Dark had passed out shortly after leaving the commander's had dragged him from the Stronghold to their house, nestled in the area where Gerudos built their homes and spent their time while they were off-duty. They were given strange looks from the other Gerudos who were curious as to who that male was. Some seemed to recognize him, but couldn't remember who exactly he was.
He had fainted from the sheer amount of pain, and had fallen into a stasis where he would self-heal. Reseray and Julane lifted him into his own bed, laying him down in the darkness, as the shadows seemed to writhe around in the room, joined with his skin to repair the damage.
A doctor had accompanied them, by the orders of Traysa, and she looked at Dark inquisitively. "He isn't really human, except in the sense that he looks like one and may have the same functions as one. What sorts of medicine will work, or even if medicine will be accepted by his body or act as a poison instead, is wholly unknown. I think it'd be best to simply let the darkness take care of him, as they are now." The doctor said, looking at the strange being laying on the bed. The doctor turned and left, leaving the two Gerudos in the room alone with Dark.
"So mother... what do you think about Dark's aspirations?" She asked tentatively, as they stood in the bedroom. Her mother was silent, venturing down the hall, away from the bedroom. Julane followed "Which ones?" Reseray asked, having regained her distant demeanor. "Of destroying Ganondorf." She said, and Reseray's eyes became sharp. "It's a foolish concept. He's not the Hero. He should stay here with his family..." She said, clenching a fist as they sat down at the family table in the living room. "He wants to protect us though... if he's caught here, what do you think will happen to us?" Julane asked.
Reseray growled. "Then we stand and fight like the proud Gerudo we are! I won't stand by and let my life be taken from me a second time..." She said and Julane was silent. "I'm not so sure he'd agree with putting you in danger, mother." She said, and her mother silenced her. "Enough." Reseray demanded, her eyes peering over her veil at the table. "No more talk of his plans. I just want to enjoy having my entire family in one piece again." She said, as the two waited silently outside of his room, for him to awaken from his stasis.
There was no dreaming for Dark this time. All was silent, not a single thing pervading his mind. He felt dead, but he felt the warmth of life still within. As long as that warmth remained, he knew that the sense-dulling pain that he was experiencing would fade... and slowly, surely, the pain was fading. Eventually, after what felt like an existence of waiting, the pain faded entirely and Dark's eyes opened.
He was in his old bedroom. It was humbly furnished, and bore the simple things he'd need as a child. Dark explored every corner of his room. He felt as if he was travelling through time. Memories were gently coursing into his mind, of him grabbing toys, getting dressed to play with the neighbors, and being read night-time stories by his mother. Dark sat on his bed, and looked to the corner of his room. A small steel sword and shield lay there, collecting dust besides his new sword and shield. It seems that nothing had been touched since the moment he had left.
He stood up slowly, his body aching. He decided to take a look around. Like he suspected, there were images of him with his surrogate mother and sister in his room as well. He looked so happy then, without a care in the world, or realizing what he was bred to become. A machine. He placed the picture face down, not wanting to see his once happy face. That face had been long lost, he didn't want to be reminded of what he hadn't had in what felt like eons. Reseray and Julane sat at a table that was positioned slightly offset from the door by a few feet.
Silently, Dark continued to explore like a child who had discovered a new part of the neighborhood. He then found something odd upon his dresser besides the ancient black and white family photos. It was a book with the word "DIARY" etched onto it with what seemed to be a knife. Dark immediately flipped it open. It detailed his days for many years, and Dark spent minutes poring over his documented past. He sounded so unbearably happy then. Now he was nothing more than a miserable shell of his former self. He sighed, skipping a few years and reading up to the last entry. He wanted to know what he had written before he was taken by the King of Filth.
Mother tells me that today I get to become a real Gerudo! Our King is going to come and take me on a vacation and make me a prince! Mother told me he's going to give me all the toys and anything I could ask for! He's going to be the father I never had, I can't wait to meet him tomorrow! Mother seems sad about me leaving though, but I told her I'd write her every single day. I'm going to miss her, but this seems like a great new adventure!
