Suggested Soundtrack: Mission Impossible Theme. Like, any of them.
Thank you for the revieeews! XOXO I'm feeling better but still kinda sick.
"You're WHAT?!"
Shadow grinned, knowing Vaati could feel it through the air waves of their cellphones. "We're breaking into my dad's office!"
"Buh-buh wuuuu-what do you need ME for?"
"Oh come on, V! You're always sneaking into the older boys' dormitories. You're an expert at this!"
"Oooooh, alright, but I don't think it's a good idea, Sha-Sha."
"Great! See you when you get here!"
A crouching figure appeared in the corridor, face covered in mummy-like bandages. The figure took a tai-chi pose. "All clear!" Sheik said.
Nigh invisible except for his ghostly face, Vaati appeared next, stepping lightly behind the ninja. Then came Shadow, his eyes glowing in the dark, and finally Link, looking for all the world like a green target in a purple sea. Shadow glowered at him as he lumbered languidly over to them. "You really should be wearing some of my clothes."
Link shrugged, too polite to say, "No way am I EVER wearing YOUR clothes!" "So," he said out loud. "Where's your dad's office, anyhow?"
"Well, the main one is on the first floor, but I already checked it. No tape, which means he must have hid it in his other office, the super secret one on the bottom floor."
Sheik shivered visibly. "Why do I suddenly feel like we're entering some kind of haunted house?"
Shadow looked at him grimly, thinking of all the tortured and murdered animals. "Because it is." He stepped up to the door at the end of the corridor, the others stepping beside him to regard it.
"How to we get to the lowest floor?" Sheik asked.
"Well, the first basement's pretty easy, just follow my lead around the alarms, and the second's more tricky, so we'll have to move some boxes and hack some computers and stuff—don't worry, I've done it before." He heaved a great breath in and out. "Then there's the third floor."
"What's on the third floor?" Link asked curiously.
"I don't know. I've never gone down that far."
"That's it," Vaati exclaimed, sending a pleading glance to the ceiling. "We are SO failing right now!"
Shadow flashed him a grin and a thumbs up. "Don't worry! I got your back!"
Vaati flushed. "O-okay."
Vaati held up the rear as they moved through the hallways, Shadow in the lead. He was trying to focus, but couldn't help regard Link and Sheik with a sort of vindictive curiosity. So Shadow likes blonds?I never would have guessed.
"Careful!" Sheik hissed, and Vaati paused just in time. He had almost triggered an alarm. He limbo-d under it cautiously and joined the others at a door with a chained window. "What's in there?"
"Best not look," Shadow said. "I can't stand to look in there. I can't free them because Dad'll just kill them with his remote control thing. I don't want to see their suffering."
Sheik couldn't help but satisfy his curiosity, however. Was Ganondorf really as horrific as Shadow had painted him? The others were moving ahead, however, so he only spared a glance. There were tables, and empty cages, some broken and misshapen as though whatever was inside forced its way out. On the ground were very disturbing dark stains. As they walked and dodged alarms, they passed many other such rooms. Some were illuminated, most were pitch black. Sheik saw a few animals, but they didn't really seem . . . alive. He could sense some sort of dark magic from them.
He had a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Shadow opened a door in the wall, which revealed stairs leading down below.
"Doesn't your dad have an elevator?" Sheik asked grumpily. "Like a proper villain?"
"We can't use it. Any power use of that size will trigger alarms."
"Dang . . ."
The second level took more thought, but as Shadow had said, he knew how to get through it, and with the help of his friends it was a lot faster. This level was made of a dozen rooms with computers and strange metal equipment. There was absolute silence aside from the humming of computers lodged in the walls. Desks and file cabinets ruled the walls, strange chemistry symbols and math on any papers left out. None of them understood any of it. The closer they got to the next flight of stairs, the creepier the papers became. At first they were just text, describing functions of long words which they soon discovered were the names of various body parts and functions of hundreds of animals. The descriptions were highly detailed, mentioning differences in pain tolerance and reception to chemicals, some from food and some injected. Sheik's stomach turned.
