Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda, Link, Midna, and that other canon stuff
Chapter 13: Corrupted
Link's heart seemed to stop when he made eye contact with the mysterious figure.
Once again, that fear that he felt when he first beheld the stranger in his dreams gripped at his heart. His muscles were seemingly frozen, and his breath hitched in his throat.
However, this time it was not a dream; this was reality.
Handsome features that nearly mirrored his own stared back at him, although they were rendered frightening by the white depths of those glowing eyes and the blue and red warpaint.
Whereas Link was seemingly paralyzed with fear, the other…man was completely relaxed, his face set into a look of serenity; the type that is so serene that it is unsettling. His arms were hanging loosely at his side, a stark contrast to the tense posture of the hero.
The ache in Link's chest flared unexpectedly, and a pained grunt passed his lips. The glowing mark on the back of his hand glowed brighter briefly. The stranger's eyes flicked to Link's hand for a fraction of a second, and then back to his face.
Link flinched when the figure made a slight movement.
The tension in the air was so strong that it made the feeling of apprehension from when before he and Ashei battled the undead seem like nothing at all. Nothing but him, an enigma, and the fog; it was not a pleasant combination.
Link's eyes widened when the stranger slowly raised his left hand. His gaze locked onto it, and followed it as it rose higher and higher. Link closed his eyes and took a ragged breath, absolutely certain something bad was about to happen.
When nothing did, he opened one eye. Much to his surprise, the figure was beckoning him. Not a moment later, he turned around and disappeared into the fog.
"Follow…" a voice whispered in his head.
As soon as the stranger was gone, Link seemed to return to his senses. The ominous ambient whispering seemed to return, along with what sounded like slow, deep breathing. Link briefly took in his surroundings; without the visible area he could see a couple of boulders stacked on each other in a unique pattern, but beyond that, all fog.
What is going on here?
Without a moment's hesitation, Link did what he felt was most sensible: not caring if Ashei was nearby, he shifted into a wolf. As usual, the transformation was swift and painless, and soon his senses were sharpened far beyond the threshold of a human. He pressed his long muzzle to the ground and sniffed. It did not take long for him to pick up Ashei's scent, but what he noticed confused him. The trail her scent created, following directly behind his trail abruptly just…cut off, as if she had suddenly disappeared. Her footsteps had done the same thing.
Ashei, where did you go?
If anything happened to her, he would probably hate himself. After all, he let her come along. The queen had said that some people had vanished, and Link did not want the same to happen to her.
However, shifting into a wolf at this time had some serious drawbacks. Suddenly, a new sound that he wouldn't have been able to hear as a human hit his ears, stacking on top of the already amplified whispering.
It is common knowledge that animals, with their much more acute senses, tend to become restless and afraid prior to some natural disasters, like earthquakes, and now Link understood why.
It sounded cross between metal being bent and nails-on-the-chalkboard, conveniently augmented by a ghostly choir, plus one more thing...
"Link! Help me! Link…"
ASHEI!
Frantically, he glanced around, trying to determine where the sound had come from, and soon, he was bounding off roughly in the direction the noise came from: the direction the figure had come from.
All the while, the ache in his chest throbbed painfully.
He blindly sprinted into the fog, determined to find his lost comrade. No one would be dying on his watch.
Every now and then, he thought he could see a dark shape out of the corner of his eye. Every time he would look, however, it would be gone.
At the moment, plenty of things were rushing through his head, namely what some of the possible awful things that could be happening to his companion at the moment. The last time he had been rushing to save a companion…
Involuntarily, he began to lapse into memories as he ran, about that rainy night when he and Midna had gathered the fused shadows…and were promptly brutally attacked by Zant, rendering Midna at near death and Link trapped as a wolf.
It was just now, in the present that Link realized that's when he first began to feel for her; that's when he started caring about her.
No…I'm not going to think of that…
Drifting into memories about her wasn't what needed to be done right now. He closed his eyes tightly, and shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his head. He was out here to help him get over her, not to fall right back into his 2 week long slump.
He winced as his chest hurt again.
Suddenly, he violently came to a halt, and an odd startled sound passed through his muzzle as he bounced back from whatever it was he hit.
Stars were appearing before his eyes as he shut them tightly and he groaned.
Damn it…must have run into a rock… he mused, silently cursing himself that he wasn't paying attention. Groggily, he forced himself upright, eyes still closed. He shook his head, attempting to shake the dizziness from his head. He was still reeling slightly, he had hit…whatever he had hit very hard.
Maybe a potion would help…
Promptly, he shifting back into his Hylian form and cradled his aching skull in his hands. Finally, his eyes cracked open…
…and he found himself face-to-face with the mysterious stranger.
A startled yelp passed Link's lips as he lost his balance and fell flat on his back. The stranger's lips were curled into an amused smirk as he looked at the prone hero.
Link couldn't help but feel slightly impressed; that solid object that he hit must have been this guy, and he was still standing. Being rammed, in this case unintentionally by a quarter-ton beast usually knocks people off their feet, and he wasn't even fazed at all.
