The Cruelest of Lies
By: Ashe Van Hollow
A/N: Well...this one came to me out of nowhere. Last night, I had a dream...and it was frightening enough for me to get this plot idea. Yes, this has a plot. And it has a lot of angst. But the romance in it will appear in a few chapters, so give it time, will you? It's a sinister plot, and this story has a lot of betrayal in it, so be prepared. But the whole angst deal will go away later...once I get the next chapter on. By the way, the Link in this fic of mine is...cruel, angsty, and haunted, if you get my drift. He is very different from the Links' in my other fics. And if you feel like reading something else that has LinkXZelda, check out my other fics. It's basically the only pairing I write. But I'm getting interested in this other pairing, SheikXMidna...I'll be writing a story on the pairing later on, if you're interested that is. Anyways, read, enjoy (if it's not that bad), and review if you'd like. No presure, though.
Prologue: Shadow of a Hero
A storm raged around him. Laughter rung in his ears.
You let her out of your sight...
He dashed towards the house up in flames. His eyes were cold and fierce. He gripped his sword tightly in his hands. Bloodlust, something he had only recently begun to feel in the heat of battle, blurred his vision.
You're the worst type of hero...
He burst through the door and immediately spotted a stalfos that shouldn't have been there. Without mercy, he chopped off its head, and watched it swing its sword around wildly. He crushed its bones, stomping on them with a rage he barely concealed from the outside world.
Help me! Save us!
He took out his bow and shot a bandit in the back. The bandit, in turn, fell to the floor in a pool of blood. A cry of rage came from beside him and he raised his sword to parry the blow headed straight for his head. He knocked the other bandit backwards with his shield and stabbed him straight through the chest. His own constricted for a second, but then it was gone. An explosion came from the side of the house. He did not even flinch.
You did not even run to her when she called for your aid...
He burst through one of the doors inside the house, and another bandit tried to strike him down. His fury blinded him, and the circles under his eyes showed lack of sleep. His once clear blue eyes darkened even more as he struck the next bandit down, almost as if he were a toy.
She needed you... and you were in the back of the barn with that farm girl...
He grabbed the bandit cornering a girl by the back of the head and smashed his face against the side of a flaming wall. The bandit screeched in agony, and he pressed his face even further into the flames, smiling in satisfaction.
What have you become, hero?
He tossed the body back, and grabbed the girl who screamed in fear. He flung her over his shoulder and walked outside of the house. And then he threw her down without a second thought.
Has her loss twisted you this far?
He moved back inside and went through the other door. He saw two bandits harassing a little boy. He parried a blow from one of them and knocked him back with his shield. The other's sword grazed his ribs. In return, he sliced his chest with his sword. The bandit gagged and collapsed in a heap on the floor. The other, still dazed, he picked up by the shirt and tossed through the window and into the back of the house which was up in flames.
Are you still even human?
He picked up the boy and took him outside. He handed him to the girl and turned to leave.
"Thank you." Her raspy voice said.
Her words met silence, a steel wall that was not to be penetrated.
"Hero?"
He stopped abruptly. Turning to look at her, she shivered. There was a shadow in his eyes so dark and sinister that it chilled her to the bone. They were hollow and inhuman. The man that stood before her, the man that had once been called the savior of Hyrule, was nothing but a remnant of the past. This man was merciless. This man was cruel beyond words. This man...was being haunted by something she did not have the words for.
"I am not a hero." His voice was cruel and cold.
He walked away. The blood spilled from the gash on his side, and he did not feel it.
No...you are now a monster...
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Ilia woke up to the sound of something crashing. She sat up, alarmed. Listening quietly in the night, she slipped out of her bed and stepped down the stairs of her house. Her father, who could sleep through anything, lay on his side snoring. She opened the door and headed outside, shutting it behind her.
She grabbed the lantern that her father always hung at the front of the house and made her way around the back. She climbed up the ladder to their small pumpkin patch and found herself staring at the boy she hadn't seen in four months.
