Chapter 9

"I can't believe you did that!"

/Really?/

"Er… well… I can… but really! That was my one advantage over you-and you just took advantage of a poor sweet girl and destroyed it!"

/The ring's in one piece/ Vaati said calmly, examining his translucent hand in disdain within his and Link's soul room. He wanted his body back.

"You know that's not what I meant!" Link's voice echoed through the room

/Then say what you mean/ Vaati replied /and stop yelling before I knock you out. You're going to give me a headache/

"WHAT?!" Vaati flinched and attempted to cover his ears as Link increased volume. Since he was somewhat insubstantial, this did nothing to muffle the sound.

/I can see the headlines now. Link found in ditch, beat to death by moblins. Autopsy reveals he carelessly fell asleep in the wrong place before being killed. I'd have to find a new host before leaving you there, of course. Someone a little less disobedient/

"…"

/Much better/

"Can you really do that?"

/Yes. I'd probably cast a paralysis spell on you before leaving your body, just to be safe/ Vaati said coolly. It was all a bluff though. He didn't know a paralysis spell. He could turn Link to stone, but that would trap him inside too.

"I have a charm that lessens magic put on my sword. That's how I could always fight you"

/Does nothing when 'you' cast the spells on yourself/ Vaati pointed out /Otherwise you'd be aware of what I'm doing the whole time I posses you/

Link took a deep breath. He was motivation. He had to rescue Zelda so she could rescue him. That sounded kind of mean, only rescuing her for his own sake, but you can only go through a mountain of work to save a dumb blond from danger so many times and gracefully accept getting nothing from it. "The soilders haven't found any leads on where Zelda is"

/Duh. Friendly reminder, I hear everything you do and then some. Not that you couldn't expect that of them. They never were much use. Anyway, I'd think the solution is obvious. When one group fails to meet your expectations, you seek out another/

"What about when you run out of groups?"

/That's when you're at my level/

XXXXX

Link's searching for a more solid lead had lead him to Death Mountains Gorons, who had taken his questioning as accusations and chucked him back down the mountain, literally. Deciding to question the Zora about it, Link headed toward Lake Hylia.

He was just about to cross the fence blocking it off when… /wait/

Link sighed "What now. I'm not-"

/Go to the desert/

"Why?"

/Just do it/ Vaati ordered.

Remembering the threat about leaving him in a ditch, Link changed course and headed for the desert "Fine. But we're taking a detour around the Gerudo Fortress."

/Why would we do that? That's where we're headed/

"Oh no it isn't" Link stopped dead on in his tracks and put his hands on his hips "You'll have to tie me up and drag me there kicking and screaming"

/Shall we give that a try?/

"I'd like to see that"

Unbenounced to the two of them, the mail man was watching in awe. Slightly disturbed by the sight of Link talking to himself, he ran off and never mentioned it to anyone. However, the image haunted him for the rest of his life.

/Well…/ Vaati thought about it /Using magic to tie you up and drag you would be kind of fun… but I should probably do something less energy consuming, shouldn't I?/ and then he was in control.

/Let me out you no good sonuva-/

"Fat chance" Vaati said to drown Link out before taking off running for the Gerudo Valley.

Once there he stopped for a second to marvel at Link's endurance. The last time he'd run a distance in Link's body he himself had been to worn out to notice it. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the worst, and not just because he was in Link's body and would be treated like the still furious hero, he stepped up to the fortress and yelled "Open up!"

Several Gerudo came running out

"What do you want, man?" one demanded

"I'd like an audience with Ganondorf" Vaati smirked. Inside him, Link had gone from yelling for control to screaming obscurities.

XXXXX

Ganondorf was slightly amused to see Link step walk in with his hands tied behind his back being led by several of his women "Can I help you with something?"

"I was wondering if you knew what was up with the castle disappearing"

The casual tone Link used took the Gerudo king by surprise, but he hid this and responded very coolly "And let me guess… you think I'm behind it?"

"Puh-lease" The hero scoffed "Everyone knows you couldn't cast a real spell like that if your life depended on it. Not without you mommies or some sort of catalyst at least. And clearly neither of those things are present"

Ganondorf frown. He thought his magic had always impressed Link (in a fearful sort of way), but he know someone had told him that before. Who was it again…? "Vaati?"

"Bingo" Vaati, in Link's body, smirked.

"You picked quite an interesting form to shape shift into. Did you think I'd be more likely to speak with you looking like that?"

Link listened intently as Vaati replied, in awe at the fact that the countries villains seemed to know each other well enough "Shape shifting? Nah. Link wrecked my body, so I'm kind of sharing with him. It's a real pain though. He won't let me do anything fun, and he's not doing anything interesting himself either. I mean, a whole castle disappeared and he's more concerned with fighting a couple Octorocks. Lame. I figured if he wouldn't solve this thing I'd give him a bit of a hand."

"So you're playing for his side now?"

"Just trying to keep myself entertained until I find a way to revive my old body" Vaati said "Mind having these people untie me?"

Ganondorf waved to his women and they released Vaati/Link. "So you've come to me hoping I might have some info on the castle's disappearance"

"Well you are…" Link felt a bit of resentment from Vaati as he forced the sentence out "You are kind of the head of the Underworld" Vaati muttered as he rubbed his now freed wrists.

/Underworld?/

/All criminal activity is considered to be part of the Underworld/ Vaati explained calmly while speaking to Ganondorf at literally the same time "If anyone's been informed about something, it would have been you"

"You must really want to kill some time if you're actually coming to me for help. I thought you hated interacting with others from the underworld. You're actually asking for help"

"Well, I've got shit for leads" Vaati said "And Zelda's the only person who knows where my corps is" Link realized he was right. Spreading Vaati's ashes had been his and Zelda's job, but they'd never gotten around to it, thanks to somebody.

/Can you revive ashes?/

/If not, I there are more creative ways/ something about the way Vaati said that sounded menacing.

"Things would be a little boring without you to argue with" Ganondorf said half-thoughtfully "I myself wasn't involved in it, but perhaps Veran-"

"Nuh-uh" Vaati interrupted "I didn't recognize the…" the words caught in his throat as the memory of what he'd felt returned. He was motionless for a second before managing to continue, sounding slightly more shaken "Who knows if that was even magic? Whatever-it wasn't Veran. That's for sure." Ganondorf raised an eyebrow at Vaati's sudden change from the casual tone he'd used up until then.

"Maybe not. Still, it's not impossible that she has a better idea about what's going on"

Vaati thought about it for a second. Link tried to 'see' Vaati's thoughts at the moment but only caught slight glimpses of things like 'Picori' or 'Dark' or, the only whole sentence he got 'I don't want to work with something that ugly'.

Finally, Vaati let out a very long, exasperated sigh "Fine. Where is she?"

"I believe she's spending the week in Lake Hylia"

"Great. Fine. That's where Link wanted to go anyway" Vaati said exasperatedly before relinquishing control to Link.

Examining the sudden change of posture and expression on the boy's face Ganondorf asked "Are you Link, or Vaati?"

"L-Link"

"Okay" Ganondorf snapped his fingers and the two women who had led Link/Vaati in grabbed the blond "Throw him out"