Chapter 52 - Captive
Nabooru eventually arrived at Link's loft, a satchel on her back with a few items in it that she'd wanted to show him. Apparently, some of the Gerudo had recently returned from visiting a tribe in Nasinia, a village located on the outskirts of the kingdom of Althor, one which operated somewhat outside of the kingdoms control, similar to how the Hyrule Royalty had thought of the Gerudo in times past. The satchel carried a few things from there, and other items she wanted them to see.
Link and Zelda talked to Nabooru for a while. They'd discussed the situation in Hyrule, and Link told her of his need to go to the Spirit Temple, and when he'd done so, Nabooru told him it wouldn't be easy to get there.
The words made Link curious, and when he asked why, she told him that for the past two weeks straight, there had been a sandstorm brewing in the southern region, which surrounded the entrance to the Spirit Temple. Two weeks, Link thought to himself, noting that the time it had been going on definitely didn't seem to be coincidental. Zelda had the sentiments.
Sandstorms didn't bother Link however. They'd have to go through on foot, but he'd weathered those types of storms before. It was Zelda he was worried about, to an extent anyway, because he half expected for them to get there and for her to have some type of magical barrage that would protect them erected while they made their way through it. But if she didn't, he knew they'd have a bit of trouble trying to get inside of it.
In other places of conversation though, Nabooru heard about what Masita did, and she got a real laugh out of it, informing Link that she'd told him the girl would miss him. She told Zelda that Masita had gotten herself into trouble several times because of her forward ways, but she always managed to get herself out of it on the same token somehow. Zelda could see why, but she didn't say a word of it, was just appreciative that the two of them hadn't become mortal enemies so to speak because of what had happened on the roadside earlier.
Nabooru also showed them some dresses she'd made. Zelda commented that the circlet she'd been given would look good with one of them, and all the talk of dresses and jewelry, while not quite up his alley, made Link think of Zelda's new gown, and he mentioned it. Zelda considered getting it out to show Nabooru, or at least the circlet, and when Link offered to go get it for her, she told him she would do it because she got the feeling that Link and Nabooru could have used the time together in order to talk a little more.
Leaving them both inside to speak, Zelda climbed down the ladder and set her booted feet onto the ground, looking over to their horses with a little smile on her face. Epona was closer to her than Frost was, and she went to the hammer bag where the dress was located and opened it in order to look through it. As she did so, Epona backed up a bit, and Zelda snickered softly over the horses movements.
"Stay still, I'm not going through Link's things," she grinned and reached up to pat the horses nose soothingly. When Epona stopped, she rubbed her mane and then turned to go back to the bag, but suddenly Epona whinnied and threw up her front legs a bit as if in agitation.
The movement got Zelda concerned, asking Epona, "What's wrong?," when she heard Link's voice, but the words spoken weren't something Link would say. Her eyes went wide when she heard them, her blood freezing inside of her chest as her heart stopped for a moment, and she spun around quickly when a fist gripped her throat.
"Did you miss me?"
---
"She's very sweet," Nabooru commented as Zelda had left the room. "If she's the Princess of Hyrule, then I think our worlds will be much better when she can truly take the crown."
Link thought about that, nodding his agreement immediately, but he also considered who had the crown now. Her son, or then again, was he? Link breathed through his nose and considered it, and while his face became solemn, Nabooru narrowed her red eyebrows and asked, "What's wrong, Link? You look like you're bothered by something."
Glancing up at her, Link looked her face over, always kind and full of life. He didn't want to ruin that look with his news, and he shook his head, "It's nothing really."
"Well, it has to be something," she informed him. "Is it me?"
"No, not at all," he reassured her. Standing up from where he'd been sitting, making his way toward the closed window, he added, "I've just learned some things since I've been gone, things that aren't easy to say, that's all."