That's how it started. Soon there were x ray photos, and MRI images, of animals—terribly ma;formed ones. A five-legged rat, a two-headed snake, what looked suspiciously like a mutant Deku Baba, its petals slashed into seven sections. "Where . . . where does he keep the animals?" Sheik asked, motioning around the quiet level.
"Oh, they're around," Shadow replied. "They tend to not want attention, though." He glanced into an empty room that held a large cage meant to be an aerie. His heart hurt as he remembered the tracking keese he'd released, only for them to die horribly anyway. They'd been in this room.
"Wh-what was that?!" Sheik grabbed Shadow's arm.
"What?"
"I heard something."
Link nodded, looking unperturbed. "I did, too."
"Do animals . . ." Sheik began, "Ever . . . get out?"
Shadow blinked. "Sometimes."
Sheik looked from Link to Shadow, about to blow a fuse in panic. "How can you be so calm?!" he hissed.
The two other boys shrugged.
"Hey," Link noted, "Where's Vaati?"
"He was right behind us."
"I guess we have to go look for him."
They walked into the nearest room to find Vaati cowering on the floor. "Ho-o-o-ly Sages of Hyrule!"
The others crowded around him, but Sheik soon found himself turning to stare into a dark corner of the room.
"What happened?" Shadow asked Vaati.
"It was there! Can't you feel it?"
Sheik didn't like that corner. There was something wrong with that corner. He saw nothing, but knew that corner just should not exist.
Something scurried past the door, and Link's ears perked, eyes alert. "Yeah . . . yeah, I feel it."
Vaati shivered. "Let's get out of here."
Shadow sighed. "Oh come on! Dad always keeps dangerous animals under SUPER lock and key. They don't get out. It's probably just a spider keese or a non-gelatinous chu-chu."
"Why does that make me feel less relaxed?"
"Let's just get to the third floor, okay? We'll be fine, promise."
Link was sticking his head out the door, looking up and down the hallway outside. Sheik risked glancing away from the corner, but a flicker caught his eye and he ripped his eyes back to it. "What IS that?!"
"I told you this place is haunted," Shadow said simply. "You're the Prince of Destiny and all, so you can probably feel their souls trapped down here." He nudged Vaati's foot. "Dunno why you can feel them, though."
"You live," Sheik tried to form words around the rising creep in his body, "on top of this stuff? D-don't you get nightmares?"
"Sometimes." Shadow helped Vaati up. They made to go out the door, but Link had leaned back again, staying in the doorway, blocking their way.
"There's something in here, and it's not a ghost," he explained.
Vaati clutched Shadow's arm, and Sheik whimpered.
Shadow tried to keep everyone calm. "W-we've come this far already, we may as well keep going."
As if they had agreed on this setup, Shadow took the lead, Vaati and Sheik huddled together in the middle, and Link glanced around alertly behind them, ears pricked for any sounds.
When they reached the door to the next level, they were met with a complicated lock system. "This is what stopped me before," Shadow explained. The door handle was encased in some kind of mini computer with a lit-up touch screen. "I couldn't figure out how to work it without setting off the alarm."
"Is there a password?" Link asked.
"No idea. It's like you have to move it around to activate it, first. I tried moving it, but when it beeped at me three times the alarms went off and, well . . . Dad caught me."
As if it were the most natural thing in the world to do, Link grabbed the strange handle and began searching for cracks and buttons. His fingers traced lines. "Hmm," he considered, before suddenly making three swift motions, one pushing a secret button, one turning a secret wheel, and one pulling the handle's lever out. The door made a harsh clicking noise, and the screen lit up.
"Wow," Shadow said, impressed.
"I like puzzles," Link stated with a dorky grin. "Um . . . so what would your dad use as a password?"
Shadow considered. "Try Hilda."
"Uh . . . I don't know these letters."
Vaati leaned in close. "They're ancient Hylian," he explained. The letters were set up in a grid. He pointed at one in particular. "There. That's an H. Wanna double check me, Sheik?"
Sheik stepped closer. "Yep. Tap that one."
