Chapter 10

Divided Souls

The passageway to the meadow remained quiet. None but for a few souls had passed through this opening in millennia besides ours heroes. However, more were to pass through. Not all with pure intent. To the contrary, malice was in his gleaming red eyes and an evil grin grew across his dark face. He had been summoned here, but he had chosen not to come. No, he wanted to wait, to test his power against his mortal nemesis. To take his life and have his revenge for the pain dealt to him over the many years. Yes…yes he would kill the hero of time and fulfil his own given destiny…alone.

The meadow, bathed in the glorious sun, remained silent, as it had done for ages passed, being only disturbed by a slight breeze passing through the towering trees. The rainbow of flowers spread throughout the open field swayed gently as if hypnotized by warm, tender wind that caressed them. In the middle of this heaven lay a small cave. Drab and eerie in comparison to its surrounding area, the unnatural mood seemed somewhat disturbed by the guffawing Hylian that was emerging from the centre of the darkness of the cavern.

'Chill out guys!' Laughed Link 'don't you know what this means? I'm still a kick ass hero!' He had been in a glorious mood since the battle with Dark Sheik, so much that the warrior had almost skipped out of the cave that had, minutes before, almost consumed his very soul.

'Link! Sheik called over worryingly, jogging to try and keep up with his cheery comrade ' Very little is known about this ring. Details have been lost about its power over the years. You must not take this likely!'

'Listen, you said it yourself. Only a hero of destiny could wield the ring without losing his sanity.' Link jumped and clicked his boots together and began to whistle Normal 0 !-- /* Style Definitions */ , , {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} {mso-style-name:mceitemhiddenspellword;} page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} 1 {page:Section1;} -- heartily . 'This means I am a true hero again…well I was always one anyway.' He chuckled; amused by the idea that he was never a true hero. What silly thoughts. I just had a few bad days that's all.

Tatl followed Sheik closely, fearing to go near the renewed Link.

'You should not be able to control the rings power with a simple smile and a whistle. It should be a battle of sanity and control.' Sheik stated coldly. 'It may be a trick of some sort. Link please…!' Before the plea could be heard Sheik dodged swiftly to the side. He had dodged not a projectile, but Link! Looking back, he saw the fighter skid across the floor like a rag doll.

'What the...?' the Sheikah swung his head to the reason for the flying hero. Stood in the midst of the peaceful meadow stood pure darkness given shape once more. It grinned maliciously. The red eyes full of both anger and sick joy.

Link staggered to his feet, regaining his lost focus. Staring ahead he saw what had attacked him and grinned back at the mirror image.

'Nice to see you again.' He stated casually, wiping the dirt of his tunic. 'Dark Link.'

A slight twitch of the neck and Dark Link cracked his neck. Calm, cold, calculated; the hunger for blood and battle was apparent in his eyes.

'After so many years, one reunion is too small a time for old friends to reminisce.' The shadow cackled. 'Also…it would be a deep sorrow to not kill you with my own blade.' Sheik prepared his weapons whilst Tatl desperately searched for a weak spot on the dark warrior, but to no avail. She knew, as Navi had known so many years before, that this was a battle of will, not strength.

Link scanned the area indifferently, searching for other potential threats, making sure to keep Dark Link in his vision at all times. Link smiled arrogantly at his rival. He was not scared. Quite the contrary, he was excited. He was ecstatic at the prospect of finally wiping his darker self off the earth. He was not the weak fighter that had emerged over the previous weeks. No! The hero of time had finally returned to Hyrule.

'Here to do Ganondorf's bidding like the obedient little dog you are?' Link taunted. Dark Link responded with false puzzlement.

'Did you not hear my friend?' He asked mockingly. 'I no longer lick the boot of that egocentric weakling that is Ganondorf. No, no, no…I am my own master now.' Link raised an eyebrow to the monster.

'How? I doubt the King of Evil would let one of his strongest soldiers leave him. Not alive anyway.' Dark Link chuckled darkly at Link's question.

'I battled my way through the horde of weaklings that were his servants. When I reached him, more enemies awaited. However, he cowered and begged for his life like the scum he is. He knew your whereabouts and had kept them secret from me, so I took the information by force. He did not fight, but surrendered almost immediately. The information was exchanged and I let him wallow in his own weakness.'

Link was taken back by shock. Impossible. Ganondorf surrendering so quickly to a fighter like Dark Link. Link had taken on the same horde of monsters and succeeded in collapsing his dark fortress yes the evil king still continued to fight with every inch of his power. There must have been more to this.

Dark Link smiled sickly 'How ironic that he had helped me attain the very power that had almost destroyed him.'

Flashes of their battle in the temple of time flooded back to him. The screaming…FAKE! The attack that nearly killed him. The memories jolted back to the front of his mind.

'That power…what was it?' He inquired

'Do you not know of are connection?' Asked Dark Link. The smile grew wider at the realisation of his enemies lack of knowledge. 'You poor thing; you know nothing about us, do you?'