Nabooru, still sitting on the chair in the room, watched him quietly. She took a moment to respond, but she eventually told him, "You know, I can tell that somehow. It's not that you're different than you were, but you seem a little wiser now. It's only been a month or so, and I guess it's true about wisdom and age, or in this case, time. You've grown a good bit, and even if what you've learned isn't good, the fact that you've grown is, and I'm glad to see it."
He smiled, glad she'd said that, and looking back at her, he told her, "Thank you. I'm glad for that too."
Standing up, walking toward him, Nabooru put a hand on his shoulder and informed him, "If there is something troubling you that's hard to say, and it has anything to do with me or my people, you'll tell me in your own time. Don't worry about it for now. You'll be here for a few days more than likely. We can talk about it later."
Nodding his head, Link was about to tell her that he thought that was the best idea when he was interrupted. The sound of Epona whinnying had reached his pointed ears from outside, and Link knew the sound wasn't a common one to come from his horse. Something was wrong.
Moving to the door without a word, he pushed it open and moved onto the balcony looking down. What he saw made him draw his sword immediately.
His dark mimicry had grabbed Zelda by her throat and before she could get any damage done to make him release her, he'd backhanded her across her cheek to send her flying to the side. Zelda hit the ground, completely dazed from the impact, and Dark Link moved toward her with a smirk on his lips before he narrowed his brows as he saw a shadow of movement. Suddenly, he jumped out of the way and toward the fallen Princess just as the Master Sword came down where he'd been standing, the tip of the blade embedding into the sand.
Link looked up when there - sadly - wasn't a bloodied corpse beneath himself, anger apparent on his face as he pulled his weapon back up and spied his evil mimicry before him with Zelda, his version of the Master Sword at her throat as she lay almost flat on her stomach, a fist full of her hair in his hand to pull her head back and threaten her life.
Link desperately fought both not to charge him as well as not to look at Zelda's face, because he knew seeing her like this would just enrage him even more, keeping his eyes settled on his enemy. Above them, Nabooru had run out onto the balcony, and having heard the commotion, other Gerudo had come running toward the scenes, some of them drawing swords they carried, others wielding spears.
But Nabooru spied the situation Zelda was in, and she waved a hand and called out something in Gerudo. The words made her people stop in their tracks from heading in any closer, looking up to see their leader there, telling them to stand down where they were.
Link ignored the situation for the moment however, glaring at his dark mimicry, saying deathly seriously, "If you cut her throat, I'll–"
"Believe it or not, I actually don't want to," Dark Link cut him off, "though seeing you suffer would be the highlight of my existence. So don't think for a second that I won't."
Link sneered at the words and at his enemy, and he asked the most logical question in that moment that there was, "You know, you are surrounded. How do you intend to get away this time?"
"Oh, you should know better than anyone what kind of tricks we have up our sleeves." With a smirk, Dark Link tugged Zelda up by her hair slowly. In her dazed state, she grimaced and was forced for the moment to let the evil shadow tug her backwards. As she came to, his sword still at her throat, Zelda felt his hand against her back, and something binding itself around her, looking down with her eyes alone to see threads of dark magic winding around her mid section and her arms.
Becoming almost completely helpless as she was bound in such a way, somehow knowing she wouldn't be able to teleport out of the magical threads tying her now as her mind became a bit more focused than before. Looking forward, she saw Link's face, and somehow, she couldn't ever remember seeing him more angry than in that moment.
Link had to steady himself from just rushing his mirror like he so wanted to, and Dark Link just grinned back at him, saying to Zelda, "Doesn't he look angry?"
Zelda's brows narrowed, wishing she had the opportunity to spit right in his face at that moment. "I'm sure you'll find out just how angry very soon now," she told him on a cold voice.
"Maybe I will. But for now, we've got to go."
With the words, Dark Link grinned evilly before orbs of black energy formed into the air before himself and Zelda, pulsing with a high pitched whir of sound before they shot off at Link at a swift pace, forcing him to duck out of the way. The orbs slammed into the sand behind him, blowing a good bit of the material up and into the air.