Link followed the two's instructions to spell Hilda in ancient Hylian. Then pressed enter. A large click and a beep later, and they were able to open the door. "Wow, he actually used his wife's name."
"That's very insecure," Vaati noted as he and Sheik scurried into the stairway and away from the creepy, haunted second floor. The four wasted no time shutting the door behind them. The fact that there was a dead green light coming from the lights made the trip down the stairs almost creepier than if it had been dark.
When they reached the entrance to the third floor, Sheik was first to grab the handle. Then froze. "Wh-what . . ."
They all felt it this time.
"Frostbitten Deku Nuts!" Sheik swore under his breath. Even Link seemed perturbed, but not Shadow.
"It's just the animals, guys, we can do this. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just really creepy, okay?"
After a moment, Sheik nodded tensely, and the other followed Shadow through the door.
Right away they could feel it was a bad idea. This level was only lit by a few black lights. "Ugh, I can feel the light getting sucked out of my veins!" Sheik said.
"Me too," Link said, shaky, but still firmer than Sheik's or Vaati's voices had been the last several minutes.
"Really?" Shadow asked in surprise. "I don't feel anything."
"Well, you live here," Sheik grumbled, "You're probably more used to it!"
"Well, come on. We should stick together."
Link walked behind Shadow, Sheik grabbed the hood of Link's jacket, and with his other hand, took Vaati's. After several minutes of wandering, they hadn't found the stairs to the lower floor, and had in fact gone in circles and ended where they started at least twice.
"Why didn't we bring a light?" Shadow asked.
"Um, because I can make light with my magic?"
Everyone stared at Sheik.
Sheik blushed. "I guess I should do that, then, huh?"
"Yeah."
Sheik released Vaati's hand, and a few murmured words later, and there was a small spark in Zelda's hands. Instantly it vanished.
"What happened?" Link asked.
"I . . . I dunno. My magic isn't working."
"Aaaaugh!" Shadow sighed. "So much for that, then. Doesn't even matter."
Sheik was now more scared than ever. "Guys, only bad things can make my magic not work."
"Don't be a frady cat," Shadow criticized.
"No need to be snippy. Sheesh!"
"Can I ask a question?" Link interrupted politely.
"Yes," Sheik and Shadow replied.
In a slightly higher voice than normal, Link said, "Well, I was just thinking . . . this place is so big and hard to navigate and stuff . . . why would Ganondorf put his office way down here? And not have a shortcut?"
The others shared glances.
"It is REALLY weird when you're the smartest kid in the room," said Shadow. Link flushed.
"Take that back!"
"No, seriously, first the puzzle, then this? Have you been holding out on us?"
Link reddened even more. "No. I just don't always speak my mind, and it would be too complicated explaining anyway." More like, he didn't like being the center of attention, and avoided it at all costs.
"Why are you getting Ds?" Sheik asked.
"I dunno. It's harder than my old school."
"I doubt that's it."
"I get bored and lose focus."
"Okay, WELL ANYWAY," Shadow interrupted. "We've come too far to go back and search for a shortcut. Dad'll be home in a few hours. Let's keep going down."
"No." Sheik's voice was firm.
"Oh come on, Sheik!"
"I'm being serious, Shadow! Whatever's down here is cutting off my magic. I'm the PRINCE OF DESTINY. My magic doesn't just DISAPPEAR. It takes a fair bit of exhaustion to cause that, or else . . ." his voice fluttered, "Very dark power."
Everyone knew what he meant. Since they were children old enough to understand, they'd been told not only the story of the Triforce, the Hero, and the Princess of Destiny, but also the destructive power that opposed them: Demise. It was, hands down, the most forbidden art in the entire world.
"My dad does not do black magic!" Shadow protested angrily.
"I'm just telling you what I know!" Sheik shot back.
"Guys!" Link stepped between them. "Look, Shadow, Sheik's uncomfortable, and I don't like it down here, either. This was a bad idea and you know. We should NEVER have tried to sneak in here."
Shadow's protests were clear on his face, but he said nothing. Disappointed, his shoulders slumped. "Fine." He glared at Sheik. "But I still don't believe you. My dad's evil, but not THAT evil!"