'Before the battle in the Water Temple, I was as Dark Sheik once was. An entity floating around in that god-forsaken cave. Ganondorf was able to extract me from that lifeless form and give me a permanent body. In doing this he severed the link between you and I. Each dark entity has a seemingly unbreakable connection with their lighter host. They gain all the skills, memories, features, even weaponry and tools of their counterpart in preparation for the possible battle they may have in the cave. However, in using the triforce of power to create me, Ganondorf severed this link.' Dark Link grinned 'I was no longer bound by your skills and abilities, but by my own.'

'The battle in the water temple sickened me. You had only a few days experience that I had not attained and one weapon I was not truly accustomed to… the megaton hammer. Because of this, you overpowered me, nearly ending my life. After recovering I trained everyday none stop, not needing sleep. No you were my reason to exist. To kill you… Your weakness disgusts me! How you can let yourself become so frail, so defenceless, so sure that every battle will turn in your favour. No, I have discovered that true strength is found in battles of loss. You are no longer relevant to this world Link. You have dishonoured our name and now you must pay. I am no longer the 'fake' hero… you are.'

Link stood paralysed by what he heard. So everything that had happened had been his fault after all. Morpha overpowering him, Dark Link excelling to strengths thought impossible. It had been him who had been weak. Only narrowly had he escaped both battles with barely his life.

But today this would change. He refused to be defeated by his separated soul once again. Today he would become the warrior…the hero has always been destined to be. Slowly he reached into his pocket, feeling the smooth surface of the ring.

I can control this power…I am the hero of time… He slipped the ring on his finger. His hand emerged from the tunic pocket and the ring, shimmering in the bright sunlight, was revealed to all.

Sheik gasped in horror whilst Tatl began to shudder

'NO LINK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' She howled 'DON'T USE IT!' The tears flooding down her cheeks. Dark Link's mouth twitched ever so slightly. A smile. He rushed the hero, unsheathing his blade in the process. Link prepared himself with his own blade, bracing himself as he waited for the rings powers to consume him...

Nothing. Link stood as still as the trees waiting for this apparent power to unveil itself, but nothing. Dark Link continued his charge howling with laughter, attempting numerous slices and stabs at the hero, which were dodged one after another.

'Do you know nothing of the rings power?' He ridiculed 'There is more to just wielding the ring, you must understand it.' The dark warrior continued his onslaught of attacks. Sheik, having removed from the shock of Link's reckless abuse of the ring attempted to join the fray.

'Oh no…' Dark Link snickered 'Not this time.' With a swift turn, the shadow flung his arm to the Sheikah with an open hand. Sheik stopped in his tracks. He could not move?

'What magic is this?' He said, determination to move in his face but to no avail.

'Do not worry, I shall kill you later.' Dark Link said, turning back to his target.

His power is incredible! How could he attain such strength? Sheik thought as he continued his fruitless struggle, determined to aid his friend.

The two warriors clashed, both matching each other again and again with the same attacks.

'You haven't improved that much since the water temple.' Link taunted, but feeling the strain of his counterpart's battle technique. It was quite obvious that the monster had improved greatly, but Link needed to keep him distracted whilst Sheik released himself from his invisible ropes.

The shadow being lunged towards the hero making numberous attacks to all areas of his body. Dodge, parry, block. This is all Link could do against the tremendous might of the enemy. Dark Link stepped back afer Link attempted attempted a swing to his skull, oly meeting air as it went. Preparing for another deadly slice, Dark link readied himself, savouring every moment of his counterparts struggle to survive. However, he wanted to finish. Too long had he suffered and it would all disappear with this one life. He would finally be free from the torment of his own mind. Preparing his sword, Dark Link sped forward, his weapon aimed for the heart of the opponent. Peace was in his grasp.

Dark Link suddenly jumped back, narrowly avoiding a sharp pointed object aimed right his head. Where had stood, lodged into the ground, lay the hook shot claw.

'The hook shot?' Links eyes followed the chain to the source, to its wielder. In the trees, the wind rippled her silk dress ever so softly, and her fiery red hair moving so gently. Her whole being swaying as sweetly as the flowers that lay in the open field. The sun shone so rightly the moment her presence had been discovered. She smiled at Link and began to hum. The song calmed his soul as it had done in his thoughts for so many years.

'Well, hello again fairy boy.'

So many answered questions, but so many more to ask. Hope you enjoyed this one. Drags out a bit with Dark Link's explanation of what has happened. Still... had to shove it in somewhere.

Sorry about the late update, FanFic was not accepting my documents for some odd reason, but now it works. (obviously ¬_¬)

Most likely there will be a few million grammar and spelling errors in this chapter as I suck at that sort of thing. XD Still, reviews on the story itself would be nice.

I'm still in a two way street on how I can even end this story... of course I'm not revealing ANY of that information =P.

Enjoy and see you next week.