"Link!" She cried, rushing forward.
But his eyes stopped her a few steps short. He looked so different. His clothes were torn in different places and his hair was dirty, caked with mud. He clutched his side, glaring up at her with something she had never seen in his eyes before. Hatred.
"Link, what happened?"
She was reluctant to believe that her disappearance had affected him this much. That it had turned him into a shadow of his former self. But he refused to speak to her, and he sheathed his sword and shield.
"Link, I was so worried about you!" She cried, reaching out for him once again.
He slapped her hand away and stood. He marched past her and stopped in front of the ladder.
"Was that really the case? Or were you feeling guilty?"
His voice sent a small shock through her. His voice was like steel, and he sounded so cruel...But his words, they hurt more than she thought they would have.
"You know we couldn't have predicted what happened."
"I was supposed to have been protecting her!" He roared, turning around to face her.
He looked like a feral beast. His rage, his anger...it frightened her. She thought he would've let it go by now. She thought he would've forgiven her for suggesting it in the first place.
"I didn't know it would happen...please, Link! I'm sorry."
"Sorry won't bring her back, now will it?"
She stared into his eyes disbelievingly.
"I didn't take her!"
He punched the wall, inches from her face.
"You might as well have! But it's my fault...it's my fault for ever agreeing with you in the first place."
She touched his face. He jerked away from her touch, roughly. It hurt, seeing him like this. But it hurt even more, what he had just said.
"Link, didn't it mean anything to you?"
He glared at her and gritted his teeth.
"If I had to decide between what happened and what we did, I would choose to prevent what happened, in a heartbeat."
The truth hurt so much more than just inferring.
"Do you really mean that?"
His eyes glinted in the moonlight. Yes, he was a shadow of what he used to be. Or was this the demon inside himself that he had been hiding all along?
"Yes."
Even if he had changed drastically in the past four months, his voice had not lost that honest quality that could tell anyone when he was telling a lie.
"Don't speak of this to anyone." His voice ordered. "I'm taking Epona. Say that she was stolen. I will not be coming back."
Tears welled up in her eyes and she reflexively gripped his arm. He shook her off and shoved her to the ground.
"Get off of me." He spat.
Crawling over to the edge of the pumpkin patch, she watched as he walked away into the moonlight, leaving her as he had once before. She watched as the back of a stranger walked further away from her, taking with him the soul of a person she would never see again. It wasn't long before she broke down into a fit of sobs.
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He walked quickly and silently in the night. His footsteps were unnaturally quiet as he approached the ranch at the top of the hill. Carefully, he climbed over the fence that led into the ranch. There was no chance that Fado would still be up with the goats.
Just like there was no chance anyone would raid Ordon...
Entering the small stable, he spotted his mare at the corner stall. She had been treated well, as she slept soundly inside the stall. Stepping closer, her ears flicked and her eyes opened. And for the first time, she did not recognize him. She began stomping her hoof nervously, as if sensing danger. But then when she heard the first notes of a song coming from his mouth, she calmed down and let him pat her.
He opened her stall and led her out, jerking the reigns in a sign of impatience. He saddled Epona and mounted her. Getting a head start, he kicked her toward the gate and she soared over it. As they headed down the hill, he spotted lantern lights through his dirty bangs of hair. His eyes hardened and his body tensed. Seeing Ilia had been a mistake.
Tonight, and the last time as well, hero...
Everyone's eyes were upon him as he emerged from the shadows. Bo held Ilia while she cried into his chest. Colin, Talo, Malo, and Beth looked up at him with pleading eyes. Rusl stepped forth and grabbed his arm.
"Please Link. Come back to us. It wasn't your faul-"
At that moment, something within him changed. The monster inside him awakened once more. He roared out and yanked his arm away from Rusl. Jumping off Epona, he slammed his fist into the wall of the house next to Rusl. He wanted to kick something...he wanted to punch something until it was destroyed, even killed. His heart hammered heavily in his chest. Somewhere in his throat, he felt something well up. For some reason, his eyes burned. Those words...
