me to no longer be just half a man...
Well, that was the first chapter! Yeah, it was mostly a flash back, but it was important and set the stage. I guess you could call it a prologue. Please review what you think! Oh yeah, and I have a poll! Since this story is AU, should Navi still be hanging around? She could be comic relief I guess…