Chapter 7 – Dream Eater

Summary: A Poe possesses Link, leaving him unconscious and haunting his dreams. Will anyone be able to save him?

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"What happened to him?" Zelda yelled in distress. She was standing by the bedside Link was lying in, unconscious yet with no apparent injuries. His fellow knights had rushed him to the castle's infirmary. His breathing was heavy and agitated; his face was contorted in pain.

Link's comrade, Roland, explained. "We were riding our horses on our way to Kakariko Village for a mission when a Poe came out of nowhere and...it just...heck, I don't know! It must have possessed him or something! I only saw it for a split second hovering over Link's head but he totally lost control of his body right after that."

Zelda turned to her right to face Impa. "Can Poes really do that?"

"They're very strange, elusive creatures. Little is known of them for certain," Impa responded.

"Indeed," the castle's resident medic, Lucius, added. He was advanced in age, sporting a long white beard. "This is something I've only come across once before in my forty or so years of studying the healing arts."

"Really? What happened to that patient?" Zelda asked curiously.

Lucius signed heavily. "It happened a great many years ago when I was still an intern." His lengthy pause was a clear sign that he was reluctant to continue.

"Can't you tell me what happened?" Zelda pleaded again.

Another heavy sign, and then finally, "We lost the patient."

Zelda swallowed hard on hearing this. Although she did her best to suppress them, tears were welling in her eyes. "No..." she whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. "No!"

She fled the room with an arm covering her eyes in a futile effort to remove herself from the horrible reality she was in. Impa followed her down the hallway.

"Zelda, wait!" she commanded, although her tone was full of genuine concern rather than anger.

Zelda complied with the order of her trusted caretaker without protest, stopping dead in her tracks. Impa caught up with her and promptly enveloped her in a hug. "I'm so sorry, dear. I know it's hard to hear something so dreadful," she whispered in an attempt to console her.

The tears began pouring out in full force now.

"This can't be happening, Impa! There has to be something we can do to save him!" Zelda shouted between sobs.

Impa didn't know how to respond at first. She didn't want to give her precious almost-a-daughter any false hope—that could only lead to resentment toward her later. Yet Impa desperately wanted to believe that what Zelda was true, that there was, in fact, a way to save the hero who had already risked so much for the benefit of others. "I believe the library has a few books on the topic of Poe possessions. Why don't we see if there's anything we can learn from them?"

Zelda nodded. At least there was now some hope.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Zelda and Impa pored over tome after dusty tome in the library, looking with determination for any information on the topic of Poes.

"Come look at this, Zelda," the Sheikah instructed.

The princess read the paragraph aloud that Impa was pointing at. "Thankfully, Poe possessions are extremely rare, but there have been a few documented cases of them. Symptoms of Poe possession include loss of consciousness accompanied by signs of intense duress. Less than a quarter of patients who were diagnosed with Poe possession have survived."

Zelda's breath hitched upon reading this statistic. She had to hold back more tears before she could continue. "...However, all of those who survived made a full recovery with no long-term effects on their health. It is still unclear at this time why most die and few survive, but interviews with survivors offer some insight into this. Most report some variation on having taken control of their fears and the things that haunt them, thus allowing them to 'escape' back to consciousness. Friends and family of the victims have even claimed to have 'shared' the nightmares of their loved one and to have aided him or her vicariously. One medical professional has hypothesized that the Poes 'eat' the dreams of their victims, for lack of a better word, and trap the victims in a subconscious state to suffer through their nightmares endlessly until they can no longer endure it and die. Therefore, only those who are successful in conquering their nightmares are able to return to consciousness."

"That's a lot to take in," Impa commented.

"Yes, but at least it's something. Could you handle my duties for the rest of the day, Impa? I'd like to stay by Link's side as much as possible."

Impa smirked lightly. "Of course."

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Zelda was incredibly frustrated at having no choice but to sit idly by, unable to do anything to help Link other than squeeze his hand reassuringly. His body continued reacting as if he were fighting an inner battle. She passed the time thinking about the words in the book, wondering if any of it could be true. She could only hope.