"Whatever," Sheik replied, too shaken to think up a better reply.
Shadow began striding off into the dark.
Link paused to look at Sheik. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.
Sheik pondered, then nodded.
"Okay." Link turned to follow Shadow, and Sheik grabbed his hood and reached back for Vaati's hand.
No one was there.
"Uh. Guys? Where's Vaati?"
Link doubled back. "What? Vaati!" He looked behind him. "Shadow! Shadow where are you?"
The two huddled closer together, then turned back-to-back and stared into the darkness. "W-what's going on?" Sheik stuttered.
"I don't know. Stay close, Zelda." Link wrapped an arm around Sheik, who decided under the circumstances to let the fact Link used the wrong name to slide.
A scream startled them, and they flipped around, Sheik flailing wildly, but Link kept his hand clenching Sheik's shirt tightly. His eyes stared alertly ahead. "Come on, Sheik! Try your magic again!"
They ran toward the scream. Sheik tried to start a magic light, and though he failed, every time he tried there was just barely enough light to see by so they didn't bump into things. The level just seemed to be a giant room, never ending, full of black smoke.
"VAATI!" Link yelled. "SHADOW!"
"OVER HERE!"
A few seconds later they found Vaati, who was on the ground, backing away from something ahead of him. Shadow stood there, back to them, staring into the darkness. "Sh-Shadow! Get away!" Vaati shouted. "GET AWAY!"
Sheik ran to help vaati up, and Link ran up behind Shadow to see what he was staring at.
Two huge red eyes revealed themselves out of the darkness as he got closer, and the smoke around the room twisted and turned into a vaguely human-like shape, but with the joints bending the wrong way. It kept shifting like a reflection in a lake. The smoke was the creature. It pulled its smoke away from the four teenagers, revealing the metal floor and ceiling and a wide space.
The whole level was a cage for this thing!
A wide, gritty toothed smile opened in the middle of its weird head. Over by Vaati, Sheik tested his magic. With the smoke retreated, it worked perfectly.
The creature suddenly shrieked and blanketed the room in smoke again, snuffing out Sheik's light. Sheik and Vaati hugged each other. Link jumped back to them, taking a wide stance in front of them, as if he could defend them from the creature.
Shadow was the only one who hadn't moved. "Hey, there, guy," he said quietly, taking a tiny step toward the creature.
The creature's smile disappeared, and seemed to regard Shadow carefully.
"You're okay," Shadow said. "See? We can't hurt you. How did you get down here? Do you want to go outside?"
The creature became mesmerized by Shadow's voice. It tilted its head.
"That's right." Shadow took another step forward, then another. "We didn't come here to do tests on you. We want the same thing you do—to get out! Can you . . . help us?"
The creature made no sign it understood. Shadow took another step forward, held out a hand—
—the creature shot forward, nearly biting Shadow's entire arm off. Shadow jumped back and retreated just in time, joining the others. The creature began making unearthly dissatisfied sounds.
"I saw the exit," Link said calmly, "Earlier when the smoke was cleared."
How is he so calm?! Shadow thought. "Do you remember where it was?" He grabbed Sheik, who was by now screaming to match Vaati.
"Yeah! Follow me! RUN!"
The four teenagers skedaddled as fast as they could through the smoke. Other forms of the creature began forming around them, trying to catch them, slash at them. They reached the door and Link kicked it open. They all ran through and tried to shut the door behind them, but the smoke was already bleeding through it like roots of a tree. They charged up the stairs and made their way through level two, completely ignoring the alarms. The whole level was illuminated in red lights, a loud blaring noise filling the air. Doors and walls began slamming down around them, bars showing up on the office doors. The teens ran faster to the exit. The door was slowly shutting. The four squeezed around it, and thankfully it shut behind them before the creature caught up. The door at the top of the stairs had sealed shut, however, and they were trapped in the stairwell.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Sheik shouted. "WHAT IS YOUR DAD DOING DOWN HERE?!"