Dark felt himself crying heavily. He wished he could go back in time and meet his former self. Just to tell him what was going to happen, and tell him to run far far away, away from the evil man. He was filled with such childish innocence, why was he put through such a painful existence?
He remembered the first few days at Ganondorf's castle, and his induction as a was tortured the entire day. He recalled shouting, calling for his mother to put the searing pain to an end. Ganondorf laughed at him, spat in his face, telling him that only his hatred would free him. Days of nonstop pain, searing, burnt flesh, being stabbed and flayed... it was an unending torture.
He remembered how glad he was to be put in the temple. The trauma was so much he blocked everything out about his past. Nothing mattered to him except his objective. Dark cried long and hard in his closed room. The agony of his past brought him to tears. He knew everything now. How his heart ached. Wiping his tears, he placed the diary in his small rucksack he kept hidden under his shield. He then donned his equipment, and stepped out of his room, peeking around the corner.
There was another Gerudo talking to his family, in a loud tone. She had messy shoulder length red hair, and wore white shorts and a vest of the same hue. She had stopped talking as he entered the hallway, and Reseray pointed around her, towards Dark. "He's right there."
She whirled around, a pair of deep blue eyes filled with excitement. "REQUAEM!" She squealed, charging at him. She tackled him to the ground, and Dark struggled to pry the Gerudo off of him. "Who are you?" He asked, unable to pry her off of him. His whole body felt like it was going to break, especially in his weakened state. She was strong. Very strong. "You don't remember me? I was your old playmate back when you were tiny! You were smaller than all the girls, you were so embarassed!" She said with a heart chuckle. She relinquished him, and lifted him by the shoulders and placed him on his feet.
"It's Reiche!" She said, and suddenly the name jarred memories in his head. He leaped back. "YOU! You were a monster! You were an incessant bully to me!" He exclaimed, and Julane scoffed, choking on her cup of water. "Yeah, that's because you were too much of a wimp to hit a girl, and I made you cry all the time." She said with a chuckle. Dark glared at her. "Either way, I'm the Stronghold's beast-tamer. I heard you were back, so I decided to give you the present you never got the year that Ganondorf took you away." She said, excitedly.
Dark blinked. "Gift?" He asked, and she nodded, punching him in the chest heavily, evincing an 'oof!' from Dark. "Yeah, a gift, numbskull!" She said, and Dark looked to his mother. "Go ahead." She said, and Dark began to follow Reiche. "You sure he should go? He just recovered. It's only been about a day, mother..." Julane asked Reseray as Dark left. Reseray sipped some water from her cup. "It's not a big deal. Requaem is a strong boy." She said, and Julane sighed, looking to the crystalline liquid in her cup.
"You still ask your mommy for permission? Aren't you a man?" She asked, shoving him." She said, aiming to insult his ego.
Dark scowled. "Give it a break before I get revenge for you being a pain in my ass as a child." He said, and she stopped, and looked at him with a challenging smile. "Oh yeah? Wanna try me?" She said, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. "I've wrestled dondongos bigger than you." She said with a vicious grin. Dark cracked his neck. "Problem is you don't know how big of a monster I am." Dark said, with a devious laugh.
Only problem was that he was too feeble at the moment to put on a full bodied fight, so Dark decided to play it dirty. She rushed him, and as he expected, she went to grapple him. Although thin, this woman was built of pure strength. As she made contact, and attempted to put him into a headlock, he dissipated into dark mist, like he had done versus Traysa. He then reappeared behind her, and drove all of his force into an elbow directed at the base of her neck.
With a sickening crack, Reiche fell to the ground. Dark wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I'm too tired right now, girl. Can we not fight?" He said, knowing that she was about to get up. She rubbed her neck and stood up, like he had expected. "Wow, Requaem. You got stronger. I wasn't expecting that at all, how'd you do that?" She asked, inquiring about the mist ability.
"Well, it's helpful when you're not entirely human. I'm sort of half and half. Good old Ganondorf took a human vessel and took the darkness that the Hero had cast off and created me. So physical harm doesn't really do much to me, and I'm naturally apt to magic. But I just got back from getting beaten by the Commander, and I just woke up." He said, breathing slightly heavily. Gerudos nearby looked on in awe.