As the evening wore on, Zelda began to sense herself nodding off. She folded her arms on the bed next to Link and rested her head on them.

Before long, she had the sensation of being awake again...yet there was no doubt in her mind that she wasn't in the castle infirmary anymore. People and objects began fading into view far off in the distance, as if they had been there all along but were just now making themselves visible.

She silently observed the scene in front of her. A young man wearing the armor of Hyrule's royal guard was fighting bravely in a vicious, bloody battle. He expertly defended himself while launching strike and after trained strike at his hulking foes, but it soon became clear that he was only delaying the inevitable. The unfortunate soldier was rapidly being overwhelmed by the massive number of enemy forces closing in on him all at once.

At that moment, Zelda noticed a familiar person in the distance—Link!

"Father!" Link shouted, choking back sobs. "Father, please hang on! I'll help you!"

'Father'? Zelda thought. Is that really his father? Is this...how he died?

Link sprinted with a purposeful glare toward the exhausted warrior, his sword at the ready. As much as Zelda wanted to believe that Link could overcome any odds with enough spirit and perseverance, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was just setting himself up to be slaughtered if he entered the fray—there were simply too many enemy soldiers for him to take on at once, with more arriving every second.

Zelda called out to Link, urging him to stop. Either he didn't hear her or simply wasn't paying attention, as he never ceased rushing onward. She ran toward Link, continuing to plead for him to turn back, but to no avail.

Suddenly, the idea occurred to her of casting a light spell in his direction to gain his attention. Light magic had no ill effects on people of pure hearts like Link, so she could safely use it around him. The spell had the desired effect of breaking him out of his blind rage and causing him to look over his shoulder in her direction. After Zelda caught up with him, she removed the sword from his left hand, letting it fall to the ground with a heavy thud, and covered his hand with her own, wanting desperately to take his mind off this living nightmare.

"Some things just can't be changed," she explained calmly in an attempt to soothe him, looking directly in his eyes to convey the seriousness of her message. "The fates have ordained that your father is to die on this battlefield... And...as much as I sometimes wish we could, there's simply nothing we mortals can do to alter destiny. Going in there to try helping him would only be a senseless sacrifice of your own life. I'm sure your father was fighting to keep Hyrule safe for people like you, his dear son. Please, Link...don't let his sacrifice have been in vain."

Suddenly, right in front of Zelda's eyes, Link started to simply...vanish! In fact, everything around her was rapidly fading away, becoming consumed by the pitch black darkness that only existed in the deepest of dungeons...except for, strangely enough, her own body, which remained just as visible as if she had been sitting in a well-lit room. She had no idea what was happening and quickly became frightened. She called Link's name several times in distress but received no response. A million panicked questions raced through her mind at once: Where is he? Will I ever be able to leave this goddesses-forsaken place? Could this really all be the work of that Poe? Everything feels so real—not like a dream at all. But...it just can't be real! There must be a way out!

A new scene began materializing in front of Zelda. She was now standing at the edge of the meadow in Kokiri Forest. At the base of the Great Deku Tree was a kneeling woman wearing a tattered robe. She seemed to be talking with the sagely old tree, although Zelda couldn't hear what was being said from this great a distance. The woman was holding something in her arms close to her body. It was small, wrapped in a white blanket. It began to cry—a baby!

Unexpectedly, the woman collapsed to the ground, apparently exhausted. Fortunately, she had enough presence of mind to hold the baby out in front of her before falling so it wouldn't be crushed under her.

"Mother!" shouted a voice that unmistakably belonged to Link. Zelda looked over her shoulder before spotting her trusted knight running toward the woman. "Mother, I brought you a healing fairy!" He knelt next to her and hurriedly uncorked the bottle, allowing the fairy to hover around her prone body as it worked its healing magic. After the healing fairy's effect began to wear off, Link rolled the woman over, onto her back.

Zelda began approaching the two at a brisk pace. In the mean time, Link shook his mother's lifeless body over and over again, repeating her name with more and more urgency. Even before arriving at their side, Zelda knew what she was to find. There was nothing that could be done... She was gone, taken by her grave injuries from which blood continued to flow. Link began to sob against her clothing.

