Obsessed
Chapter 11: The Lower Basement
The blue-haired mercenary collapsed to the floor as the wounds from the fight started overtaking him. He was bleeding profusely in his left arm and chest. He honestly hasn't anticipated Dark Link being so skillful with a sword since he had only seen him resort to knives and trickery earlier in the evening. He flinched every so often as he endured the stinging pain, which felt as though someone had taken one hundred needles and stuck them into his chest in a straight line. He started crying again as he thought about Zelda.
"I failed…" he said, hunching over into a ball. "It's over." He paused a bit before the tears started flooding to the floor. "I'm no hero."
He sat there and sulked, thinking about Zelda and how he may as well consider her dead. It wasn't so much the fact that he lost the Brawl with Dark Link, but the thought that he was the princess' only hope out of this nightmare. And now, she's been taken away somewhere. The mercenary cringed at the thought of what that monster was going to do to her.
"It's my fault…" he said. "It's my fault she's gone."
The swordsman soon felt a gloved hand lightly grab him on the shoulder, causing him to jump in surprised. He looked back quickly to see the person who had touched was none other than Meta Knight, who appeared to be as fine as he looked when he last saw him.
"Do not blame yourself," said the Star Warrior. "You did what you could."
Ike stared at the other Smasher silently before the tears in his eyes began to disappear. All of a sudden, Ike's heart became filled with rage, and the swordsman quickly stood up, towering above the shorter warrior.
"Where have you been all this time!?" he said angrily, his eyes beating red with frustration. "I nearly died trying to stop Dark Link and now Zelda has been kidnapped!"
The Star Warrior was not at all fazed by the taller swordsman's attitude and replied calmly.
"I have been searching for Link this entire time," said Meta Knight. "I assumed that you, being the hero that you are, could have at least kept the princess out of harm's way while I attempted to solve the mystery plaguing this mansion. I am insulted that you would think of me in such a way, Ike."
Ike could feel his muscles relaxing as he regained control of his temper, but soon felt them tense up again as the pain from the fight returned.
"Here," said the Star Warrior, producing a large Heart Container from seemingly out of nowhere. He pushed the relic into Ike's clothes, allowing to be absorbed through his skin and into his body. Ike's wounds soon dissolved into the air, as well as any other bruises he had gained throughout the night. As a bonus, his clothes were also mended back to their original state. He now looked as presentable as he did this morning when he arm-wrestled Donkey Kong.
Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, Ike smiled.
"Thank you, Meta Knight," he said. "I'm sorry I lashed out at you. There's just been so much going through my head today that I can barely deal with it."
"Think nothing of it," replied the Star Warrior, waving his hand slightly. "Now, on a more serious note, I have discovered the whereabouts of our Link." Ike's eyes widened slightly at the mention of his friends name. "He is being held captive in the lower basement of the mansion."
Ike pondered for a moment.
"Lower basement?" he asked. "I had no idea the mansion even had a lower basement."
"No one does," replied Meta Knight. "Not even I did until I scouted out through the entire building. There is a secret switch on the upper basement that unlocks a passage to the lower basement. There isn't much down there except for some storage facilities and the boiler room. But if Dark Link has run off with Zelda like you said, chances are that is the most likely place they would be. It is impossible to have a scheduled Brawl in the lower basement since no one is allowed to go down there under normal circumstances."
That's when it clicked for Ike.
"She's there," he said quickly, before dashing off down the stairs again. Meta Knight soon caught up to him, gliding down elegantly by his side.
"Follow me," said the Star Warrior, turning towards a door under the staircase that led downstairs. The two Smashers descended the next flight of stairs and through a maze of several halls. They passed by several rooms that they were both familiar with, including an arcade room, lounge, kitchen, and exercise room. Eventually they came across a bookshelf at the end of the hall that contained a library of colorful books and binders. The two friends stared up at the tall shelf before the sound of a muffled voice could be heard coming from behind it.
"You hear that?" asked Ike, putting an ear up against the shelf. He couldn't quite identify the owner of the voice, but he could definitely tell that it was male. "This has to be the place."
"It is," replied Meta Knight calmly. "Now, watch."
The Star Warrior flew up into the air and pulled a red-covered book from the shelf. A few seconds passed by before the shelf itself began sinking into the floor, revealing a secret passage down another flight of stairs. The sound of the voice was more audible now, and it most certainly was Dark Link who had been talking this whole time. Meta Knight landed softly and dropped the book.
Ike put a finger to his lips, signifying that they should sneak in quietly as opposed to running in guns blazing (or, swords blazing in this case). The Star Warrior nodded, and the two friends crept stealthily down the stairs, staying low to blend in with the shadows, which were quite abundant in the hall since there were only a few torches lining the cobblestone walls. It was hard to see where they were going, or how many more steps there were to trail, so they moved slowly and silently in the darkness. With each step they took, the sound of the talking voice became louder and louder, and was soon joined by the sound of another voice, this one belonging to a female.
"You'll never get away with this!" said the female voice near the bottom of the stairs. "Ike will stop you!"
An evil laugh soon followed that last sentence.
"Ike doesn't even know where we ARE!" replied Dark Link. "I've brought you both down here for that reason alone!"
Wait a second…did he just say "both?" Could it be possible that he was referring to another individual in the room?