Once again a burning pain hit Link's chest, even more violently than before. It was bad enough that Link cried out in pain and cupped his hand to his chest. A brief glance at it showed that the Triforce was glowing even more.
He snapped back into reality when he realized his situation again. At this distance, he was even more terrifying than before. Link could make out every detail in the figure's ebony armor; he could probably reach out and touch it if he really wanted to.
"What do you want!" Link shouted, trying to put on an intimidating face, scrambling to his feet.
He did not respond.
"Where's Ashei!" he shouted again. He drew his sword. The stranger gave him a look like a parent would give a misbehaving child.
Suddenly, at blinding speed, he was behind Link, and firmly planted his foot on Link's posterior, sending the hero to the ground again. Groaning, Link forced himself up to face the other guy…
…but he was gone.
Link's face was locked in a priceless expression, like a child who had been denied candy. He turned in every direction, and could only see white. Nothing notable here…
He took a step forward…when his toe caught against something right next to him, almost sending Link on an embarrassing third tumble. Shrugging off his misbalance, Link glanced towards the ground. His mouth opened at what he saw.
There, partially buried in the dirt was a broken fused shadow; the one that Midna had worn almost their entire journey, the one that Ganondorf had smashed, the act that sent Link on a berserk rampage.
How…coincidental… Link thought glumly as he eyed the broken artifact. Slowly, he crouched down next to it, examining it closely.
It's broken…right? He thought to himself. He had seen how the shadows had changed and corrupted people…even going as far as turning the Goron Patriarch into a horrible monster. This can't be causing all this trouble…could it?
Carefully, he reached out with his right hand; the non-triforce one and gently prodded it. It felt strangely cold to the touch. Although it looked like it was made of stone, it had more of a metallic texture to it.
Link's head snapped up when he heard whispering again…though this time it sounded much closer. He coughed as the pain in his chest spiked again…but this time something else happened.
Coinciding with his discomfort, a series of cyan lines ran across the shadowy artifact, spiderwebbing out from where his hand was touching it, accompanied with a quiet humming. Link yelped in surprise when he saw what was happening and he tried to pull his hand away…but he found he could not. It was as if his hand was stuck to the shadow. Try as he might, he could not pull his hand away. He found that he couldn't move at all.
His breath hitched when he saw what the shadow was doing. It was changing, shifting. The fragments of the artifact merged into one amorphous mass, to which Link's hand was stuck. Slowly, the mass began flowing up his arm as if it was a liquid. Link tried to yell, but he couldn't do anything. All he could do was watch as the black substance, covered with blue lines flowed up his arm.
The pain in his chest returned in full force, and it only got worse the farther the shadow went up his arm.
He gritted his teeth when the shadow cleared his arm, and stars were appearing in his vision. The pain had nearly hit unbearable levels. Next, Link shivered as the ice-cold shadow began flowing up his neck. It was a very unpleasant feeling.
He found that he could move again as the black, goo-like substance began creeping up his face. He shot to his feet and began blindly clawing at the invading substance, strained grunts escaping his throat. By the time the shadow was obscuring his eyes, and his world was plunged into darkness, it felt as if his chest had molten metal in it. Originally, it was contained near his heart, but slowly, the feeling began to spread.
As the last of the shadows passed his eyes, reaching his forehead, Link was keeled over, gasping for air. He could feel the invasive probing of the fused shadow against his mind…it felt foreign, alien.
Is this…it? He thought wistfully.
The pure shadow energy of the artifact was nearly blinding him, and his eyes were half shut. He could still vividly recall what had happened to Darbus…was the same happening to him? The light spirits had once warned him how dangerous…how volatile, how corrupting the Fused Shadows were.
The mark on his hand was hot, and he ceased his futile struggling and went limp on the earth, drawing in breath in ragged gasps.
But then, something happened. Amidst the Shadow's probing into his consciousness, he could feel something alongside the darkness, something benevolent. Suddenly, the shadows ceased their invasion, cowed by whatever lighter presence accompanied them. Gradually…his pains faded as the shadows influence was contained somewhere in his consciousness.
He rolled onto his back, and gazed skyward through partially lidded eyes. The world seemed…peaceful to him. Not the unnatural silence that he found pervading the equally unsettling mist, but truly peaceful. His horrible ordeal over, he drew in deep breaths that were borderline sobbing.
"Sleep…" a voice whispered into his ear. It was not tense or demanding, but calm and relaxing.
"Wha…?" Link groaned.
"Sleep, child…"
Link was only too happy to oblige as his eyes shut and his mind drifted off.
(A/N) Here you go! Chapter is a bit on the short-ish side, but I guess I wanted to get some more content out before going back to college, yeah.
So Link just got mindraped by shadows, oh what could this mean?
As usual, reviews make me all smiley. And if anyone is interested in beta'ing this shenanigans, just give me a shout, eh.
Since this is chapter #13, does that mean it's cursed or something?
Random writing gripe: Use a fricken' spellchecker! Excessive typos make me cringe!