They're all lies...
"Don't you dare say it wasn't my fault!" He was yelling, loudly.
The children flinched at his display of violence. They flinched every time his bloody knuckles crashed against the wall.
"You all know it was my fault!"
You know they do...and just like everyone else...they don't want to forgive you...Unlike everyone else...they're willing to try...But is that really what fuels their desire?
Simmering rage...It consumed his very existence. He had lost sight of the line that divided right and wrong long ago. The anger...the guilt...it all drove him beyond his beliefs. It forced him to do things that he was aware of. It drove him to do things he did not agree with. Things that satisfied him nonetheless.
"Link, please come back...Ilia...she's a mess without you." Bo pleaded.
He whirled around, blood pounding in his ears.
"What about her?! How is she now?! She's the one who's missing!"
"Calm down, Link. We've...got to tell you something..." Rusl said.
They all looked nervous. Link slammed his fist into the wall again. Leaning on it, his chest heaved from the effort.
"What?" His voice had once again regained that stone-like quality.
Bo stepped forward. He moved to place his hand on his shoulder, but he gave him a murderous look in return. Bo let his hand drop to the side.
"Link...she's been declared dead..."
A chorus of wolfos howled in the distance. It was almost as if an old wound of his had been ripped open and had been sprayed with salt. He could not breathe. He turned around. He was terrifyingly pale, and his eyes were deathly dark in contrast. His fists were clenched, and his breathing harsh. A tingling sensation spread throughout his body. His vision blurred. He staggered against the wall.
"There...they couldn't find her. They found signs of a struggle and traces of blood...Locks of her hair...the guards searched everywhere for her. Everyone...came to the conclusion...that she was killed."
She needed you...
Link yelled out incoherently. The beast within him surged once more. He jumped on Epona and spurred her into a gallop.
"Link! Come back!"
He could not hear. He would not listen. Blood pounded in his ears. It made his vision blurry. He gripped the reigns till his knuckles were white. They thundered across the roads, passing through the forest. As they galloped across the bridge, his head pounded. His body had suddenly begun hurting, the wound on his side aching. Past the entrance to Faron Woods, past the shack of the man named Coro, unto Hyrule Field. It all seemed to speed by. It felt as though all were naught but a passing dream.
He clutched at his chest. Beneath his hands there was a hole, a hole that was enflamed with a searing white-hot pain.
This is all your fault...She cried out for your aid...
"Link!"
He lowered his head unto Epona's side, clutching her mane with bloody knuckles.
"Link!"
He moaned and raised his hands to grab his head.
He wrenched himself from Ilia's grasp, adrenaline rolling down his body in waves. Alarm rushed through him.
"Link! Help me!"
The sound of a growl nearby made him sit up and draw his sword. A wolfos hit him from the side, sending him flying off Epona and tumbling down the hillside.
He ran towards the call, fear causing his heart to hammer in his chest. He clenched his sword tightly in his left hand. His feet pounded on the road. He ran into the foliage, searching for her. His fear was heart wrenching.
"Link!"
His staggered up whirling around to face the wolfos. He parried its jaws and slashed its side. It howled. And various howls responded all around him. He came face to face with a pack of wolfos, all of which snapped their teeth in warning. He smiled and bared his teeth in response. His hands tensed. He roared as the first wolfos jumped at him.
He stumbled into a clearing and immediately saw her. She fended off two men who taunted her. Another large group of bandits stood between him and her. With a jolt of terror, he saw a bandit grab her from behind. She bit his hand and kicked him where it hurts. He struck down the first man who approached him and parried two blows with his shield. He stabbed the other man who collapsed on the ground. Whirling around to face another group, he spotted an approaching carriage, dragging a cage behind it. And suddenly, he realized this whole thing had been planned.
