Author's Note: Fair warning, this chapter gets kind of graphic in the torture department, even for me DX The inspiration for this chapter came from one of the unlikeliest of places: the horror game Spooky's Jump-Scare Mansion. That game is kind of a parody of all the most famous horror games, and horror games in general, while also being simultaneously adorable and legitimately terrifying. It's one of a kind, you have to experience it for yourself to really understand. Anyway, every hundred rooms or so as you progress through this mansion, you come across a new monster that is heavily based on some other game or trope. I was surprised and thrilled when I came to a level that was very obviously based on Majora's Mask! The monster is the Happy Mask Salesman, and you have to keep him in sight at all times or he...well, he does what I have Dark Link do in this chapter. I couldn't come up with a plausible reason for the Happy Mask Salesman to do something like this—besides, I'd already done a chapter with him being all creepy in "Misfortune." So I turned to the next plausible villain instead.

Timeline: Adult; AU at some point mid-game

Theme 37: Eyes

Link staggered, shaking uncontrollably, down the hallway. His boots rasped against the rough stone of the floor, and he trailed one hand along the cold stones of the wall, for the support as much as to keep his bearings.

The hallway was pitch black. Link liked to think in those terms, because if he thought too much about the full truth (everything is pitch black), he was sure he would curl up into a ball on the floor and never be able to rise again.

"Go on, then," the monster who imitated his voice cackled. "Let's see how you fare. If you manage to find your way out of my dungeon, I might just let you live. But you would be wise to give up your quest once you do. Nothing will stand between Lord Ganon and the Triforce, so step aside if you would not be crushed."

When he almost ran headfirst into a wall running perpendicular to the one he was following, Link pressed his face into the corner of the two walls and tried not to sink down to the floor. Tiny, pathetic sobs shook his shoulders, but no tears stung his eyes. It was drops of blood, not tears, that trailed down his cheeks. Somehow, he thought it might have been easier to bear if he could just cry. But the knowledge that he could never weep again only drove the horror home more effectively than ever.

Because he had no eyes. They were gone.

Dark Link's laughter rose, louder even than Link's screams. Leather straps held Link in place on the rough wooden table, and he knew they were strong enough to hold even a Goron in place, but he struggled against them anyway. He couldn't see Dark Link, but he could hear him—cackling and scraping the jagged, bloody knife against the edge of the table just to watch Link flinch. Link could still feel the awful tearing sensation as that knife cut into his flesh...

Link bent over and retched, but nothing came out. His stomach had already emptied itself all over his filthy tunic, but everything in him recoiled from the horror lodged permanently in his memory.

Suddenly a new voice echoed down the hallway. "Link!"

For one wild second, his heart lurched as his mind leapt to Dark Link, back for more. But then he realized the voice was much higher, and muffled as if spoken through a cloth. "Sh-Sheik?"

"Oh, thank the goddesses, I—"

His voice cut off abruptly as Link raised his head.

"Din's blazes!" Sheik swore explosively after a moment of stunned silence. Link had never heard the stoic bard use such an epithet before.

He couldn't stop shivering, thinking about what Sheik must be looking at. Blood smeared all over his face, two dark cavities where his eyes should be...

"Come, Hero," Sheik said, his voice softer than ever before. Link felt his slender arms wrap around him, enveloping him with warmth. "I took your gear from the Moblin guards; we can use Farore's Wind to get out of here..."

Clinging desperately to Sheik's welcome warmth, Link felt the familiar rush of power around him, like a warm breeze through the treetops that swept him away from this terrible place. But even when he felt sunshine on his face and knew they were outside the terrible black fortress Dark Link had lured him into, the chill of that dungeon clung to him like cobwebs. Maybe it was because he couldn't see the change. Maybe this darkness would be all he ever saw, for the rest of his life.

Link's knees buckled, and Sheik's arms tightened around him, struggling to keep him from falling to the ground. He longed to let the darkness take him to sweet oblivion, where he wouldn't have to face what had been done to him. But one thought made him cling desperately to consciousness. He gripped what he thought was Sheik's shoulder.

"Navi," he croaked. "Where..."

"She's still at Lon Lon Ranch," Sheik said, his voice trembling. Was he...crying?

"Lon Lon..." But they were days away from the ranch, clear over near Lake Hylia. And he had seen Dark Link disappearing into the castle, clutching a jar with his blue fairy inside...

Something smooth and hard pressed against his lips; Link recoiled at first, then realized it was the lip of a bottle. "Drink," Sheik said, tipping the bottle so its contents poured down his throat.

The taste was familiar in his mouth. Red potion.

"Now, now, take your medicine, little hero. I can't have you dying on me when the fun's only half started, now can I?"

Tears clouded his one remaining eye, but he could still see his nemesis leering down at him, holding a bottle of red potion. Link spluttered as pitch-black fingers pinched his nose closed and tipped the potion into his mouth. He had to swallow. The potion couldn't bring back the eye that had been cut out, but it could keep him from the death he was beginning to think would be a sweet release.

Link coughed, gagging on the bitter taste of the potion. He had never minded the flavor before, knowing the drink was good for him. But he never wanted to taste it again.

Thankfully, Sheik put the bottle away. "I don't know if you're up to another teleport in this state," he said uncertainly, "but we certainly can't stay here, and even Epona would take too long to get to safety. I'm sorry, Link. You can rest soon."

He shifted his grip on Link, and in moments he heard the gliding, golden notes of the harp. It played a song he'd never heard before, but it was one that made him think of soft hay and warm milk, of good food and crickets chirping tranquilly in the evening...

The whole world tipped and overturned, and it felt like his heart had gotten twisted up with his stomach and then lodged in his throat. He wanted to scream, he was sure he would throw up or faint or explode...and suddenly it was all over. With a sudden jerk, everything returned to normal.

Sweat poured down his face as he sagged against Sheik. He was dimly aware of Sheik dragging him, begging him to walk, then another pair of strong arms wrapping around him and dragging him upwards, as if they were trying to carry him up to the sky.

He must have blacked out at some point, because the next thing he knew, he lay flat on his back on a soft mattress, and voices spoke over his head somewhere, discussing what they needed to do with him. Capable, callused hands wrapped something soft around his head. A bandage, protecting his empty sockets from further damage even though the potion had done most of the job of healing already.

"Nnn..." he groaned, trying to speak. The voices fell silent, and he made another attempt. "Na..."

Then the blessed sound of tinkling footsteps approached his ear. "I'm here," Navi whispered, stroking the side of his face with such gentleness that Link gasped, once again feeling like he would cry even though he had no more tears.

"He...never kidnapped you...did he?" Link asked hoarsely. That was the one thing he'd wondered more than anything, and Dark Link had only laughed at his distress. He was sure it would have killed him if he had escaped only to find that Navi really was stuck in that dungeon somewhere.

"No," Navi whispered, leaning against his cheek. "I...I'm so sorry, Link. I wish I could have stopped this..."

The tiniest of sensations brushed against his cheek, a soft kiss from lips smaller than the head of a pin. The tenderness of her touch was so different from everything he'd experienced in that dungeon. He didn't know how he could ever be whole again, but he thought maybe...just maybe...Navi could piece him back together again.