Reiche was commonly accepted as the strongest hand to hand combatant of all the Gerudo. To have been knocked to the ground and stunned, even momentarily, by another, was unheard of. They began to murmur more and more, and Dark started to hear his name. "They starting to remember me?" He asked, Reiche cracked her neck. "Apparently. Who wouldn't? You were the only male around in the past, and now you're starting to show how good of a warrior you are. You're bound to draw a lot of attention from the females looking for mates. I'd suggest you keep your junk hidden. Don't wanna get raped." She said, forcibly patting him on the crotch as she walked by, causing Dark to cringe, with a very uncomfortable look on his face. "Don't do that. Just bring me to this gift already." He said, while wondering what 'raped' meant.
She nodded with a chuckle, and she led him across the grounds, to what seemed like a stable. He wiped the sweat from him, the sun bearing down on him wearing down his endurance. Without his usual amount of power, he was vulnerable to the wraths of nature. Walking into the stable, there was no animals. "Uh, my gift is an empty stable?" He asked, and Reiche clubbed him in the side of the head. "No, silly! It's a horse!" She said, throwing his limp half-unconscious body across the stable.
At the very end of the stable was a lone horse, with a coat of pure black, and eyes of shadow. The horse itself seemed to be a creature of darkness, akin to Dark. "Ganondorf gave this horse to me when he was but a colt. He told me it was to be a secret and because he didn't trust my mother, he entrusted the horse to me, the successor to the former beast-tamer of the Stronghold." She said, with a pause as she pet the mane of the black horse.
"I was told that he was a gift for you, so I figured when you turned ten, I'd give him to you. Turning ten was a big deal when you were a kid, you were so excited. He was my first creature to tame, and boy was he difficult. Only later in my life did I realize that this horse was being of darkness. Perhaps Ganondorf intended on giving him to you once you killed the Hero. In my own opinion, he might've been waiting til you really became the Dark Prince and took your place besides Ganondorf as rulers of all Hyrule. He never told me what to do with the horse, so I decided that he'd be yours." She said, a strangely serious expression gathering on her face.
Then her usual joyful face reappeared. "But good thing that isn't happening! I never trusted that big ol' ugly dude. Glad you chose the path you wanted. Well, there's your belated birthday gift!" She said, leaving the stable, with Dark and the horse all alone. Dark walked over to the creature. It snorted at him, and Dark placed a hand on it's muzzle. "Whats your name?" He asked the horse, and the horse simply shook his head, throwing Dark's hand off.
"Don't have one?" He asked, and the horse snorted at him again. Within his mind, the shadow being within the horse communicated with him. You have no name, either, Shadowborn. All Shadows have nothing. The horse said to him. "How depressing. How about Maelstrom? Light never escapes a maelstrom." He said, and the horse looked to him. Are you listening? Shadows have nothing. He said, and Dark laughed. "That's a lie. I have everything. I have a purpose, I have a family. I have friends. I have a future and I have a past. I can share all of those things with you. But you seem intent on staying here, so I'll leave you alone." Dark said, staring into the horse's black eyes, that really seemed like a maelstrom. Silence.
Dark turned and began to leave the stable. Wait. The horse called out to Dark's mind. Are you telling me the truth? He asked, and Dark turned around. "My name is Requaem. I'm also known as Dark Link, as I was born of the evil that the Hero of Time shed. I have a mother named Reseray, a sister named Julane. I have friends, named Sheik and Malon. I'll be your friend, I know what lonliness is like, and I don't want a fellow Shadowborn to suffer like I did." Dark said, feeling sympathy for a creature similar to him.
...I accept your invitation, Requaem. The horse said silently. "Great, Mael. Because I do get lonely on my adventures by myself. Now I'll always have a companion." He said, patting him on the mane. What do you want me to do now? Maelstrom asked, seeming unsure of what to do with this new horizon. "Well, I will be crossing the desert and going to the Desert Colossus soon, but I don't think horses can ride over that sort of rough terrain..." He said, and Maelstrom snorted at him.