"Link, watch out!"
He jumped at one wolfos in response and encircled his hands around its neck. He twisted it with surprising ease, and whirled around with sword in hand. He struck a wolfos with it, slashing its stomach. Another wolfos jumped at him from behind, and he dropped his sword and shield. It snapped at his head, grazing the back of his neck. He bucked up like an enraged animal and rolled around, crushing the wolfos with his weight. It scratched his arm with its claws. The wolfos attempted to get off him, but he grabbed its neck and propelled it over his head, sending it crashing to the ground.
He jumped out of the way of a sword headed straight for his neck. He ducked another blow to the head and knocked a bandit back to the ground with a good hit of his shield. He used a technique an ancient reincarnation of the hero of Time had taught him on his journey through Twilight. He used raised his sword above his head and drove it straight into his stomach. He pulled out his sword from the bandit and clashed with another's sword. Using his left foot to push himself forward, he pushed the bandit back and quickly struck him down. From the corner of his eye, he could see her striking a man down with her own sword.
"That's it! Grab the girl and let's go!"
Pure terror coursed through his veins. He moved towards her, parrying blows as he went. He was suddenly knocked down by someone, and found himself facing the end of a sword. He kicked the man's legs from under him and kicked him in the face. Forcing himself up, he slashed at a man in front of him. The man blocked his blow and drove him back, slashing at him with a dagger that had been hidden in the folds of his sleeves.
He struck the wolfos down, relishing in the feel of his sword sliding out of its middle. The moonlight shown throughout Hyrule Field. His bloody sword glinted in the moonlight. He laughed, in the middle of a bloody mess. He fell to his knees as that laughter became something else. Not sobbing, not crying. Never crying. It was the type of pant and cry that came from not being able to breathe properly. He felt as though something had been taken from his being. And something else, something horrid, had been forced inside.
I've a question for you, my dearest hero...
He struck the ground with force enough to make it tremble slightly. His knuckles ached. He yelled out in fury. In a blinding rage. In the rage that drove him into bloodlust. The rage that haunted and tormented him ever since that incident. It had all been his fault. He had not been able to save her from them. And now...everything in his life was somehow in disarray. The very people who had praised him had now become distant and tormenting. They taunted him. They threw stones at him. But that wasn't what truly bothered him. It was the knowing that she had been taken from under his watchful eye. She had been taken from right under his nose.
"Why are you here for me?! Who sent you?!" She asked, being pushed back. Being cornered...
"None that you will know. We do have some decency, you know."
He struck wildly and out of order. The man he fought was a good swordsman, better than any he had encountered since Ganondorf. He pressed him, and in return, the man pressed him back. For every thrust, there was a parry. For every parry, there was a counter. And the man blocked it all, forcing him to use the best of his skills without breaking a sweat.
"Get out of my way!" He yelled.
The man chuckled and blocked his thrust to the head.
"If I did that, I wouldn't get paid."
A fire began spreading from his stomach, all the way up to his face. There was something in the way the man said it that made him furious. He growled and hacked at him with renewed fervor. Finally, he managed to get an opening. He used his shield to block the man's slash and kicked his shins, forcing the man unto his knees. Then, he hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword.
"Link!"
All of a sudden, it began raining. He looked up at the sky, his fists clenching grass. Visions of the past that usually tormented him in the few hours of sleep he got were now flashing through his eyes. To him, it was an abysmal torment...to be able to remember the past. To be able to remember the mistakes you've made.
Is there a way you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime...or are your mistakes carried forever?
He flung his shield across the field and grabbed his sword. Walking off to the nearest tree, he swung his sword as hard as he could. He hacked at the tree, each time with more force than the last. His anger increased every time his sword connected with wood. He tossed the sword aside in a blind rage. He kicked at the tree. He punched it. He roared like a feral beast. He yelled incoherent phrases. Anything, any pain was better than having to feel his remorse, his guilt at not having done anything.
