AN: This marks the beginning of Arc Two: The Re-Drawing of the Three. Not the most creative title, I know, but I'm sure we'll both live through the experience. If you want to read the original book for this section of the Dark Tower series, you're looking for "The Drawing of the Three" by Stephen King. I recommend reading that along with Legends for the full experience of the story :D
Thanks a million for sticking with me thus far, I hope I continue to hold your interest until the very end. -Dylan Kennedy
The Gunslinger – The Beach
Roland sat on that rusty bench, staring out at the sea for several hours after the palaver.
Perhaps it was the sheer immenseness of the sea itself. He had simply never seen so much water before, especially not in one place. Water was not exactly sparse Gilead by any means, but after nearly dying of dehydration in the desert, anything more than a puddle is certainly a sight to behold.
He walked down to the waterline and looked all around him. Back the way he came was obviously not the right way, but for some reason he could have sworn he saw some dust rise up from the circle of bones.
He shrugged it off and decided to head north, following the tide-line up the beach. The sun began to set after sometime, and the first of the lobstrosities rolled out of the water.
These things were lobsters the size of a small horse. Lobster-monstrosities. Lobstrosities. Makes sense, right? Don't get mad at me if it sounds lame, I didn't coin that shit.
It rolled out of the water, popping out of the roll with it's claws out and ready for battle. Roland blinked twice at the creature, underestimating the immediate danger he was in.
The lobstrosity charged him and knocked him down before he could draw. His gun got stuck on the holster when he fell, and the creature bore down on top of him, pinning his limbs down with it's massive size. A claw swiped at his face, he rolled his head to the right to avoid having his skull caved in.
Unfortunately for the gunslinger, that exposed his left eye to the claw, which promptly smashed it into jelly. Blood gushed out of the wound and over the gunslinger's face. It trickled into his mouth as he screamed in pain.
When the lobstrosity opened it's mouth to began devouring Roland, and ending this story prematurely, a loud sound erupted into the air. "CHUG-" the lobstrosity was hit with something "-CLIIIITAAAAAAAACK!" and suddenly, it was flying away from the gunslinger to none other than the boy.
Link had some strange contraption over his right arm which was pulling the lobstrosity over via a hook and chain. He drew his sword with his free hand and made mincemeat of the monster as it came within striking distance.
Roland would have cried tears of joy if he wasn't busy bleeding blood and eye juice all over himself. Link hurried over and dragged Roland away from the tide, and the incoming lobstrosities, to the grass area several yards east of the water.
The gunslinger ripped a long scrap from his shirt and attempted to tie it around his head. His hands were too shaky and he kept fumbling the cloth and the attempted knot. Link took the cloth from him and tied it around his head slightly angled, like a crooked bandanna.
The tears of joy finally came, stinging the eye wound with their salt. "I'm sorry that I…I…"
Link started crying too, creating small tracks down his dusty face. "Y-you nuh-nuh-needed to," the boy managed to stutter.
"I should have never let you fall for the Tower, Link." The gunslinger pulled the boy close to him, feeling a spike of pain as the boy's shoulder brushed against his new wound. He gritted his teeth against the pain. "I'll never drop you again Link…"
But in the deep recesses of the gunslinger's mind, he wondered if that was true or not.
He awoke the next day, starving and throbbing with pain. His eye was a burning mess of pain and infection. The claw that ruined the gunslinger's left eye was far from sterile, and with the wound came severe bacterial infection.
He felt week, feverish, and guilty. I don't deserve to be alive, let alone, have the boy back.
His father's voice responded, And yet, you have life and a second chance. Better get moving.
Roland heeded the advice and set out down the beach with Link.
They traveled several miles that day, not finding much other than sand, shells, more sand, and some rocks here and there. Roland's fever worsened throughout the day, and he was writhing around in agony by the fire that night.
He needed something, anything to take his mind off of the fever and the pain. He worked up the courage necessary to ask this difficult question, but after a time he managed to croak, "Link, if you don't mind me asking, how did you-" he had to fight to keep from tearing up again "-manage survive that fall in the tunnel?"
Link shuddered, then stared right at the gunslinger. He almost said, "After you dropped me?" but the gunslinger's condition stopped him. His complexion was noticeably pale, and his eyes sometimes rolled back a little into his head. Roland of Gilead was not feeling well. Not at all.
Link remained silent, but reached into his shrink-bag, pulling out an object which expanded in his hands. It was the arm contraption from earlier. He slipped it over his right arm and stood up.
"I pulled this out quickly as I fell and was able to sink a shot inbetween the wooden planks in the track. One in a thousand chance, I guess I got lucky."
He fired at a nearby elm tree. "CHUG-" the hook sped toward its target, followed by a chain. It met it's mark, the chain suddenly went taut, "-CLIIITAAAAAAACK!" and Link was pulled through the air at the tree. He walked back and sat down by the fire.
"The Hookshot. I had one that looked a little different back in Hyrule, but this one works the same way. Longer chain, though. Another gift from Termina. Pretty awesome, huh?"
Roland nodded weakly. A very neat device indeed. I hope you have to never need how you did back in the tunnel ever again. I'll make sure of that.
The gunslinger fell back into sleep. He dreamt that he was falling again, but instead of landing on another one of those stained-glass pictures, he fell into the body of the boy.
Link was standing on some sort of flower in a fairly large puddle. They were in a dark chamber, but two beam-lights suddenly crossed in the center.
A demon hung in the air, wearing a mask of unimaginable power. Around him floated two fairies.
"That useless horse wouldn't listen to a word I said, so I got rid of it for you."
Link recoiled in shock; the loss of a friend was just another thing to make this day even worse. He'd already been robbed of his precious ocarina in the forest, and now his horse was gone indefinitely. Great.
"But I have better plans for you. You really think you can stand up to me? May the darkness swallow you whole!"
The demon shook its masked head back and forth rapidly, sending out powerful waves of magical energy at the boy. Link keeled over, gripping his head.
The boy was suddenly standing in blackness, being slowly surrounded by a pack of hostile plant-creatures named Deku Scrubs. They closed in on him menacingly, and the gunslinger saw all of this.
The creatures disappeared as a Deku Scrub the size of a house began charging at Link. Link tried to run, but the Deku swallowed him up.
When the boy was conscious again, he felt awkward and misshapen. His body seemed harder, but lighter. He looked in the water and fear drove itself in like a spike.
Burning orange eyes, a wooden body, and a large hollow "O"-shaped hole for a mouth.
Link was turned into a Deku Scrub.
The boy began freaking out and he attempted to scream, only managing to wail in some odd dialect unknown to him.
The floating demon laughed hysterically and floated out of the room with one of the fairies. A stone door closed behind him, locking in the boy and the other fairy.
Before Roland could see anymore, he was swept out of the dream.