Ike and Meta Knight soon found their way to the bottom of the stairs, continually creeping through the dank hall. A lighted room with no door could be seen at the end, which appeared to be the source of the sounds they had been hearing this entire time. The two Smashers poked their heads into the room to witness a setting that was hard to believe existed on the mansion grounds.
The room was somewhat large, with a ceiling almost as high as the mansion foyer. The walls were lined with brown stone, but appeared to be orange due to the amount of torches in the room. In one of the corners of the room stood a furnace with a blazing fire, with a chimney that rose up into the ceiling. Next to the furnace stood Link's Master Sword and Hylian shield, leaning against the wall as if someone had laid them there carefully. Beside that stood a pair of what appeared to be prison cells, the bars of the cells rusted beyond belief, giving off a dark and abandoned feeling. What seemed to grab Ike's attention first was the fact that there was someone in the cell on the left. He had to squint to get a better view of who it was, but after doing a double-take, the prisoner in the cell was none other than the real Link, who at this time, was holding the bars with his gloved hands, and appeared to be in rough shape. His clothes were all tattered and dirty, while his hair resembled nothing more than a moppy mess. Zelda was lying on a concrete table in the centre of the room, her hands and legs tied down to the corners by thick rope. Finally, the evil mastermind behind all this, paced back and forth between the table and the cell, the Kokiri knife strapped to his side.
Ike looked down at his belt to see that the knife was no longer there. It seemed that Dark Link had taken it from him during their last encounter. Regardless of the fact that Ike did strike Dark Link from the fight before, the creature appeared to be fine physically. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be quite enjoying himself, being the only person in the room with freedom to move.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance," said Link as he gritted his teeth behind the bars of his cell.
Dark Link laughed again.
"Oh Link," he began, "you are just too soft." He walked up to the Hylian and leaned down towards him. "It's true; you could have killed me in that Water Temple all those years ago. But the fact that you didn't just goes to prove how weak you really are. But let's face facts here. You didn't want to get rid of me. You were too afraid. Too scared that you would be destroying a part of you that you did not want to let go of yet. And you know why?" He walked back over the table Zelda was on. "Because you loved her at the time. Isn't that right, Link?"
Link didn't say anything, choosing to look down at the ground instead.
"And you, Zelda," continued Dark Link as he turned to the princess. "You rejected the poor boy as if he were a child. That's the thanks he gets for saving not only your life, but the kingdom of Hyrule entirely? I never knew you to be such a stuck-up bitch."
He smirked over the princess, but she quickly retaliated by spitting in his face.
"I was only doing what I thought was right at the time!" she said. "What else am I supposed to do when a man I don't truly love wants to marry me?"
"Those words still hurt, princess," replied Dark Link, grabbing his heart. "But it doesn't matter now, anyway. I now have you under my grasp. I can do anything I want to you and nothing can stop me." He paused for a moment. "I'm not sure if it's better that my urge to kill you exceeds my lust." He glanced at Link. "I feel kind of lucky actually. For I get to do all the things that Link wished he could have back in those days. Like this!" He reached out and grabbed Zelda's breasts aggressively with both hands, rubbing forcefully in every direction possible, causing Zelda to scream in pain. "Or this!" He leaned over and began kissing Zelda on the lips forcefully, silencing her momentarily as she cried. Link looked away in horror and disgust.
Ike felt his temper rising as he stood up to unsheathe his sword, but was stopped when Meta Knight put a hand on his shoulder.
After several seconds of touching and making out, Dark Link finally broke free and Zelda was left there lying with saliva all over her face. Dark Link wiped his mouth satisfied and laughed again.
"Oh man, it feels SOOOOO GOOD!" he shouted at the ceiling.
"MONSTER!" shouted Link as he tried to pull the bars of cell apart with his hands.
"Monster?" replied Dark Link, pretending to be surprised. "I'm not a monster. I'm you! Well, unless you are referring to yourself as a monster, in which case, I am then."
"You are not me," said Link angrily. "You are nothing like me. You are just a creature that spawned from my hatred. I'm not even proud enough to call you my shadow. Because at least a shadow will obey its master."
"Talk all you want, fairy-boy," responded the maniac. "I'm still running the show. And I plan to end with a bang."
He stood beside Zelda's table and produced the Kokiri knife, tilting the weapon in the light given by the surrounding torches. He glanced down into Zelda's eyes to see the look of horror in her face as she stared at the cold blade.
"This is it, Zelda," said Dark Link seriously. "This is for all the pain and trouble you have caused me. Once the deed is done, my purpose will be fulfilled, and I can finally rest in peace."
Tears soon started forming in the princess' eyes.
"Please…don't…" she muttered, sniffling hard as she silently prayed to her goddesses that someone was on their way to save her.
"This is only going to hurt for a few seconds; I'll try to make it quick."
He lifted the blade up high above her throat, her eyes closing shut as she awaited impending doom. Link cried and pleaded for him to stop, but it was no use. Zelda was going to die.
Suddenly a tall and burly figured rushed to the scene and slammed Dark Link in the side with his shoulder, causing the creature to fall across the room and drop the knife in the process. Zelda opened her eyes to see Ike Greil standing heroically above her, a look of determination in his eyes. He glanced down at the princess who was now full out crying at this point. She did her best to smile at him, causing the mercenary to smirk back in response.
"Let's finish this."