Yay! We're getting somewhere!

Thanks again to all you reviewers, you're giving me more ideas, which is excellente.

I don't own the characters. Bah.


I'M NOT ENTIRELY EVIL

I had to get through to him somehow. This thing inside him – it would eat him alive, taking bits of his heart each day it was contained within him. He knew there was something buried deep within that hatred he felt for me, he knew there was something underneath, and I knew his feelings, I felt his feelings. But he was too scared - too scared of what it might do to him. He just couldn't understand that there was nothing to be afraid of.

But of course he wouldn't listen to me – I was just the demon that had taken over his life, I could never have anything worthwhile to say. I definitely regretted all those times I had tortured his mind, forced him to do my bidding. But in a way it was showing him what I had suffered for thousands of years. Once it was given an order, a demon had to obey, but I no longer had a master. By becoming part of Link, protecting myself within his mind and destroying Ganondorf, I had eliminated my master and so became free. And as a free demon I could finally show my true nature – mischievous and always bound to get in a spot of trouble on a regular basis, yes, yet kind and loving all the same. But if I tried to tell him that he would dismiss it as my way of trying another way to get in his head. There was only one thing for it; I would have to show him. I had to show him that it was possible for a demon to love, and that his feelings were nothing to be scared of.

I detached myself from him as much as possible and left him on his own as he stomped down the stairs and into the courtyard outside. In his room I was alone, and I poured as much of myself as I could into a new form, trying to make it a real as possible. I gave myself a body, a heart, lungs, everything. I made the blood course through my newly formed veins, constructed muscles beneath my skin, and beneath them the bones. I became a human with dark rugged hair and pale skin. I was tall and slim, and my eyes shone a deep sea green. Looking into the mirror, I smiled. I was perfect.

Breathing deeply, I took in air for the first time in over a century, heard my heart pounding loudly in my ears, felt the cold stone under my bare feet and the warm rays of the sun on my face. I had forgotten what it was like to be human.

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It was a week or so before he noticed the new ranch-hand, but I waited until I knew it was the right time before I let him find me. I was putting the horses back in the stables when he came in, a saddle and reins slung over his shoulder. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he came closer, waiting for him to notice. Oh how tempting it was to know what he was thinking, but I couldn't risk it. This had to be done entirely naturally, I couldn't interfere. Everything had to seem totally normal.

He glanced up and our eyes met. He looked me up and down, confused.

"Hey – who are you? What are you doing here?"

I smiled, holding out my hand. He shook it as I said, "Name's Brin. And yourself?"

"Link. Are you the new ranch-hand?"

I nodded, "Yep. Are you the Hero of Time?"

He nodded, "Yep."

I smiled again, just a slight curve of the lips, and said, "Pleasure to meet you," before walking out the door.

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Back in his room, I decided to show myself for the first time in weeks. I couldn't be bothered creating a form, so I stuck with black smoke. Very unoriginal, I know, but I was tired. As soon as he saw me he sat up on the bed and eyed me cautiously.

"So, decided to show up again have you?"

"I thought you might like a rest for a week or so."

"If you give me a rest until I'm dead, then I'll be happy."

I grinned, but of course he couldn't see it. I decided to give myself some eyes so he at least had a point of focus. It can be very trying talking to something like smoke – there's nothing to concentrate on and you never really know if it's listening or not. It can give you a headache if you have to do it for long enough.

"Sorry kid, no can do. So Malon's talking to you again?"

"How do you know?"

I scoffed. "What do you mean 'how do you know'? I'm in your mind, remember? You went to the ranch a few times this week, so I assumed she was talking to you again."

He lay back down again, sighing. "Yes, she is actually. I don't deserve it after what you made me do. I can't bear to look Gavin in the eye now, thank Din he's not working there anymore."

"There's a new guy though, isn't there?" I asked eagerly.

He refused to answer, and I knew I had him. I flew over and hovered just above his face. Giving myself a mouth, I showed him a toothy grin.

"Not going to do it again, are we?"

He chucked a pillow through me, closing his eyes so he didn't have to look at me. "Stay out of it, demon. The only thing we will be doing is trying not to kill each other.

"Oh, I don't have to try. I wouldn't want to kill you – you're too much fun. And you can't kill me anyway. You've already failed at that twice before."

"And to make sure I don't get third time lucky, leave me alone and let me sleep."

I tutted. "You think I'm actually going to leave you alone to sleep? You must be insane. Oh, I forgot – you already are."

He cracked one eye open and I could tell he was getting angry. Before he could speak, I turned into a bird and perched on his chest, staring at him with my beady little eyes.

"Feel like getting up to some mischief tonight? We can roam the Evil Realm and find Ganondorf," I let the words hand in the air for a moment. "Bring him back, maybe?"

He sat up fast and I fell off his chest, changing into smoke again. He tried to grab at me but his hands passed straight through.

"You – you wouldn't!" he choked.

"Oh, wouldn't I? I am a demon, remember, and we demons, well, we love our evil kings. You know, a bit of destruction here and there…"

I began to take control of small areas of his mind, bit by bit, to make him think I wasn't joking. He tried to fight, and even sent up a prayer to all three Goddesses, but I took control anyway, just for fun. I could hear the thoughts in his mind seething with anger and hatred. I hung on for just a few seconds then drew away fast.

He lay back on the bed breathing hard, sweat forming on his brow. His fists gripped the sheets and his knuckles turned white as he whispered to himself to calm down. I opened my mouth to talk but he shouted at me to get out, to leave him alone, to never mention anything like that ever again.

Scared ya.

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He found Brin again a couple of night's later, stacking away bottles in the old storehouse down the back. I heard someone clearing their throat behind me and I turned around, pretending to be surprised.

"Link! Hi, what are you doing here?"

"Uh… Malon told me she needed an extra hand for a couple of days while the milk orders were going out, so I offered to help."

I beamed at him and said that was great, while at the same time saying in his thoughts, Well, that was game of her.

He ignored me and started helping me unload the crates and stack the bottles along the back wall. The conversation was awkward on his part at first, but he soon eased into it and we were talking like old friends. Well, in a way we were, but he didn't know it. There was a strong part of me that just wanted to take over his mind again, just for fun, but the other part of me knew it was wrong. I had played around too many times for too long, and it was time to stop. Two years of losing your mind to a powerful demon was enough to destroy anyone's will to live, and Link was on his last legs. I could hear his thoughts constantly, and a lot of the time they were pretty horrible. But still I didn't stop, and I regret that now. I made him do things other people hated him for, all because I was bored. I wasn't an evil demon, I always seemed to be made to do evil things. This was the only way I could show him that, I couldn't blow my chance.