Zelda knelt next to Link and placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "I miss my mother too," she sympathized. "Fate can be cruel, there's no doubt about that. That's why we must have the strength to accept the things we can't change and to move on. Everything happens for a reason...even if that reason isn't immediately clear. At least you now know for sure that your mother loved you so much that she spent her last dying moments ensuring your safety by bringing you to this forest."

The scene gave way once more to a perfect darkness all around, Link disappearing along with it. Her heart raced. Are these the nightmares Link is trapped in? she asked herself. No wonder he's so distraught! There's nothing he can do—they're all destined to end in tragedy!

Link appeared in the distance ahead of her. This time, surprisingly, there was no scenery to accompany him. Mido appeared behind Link with arms crossed, sporting a smug look. "You'll never amount to anything, no-fairy!" he taunted. "You'll always be an outsider to us. You're not worthy of living in the forest or being Saria's friend. When she finally realizes what a loser you are and stops wasting her time hanging with you, that's when I'm gonna kick you out of the forest once and for all and never let you come back... Oh, and guess what? No one, not even one single person, will miss you when you're gone! Got that?!"

Link's rage had been steadily increasing during Mido's mean-spirited discourse until he just couldn't contain it anymore. He took a swing at Mido's face, but the freckled one dodged it, making it look effortless.

"Heh! Can't even hit worth a damn. Figures! You can't do anything right!" He turned his nose up to Link in a show of superiority.

By this point, Zelda had reached her green-clad friend's side where she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't listen to him," she advised, turning his cheek to keep his attention away from his bully and focused on her. "You have so many qualities that make you unique. People will never forget you and the selfless things you've done for us and for Hyrule... Days of remembrance will be dedicated to celebrating you for eons. In fact, one of your biggest fans is standing right here in front of you... That's why I hope you realize that Mido only says those things because he's secretly jealous of you, Link. So please—don't pay him any mind."

As she was finishing her speech, Link vanished yet again, to be replaced with that same eerie jet blackness from before.

Taking the place of the shadows this time was...wait a minute! Could it be...? Yes, it was unmistakably the ruins of Ganondorf's castle, the very spot where Link had fought the usurper king in the other timeline! Link was already in the midst of the final battle with Ganon as it played out much like she remembered it...except that, alarmingly, Link was much more weary, battered and bruised than ever before. He was resting momentarily against his sword and gasping furiously for breath, clearly on the verge of collapsing. She had arrived not a moment too soon.

Link had needed Zelda's help to seal away Ganondorf the first time around, so she knew he desperately needed her assistance here as well. "Keep fighting just a little longer while I call forth a spell to pin him in place!" she instructed. In a reprisal of their greatest achievement in the other timeline, Link and Zelda called upon the power of the Sages and the Master Sword to seal away the greatest threat Hyrule has ever known.

Yet...the outcome of his defeat in this dream world was different from what had happened in reality. Ganon's form began dissolving away, giving way to...some kind of floating, translucent figure with glowing eyes holding a lantern...? Oh, of course—a Poe! After laughing its creepy laugh, the apparition abruptly disappeared, destined for goddesses-knew-where.

It was at this precise moment that Zelda jerked her head up from the bed. Link's eyes began fluttering open. Both looked around them, dazed and confused. They were in the castle's medical facility...

Suddenly, the memory of all the things that had happened came pouring back to Zelda. She dived on top of Link and hugged him tight. "Oh, thank the goddesses you're all right!" she cried.

"Huh...? N-no way! Is it...is it really over?" he asked incredulously.

Zelda nodded yes.

Link sighed deeply in relief. "You...you were there at the end...weren't you?"

"Yes!"

"And...you saved me...didn't you?"

"I did what I could to help you break free, yes."

He gave a wide smile, obviously quite grateful.

"Thank you, Zelda... You know I'll never be able to make this up to you...right?"

"You already have," she whispered contentedly, burying her face into his garments and enjoying the simple fact that he was here...with her—right where he belonged.