Shadow panted, and simply shook his head. Shock was plain on his face. "I . . . I don't know. But it was angry."
"What needs a WHOLE LEVEL to live on?!" Vaati shrieked. "That thing was gigantic!"
Link didn't have much to say, he just panted with the others, staring at the door with a piercing, blue gaze.
There was nothing for it but to sit down and wait to be caught. The entire facility was on lock down, and there was no way they could get out on their own.
Ganondorf glared at the teenagers standing in a line on the other side of his desk in his first floor office. He had been silently staring at them for what seemed an hour, simmering rage just beneath the surface.
"We're really sorry, sir," said Sheik, trying to be diplomatic. "It won't happen again, we promise!"
"Exactly . . ." Ganondorf paused midsentence, "what did you think you were doing?" Hisgaze lay on Vaati, who began to stutter. Shadow broke in.
"They were helping me free the animals."
Ganondorf stood. "What a pathetic idea. There are no animals down there. Not at the moment." He walked around the desk and folded his arms.
The four shared glances, doing their best to look abashed.
"More importantly," Ganondorf continued, bending down to look Vaati right in the eye. "What did you see?"The boy lowered his head, stuttering nonsense. Ganondorf moved on the Sheik, who was next.
"See?" Sheik repeated cautiously. "What do you mean?"
"I mean just what I asked. What did you see?" Sheik squirmed under his gaze before he lowered his head, as well.
Ganondorf moved on to Shadow, who was pretending Ganondorf didn't exist and was glancing around the room and bouncing on his heels. He didn't reply.
"It's just as you said, sir," Link broke in. "There were no animals."
Squinting his eyes, Ganondorf straightened and stepped in front of Link, glaring down at him.
Link held his gaze, a look or ferocity in his eyes, although his face was calm. He stood straight, head held high. Ganondorf glared for a minute or two, but Link would not back down. Ganondorf raised an eyebrow before returning to his seat behind the desk. "Well, you're certainly lucky," he said. "There were no damages. If there had been, I'd have to report this to the police. As it is, I think I'll just have to settle with banning you all from my house from henceforth."
"What?!" Sheik, Link, and Vaati all shouted.
"Be grateful I don't tell your parents! And Shadow? You're grounded."
"Aaaah, not again, Dad!"
"You deserve it!"
"Of course he didn't report it to the police!" Sheik exclaimed when they left the house, aside from Shadow, who was locked in his room. Sheik was fuming. "He doesn't want anybody to know what's down there!"
"What is down there?" Link asked ponderously.
"I dunno, but I'm not just gonna sit around about it!" He turned to Vaati, who hadn't said a word since they'd been caught. "Are you okay? How are you getting home?"
"I'll call a taxi," replied the ashen Vaati. A look of . . . fear crossed his face. "How long do you think Shadow will be grounded for?"
"No idea. The last time he was grounded for two weeks. This time, who knows."
Vaati seemed extremely nervous. "That means I won't get to talk with him for a long time."
"You two are really good friends, huh?" Sheik asked curiously. "I wouldn't worry."
"Yeah, I know, just . . . uh, see you later! Maybe." Vaati scurried off.
"That was weird," Sheik noted. Link just nodded. "Do you wanna go to my house to research black smoke?"
This time Link shook his head. "No, I should go home and check on Aryll. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"A'ight."
Link wasn't sure why, but he had a really bad feeling. He'd never been in such a dangerous situation before, and there was just a strong feeling of wrongness. Not about sneaking into a place they shouldn't have. He felt that guilt, too, but this other feeling was different. Worse. Mostly he was suddenly very worried about Shadow, and what his dad might be up to. Would Shadow get into trouble?
His thoughts went back to the third level. The others had been so scared, even Shadow. Why hadn't Link been scared? Well, like, he was, but it didn't seem to affect him physically like it had the others.
"Link!" Granny exclaimed when he appeared. "Where've you been? It's almost seven!"
Link stopped and looked at her, saying nothing. Granny noticed the strange look in his eyes, but thought it best to not mention anything. Link said hello to Aryll, who was doing fine and already in bed, then went into his own room and shut the door.