Chapter 9: Light

I am the bringer of the Dawn.

"Link stop this!" Dark cried out at Link, as Link continued to try to power his way through that slowly cracking wall of negativity and nothing. Link ignored the cries of his darker side, he thought only of Hestial, of Navi, of Zelda and the light that surely glowed from them. Link knew that he was close to achieving that light, close to finally being free of this monster of himself.

I am the servant of Light.

"Just think about it, just for a moment!" Dark grabbed at him. He felt like he was everywhere all at once. Link could see his glittering eyes in every crack of dark that he shattered through in his attempts. He could see his face in every sliver of moonlight that broke its way through the mist of darkness and nothing. He had to do this, had to break through, for them.

I am the servant of the Triforce.

"You owe them nothing! What about me? I am you!" Dark's cries become more and more desperate; betraying the coolness Link was so used to hearing in his voice. Link reached forward, he could see the doors again, see the fire's light, he was almost there.

"Why? Why not me?" Dark screeched in Link's head, and Link could feel the anger, the frustration, the absolute desperation ripping right through his heart and his soul. It felt like his soul was on fire, burning from the inside. Link could feel it in every pore of his skin, the hatred, the jealousy, the absolute terror at being returned to the Realm of Nothing.

I am the wielder of the Light.

"Don't you dare send me back there! I won't go! I won't!" Link heard Dark's cries all around him, they blasted in his ears, they resounded in his mind, Dark was everywhere, everywhere and anywhere that Link was, because they were the same. Link continued to shove his way through, his piece of the Triforce surging, growing stronger with each slow and steady step that he took. He was so close; he could feel it.

I am the servant of the sacred three goddesses, Din, Farore, and Nayru.

Link reached his hand forward clawing the last remaining layers of suffocating darkness as desperately and effectively as he could. He could see the light clearly know, he could feel the air, and he was so close, so close.

"Didn't you ever wonder Link?" Link tried to ignore Dark, but his voice sounded so lonely, so pitiful, so decidedly un-Dark, that he couldn't help it, he looked back over his shoulder, pausing only for a moment. Link saw Dark sitting there, no not sitting, floating. Mostly he was mist; his body fading into the nothingness that held him back from the light, from the goodness that was within Link's reach.

It was the first time Link thought of Dark not being the darkness, but being held by it.

"Didn't you ever wonder what it would be like, if I had been the Hero?"

Link froze.

Be gone forces of Darkness.

"What would that have been like, I wonder. Would I have been the one to kill Ganon? Would you be the one trying to corrupt me?"

Link turned away from Dark, and began to move forward. He could feel the negative emotions, all the negative emotions, which he had ever felt all at once. They were stinging as the hit him on all sides, overloading his brain until he had to mentally push them back in order to keep from feeling all those emotions at once. Link wanted to say something that would make Dark not feel that way, to reassure him. But Link wasn't Dark, he couldn't lie.

"But that will never happen Dark. It's because you're the villain that it never will. You're not the hero Dark, and you'll never be." Link put on one final burst of speed and determination and powered his way through the last remaining shadows of darkness. The edges broke as if they had been mere twigs, the real battle had already ended.

Link had won.

Link! Hurry now; he is not yet completely beaten.

Link ran forward as fast as his damaged body could carry him. He ran past the stacks of books and scrolls. He ran past the smolders of fire that still played at a few remaining logs as they fizzled and cracked. Link ran until he could see them, Zelda and Hestial standing there, a weird contraception in between them.

"Link!" Navi buzzed upwards in happiness and worry, "Oh Link I was so—"

"Navi! Not yet!" Zelda cried, her voice ringing in tones that proved once again why she was the ruler of Hyrule.

"Link. Come here." Hestial spoke softly, and she extended her arm indicating that Link should take it. Link clasped her left hand in his right, and he felt his Triforce of Courage hum almost happily at the connection.

"Link. We must seal your dark side, are you prepared for the pain?"

Link gave Hestial a reassuring smile, "I don't think I'm capable of feeling much more at this point."

Hestial returned the smile with one of her own. "Then the princess and I shall begin."

Hestial escorted Link to a circle that had been etched into the ground with what looked like Death Mountain dirt, it was red anyway. Once he was situated at the center, she and Zelda stood opposite each other, with Hestial facing Link's front, and Zelda his rear.

Link watched as they begin to mouth words he couldn't understand. They must have been speaking some old form of Hylain, or else something even older. Link watched as a small mirror, no larger than the size of a plate, lifted itself up from a nearby table and flung itself at Link. He flinched.

But the mirror stopped just short of Link's face. Link glanced up, and saw himself reflected in its icy depths. Link looked like himself, mostly, the only difference was that his eyes were red, ever darkening and lightening as Dark's did, and he could see that smirk playing at his lips, unnoticeably slightly trying to win.

Aren't we beautiful?

Link heard Dark's voice in his head, it seemed so pleasant, so reassuring, so completely non-threatening. It was as if all that made up Link, made up that voice too, since they were the same.

"Dark…"

I know. I know. You're sorry. Damn you're such a goddess loving goody-goody.

Link was about to respond when he felt Dark's presence being literally ripped from him. He felt like his skull was collapsing, and he could feel Dark clawing at his mind, trying desperately to hold on, to do anything and everything to escape his inevitable fate.

Link watched, as the face that looked back at him became cooler, more like steel. He watched the hair fade to feathery whisps of silver. He saw the darkness swirling around Dark's face. The last thing Link saw before he fell backwards in a much anticipated faint, was Dark's eyes, shimmering the deep red they would always be, lifeless.

Link closed his eyes. He was free.

Be gone forces of Darkness.

You have no power here.