"Let me go!" She screamed.
She struggled with a man's hold, kicking out like a child throwing a tantrum. She bit his hand and ran towards Link, who stepped forth as well. One of the men tripped her and she fell, scraping her knee in the process. They grabbed her and dragged her up by the shoulders. One of the men caressed her cheek while she struggled.
"How about we have some fun later?"
Link's pulse quickened. He glared at the man who held a knife at her throat. He had to do something.
"If you dare lay a hand on her..."He trailed off, growling.
His wolf instincts temporarily took over. He stabbed the man closest to her and knocked another out with his shield. She hit him in the nose with her elbow. Blood spurted from the man's nose. He clutched it with a desperate hand, and glared at her. He hit her across the face, and a resounding slap echoed throughout the forest. She was knocked aside and into the ground. He rushed forward in rage. Doing something completely unlike him, he jumped and kicked him across the face. The man stumbled to the side. Link kicked him in the stomach and turned him over. He placed a foot across the man's chest.
"Who are you working for?!"
The man smiled. His teeth were bloody. He spat out some blood from out the side of his mouth.
"Take a number."
Link kicked at his face and dragged the man up by his shirt collar.
"Tell me, before I kill you."
His voice was deathly cold and he had the animalistic instinct to rip the man's guts out. To pick him out from the inside...
"Link, stop!"
He realized he was holding the edge of his sword to the man's neck and dropped him in sheer horror. What...was wrong with him?
He hit the tree trunk until his hands were aching. The effort of it left him shaking. He could still hear her laughter ringing in his ears...He could still feel her warm hand pressed against his as she showed him the world through her eyes...He could still smell the scent of her hair...Her words had sometimes confused him to the point where he was frustrated with her...But now that she was gone, all he could do was relish in the memories of when she had outdone him in word arguments, of when she had confused him with her political terms...
He found himself longing for her company. He found himself wanting to receive one of her invitations to a world he barely knew anything about. He found himself wanting to go back, found himself willing to trade anything to go back and change the way things had turned out... But no matter how hard he tried, he knew...he knew he could not.
How far are you willing to go to get back what you can never recover?
"Grab her and let's go! This isn't worth all the trouble!" A man shouted.
Two others grabbed her from behind. They were all retreating now. They dragged her over to the carriage and dumped her inside the cage. He ran after them as they began to get farther away from him. Suddenly, something clobbered him from behind. To his astonishment he fell from the blow. He did not feel it. He had somehow forgotten how to breathe. It felt as though he were separate from his body. As though he were a being from the heavens watching down on a spectacle. He slumped forward and lost consciousness.
"I need you! Link!"
Her scream echoed throughout his mind. He could still hear her call out his name. When he had awoken, a sudden sense of despair gripped him as he realized that that might've been the last time he would ever see her. The last time she would ever cry out for his help. And because of his carelessness...she had gotten kidnapped. Because of his carelessness, he had gotten himself knocked out by a club to the head. Because of his carelessness...she was now dead.
And for the first time in what felt like decades, Link felt something other than rage and guilt. He felt sorrow...and he began to cry.
He crawled away from the trees and moved to the top of the hill. The soft clopping of hooves made him look up and he found himself face to face with Epona. And he sobbed. Propping himself up on his knees, he buried his head in Epona's neck. He tangled his bloody hands into her mane and took shuddering and painful gasps. Every breath he took was a sharp reminder of what it felt to be alive. He screamed out in agony, his soul being ripped out as he came to terms with what had happened. As he came to terms with her death...And a cruel and mocking voice inside his head whispered a final line:
What will you do, hero, now that your princess is dead?
A/N: How was that? It was my first try at the whole "wild, animalistic Link" thing, so...yeah, how'd I do? Heh heh, I hope you enjoyed it and like it enough to stay tuned to my nest chapter. Check out my other fics if you want. Have a nice day, or night, depending on when you read this...Heh, Cheers!
-AVH