I am borne of Shadow, something like the ground won't restrain me. Come for me when we're ready to leave, Requaem. He said, as he strode back over to his own stable. Dark looked back as he left the stable. He then left and reentered his house. "Sit, Requaem." His mother said as she saw him open the door. He nodded, closing the door behind him. He then sat across from Reseray. "What's wrong?" Dark asked. "You plan to fight Ganondorf?" Reseray asked. Dark gulped.
"Yes." He said, after some time of silence. A sharp slap from his mother crossed his cheek. "You will not." She said, her face unveiled for the first time since they had met again. She had a worry-worn face, built up of years wondering how her son was faring. "I have to." He said, and Reseray's eyes watered. "I just got you back, I'm not letting you back out to die!" She exclaimed. Dark was silent.
"It's to protect you all. I have things in this world I want to protect. I have debts I need to pay to his royal highness. I owe him dearly." He said with a venomous scowl. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his sister peeking around the corner of her bedroom. "Don't you care about us? What if you die!? Why not the Hero instead of you?!" Reseray shouted at him. "I do care about you and Julane! That's why I'm doing this! When Ganondorf gets wind that I'm out and about, and that I never did what I was supposed to, guess whose heads will roll!? Mine first, if he can get to me. Then it's you two!" He shouted, standing up.
"I'm going to the Colossus. I need to follow the Hero. He's my key into the Castle that Ganondorf is in. I can't rescue the Sages like he can. Once he opens the path for me, I'm going to rush in and take down Ganondorf before he does. It's his duty on the line, it's my soul and conscience on the line." He said, and his mother looked to him with nothing but anger in her eyes.
"I couldn't stop you if I wanted to. If you decide not to listen to your mother, so be it... under one condition." She said. Dark turned to her. "What's that?" He asked. "You better damn not die. I'm going into hiding once you leave, I won't be safe here anymore." She said. Dark walked over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't worry, I can't die. I'll come find you when I'm done." He said with a smile. "Once the escort gets here, then I'll be on my way." He said.
Julane stepped out from her room. "She's already here." She said, tapping the shortsword on her belt. "I'm usually the gatekeeper, and I know the secret that will lead you through the desert." She said with a defiant smile. Dark grinned approvingly. "Sure you can lead?" He asked, and Julane walked past him. "I've been leading before you were born." She said. Dark scoffed as he followed her out.
Reseray wiped her eyes, and looked down to her cup of water. Those two would be fine. She stood up and grabbed a suitcase of things she had packed. Pictures, clothes... her weapons were over her shoulder. She stepped out minutes after the other two had.
As they walked out of the stronghold, Dark whistled. "Maelstrom, we're leaving." He said, and the horse glided out from the stable. "What the? Where did that horse come from?" She asked. Dark scratched his chin. "Reiche had been taking care of him in secret for me. He was created the same way I was. In a sense, this horse is almost as close to being my brother as you are to being my sister." He said, as Maelstrom approached Dark.
Julane almost seemed disgusted to be compared to a horse. "Whatever. Are we riding him into the desert? Horses can't ride through that sand, it consumes anything it touches." She said. Being Shadowborn, I can glide over any surface. Maelstrom said to Dark. "He's got it under control." He said, as he mounted the black horse. Dark held out his hand for Julane to take.
She grabbed his hand and he pulled her to his saddle. "Yah!" Dark shouted, and Maelstrom shot off. His legs moved like a horses would, but there was no sound or sensation of striking the ground, just the rushing of wind. They rushed at the gate, which was already opening. Julane was holding onto Dark for dear life, as the horse was moving far faster than any horse she had ridden before. Looking over the saddle, she saw Maelstrom's hoofs hit the ground, then disappear to mist and reform repeatedly, making it seem like they were really riding on a cloud of darkness.
Julane pressed her face to Dark's back. He wasn't cold or gave off the feeling of death like she imagined he would, but instead felt... warm. She liked the feeling, she wanted to get closer... Wait, what was she thinking?! This was her brother! She focused on the desert ahead. She looked to Dark's face, over his shoulder. He had an expression of pure determination, as if nothing could deter him from his path.
Only death would. And that's what scared Julane and her mother more than anything.