Dark Link used the distraction to pull his sword from Zelda's throat, and then he reached up to put his hand across her face. Zelda tried to turn her head, but a flash of blackness burst from his palm, and the result was for her entire body to go limp, unconscious and still. Dark Link pulled her up by her waist as she fell against him and easily tossed her over his shoulder before he took off in a swift sprint.
Link had recovered from his evasion of the dark magic, looking up just in time to see Dark Link slinging Zelda across his shoulder before making his way off with her. Pushing himself forward, Link began to pursue him, coming around the corner of the street side to see Dark Link jumping into the air and onto the covered roof of a porch, where Link followed.
He had a bit of trouble because dark forces aided his mirror and allowed him to jump a bit higher than Link himself could, but Link used the hookshot to pull himself upwards and onto the high roof of a building whenever Dark Link made his way onto it, and alternately out of the way of more of the black magic his mimicry was shooting at him in order to slow him down. Link pulled himself up onto the roof with the hookshot in hand and chased him, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as far as the last building down that line of road before the shadow carrying Zelda jumped toward the ground.
He landed with relative ease on the back of his horse which he'd left there purposefully, having planned this from the very beginning, and smacking his legs into the horses hind flanks, he began heading toward a southern passage that led through a ravine of sand in narrow rocky chasms.
It was the path that led to the Spirit Temple.
Link came to a stop at the edge of the building's rooftop and fisted his hand tightly as he watched the horse riding swiftly into the darkness of the night and the ravine. In his attempt not to rush off without thinking, trying to figure out the easiest way to get Zelda back safely, he also thought about the orbs of magic his mimicry had used, but he didn't have much time to consider it before he heard Nabooru calling his name from the street below. Taking a deep breath, remembering that the chasm led to a dead end in the Spirit Temple, even if the path of desert to cross over to it was fairly vast, Link remembered that his mirror wouldn't kill Zelda, and he was forced in that moment to rely on her cunning to keep herself out of trouble until he could get to her.
With those thoughts in mind, Link turned and went toward the edge of the roof, looking down as Nabooru had come running with the Gerudo soldiers following her.
"Link, did you lose him?"
"No," Link replied, leaping over the edge of the building, landing on the ledge of a roof over a balcony before he jumped down from that as well and landed rather safely on the sand covered road. "He's taking Zelda to the Spirit Temple. I have to follow him."
Nabooru stared as Link moved toward her, and she reminded him, "But the sandstorm, if you–"
"I don't care about that storm," he stopped her. "I just need a face mask so I can get through it. I don't have a lot of time. But it's a dead end, so we need to post people to watch the chasm."
Nabooru sighed, then nodded quickly, knowing there was no time to argue while turning to go get him what he'd asked for. Link went with her in order to take it more quickly, as well as ride Epona through the passage until he reached the open desert, knowing that would cut the amount of traveling he would have to do in half.
Taking equipment that was used for sandstorms from Nabooru and mounting Epona, Link turned the horse in the direction he needed to head, having donned a brown robe that resembled a monks over his clothing in order to protect himself from the storm when the redhead who'd saved his life ten years ago called out to him before he took off, "Since when do you have a twin anyway? And what does he want with Zelda?"
Link shook his head at Nabooru, "I don't have a twin, and I'll tell you when I get back with her."
Nabooru sighed deeply as she watched Link taking off right after he'd told her that, watching him riding through the streets toward the southern end of the Valley, and she shook her head slowly. All she could do aside from posting guards up was try to figure out some kind of logical explanation in the meantime and hope that Zelda was alright.
Link too for that matter. With the thoughts in mind she turned back to members of the Gerudo whom were standing with her and told them to watch the entrance to the chasm in shifts, and be wary, because apparently whomever this person was that had abducted Zelda looked just like Link, so they should be aware of it at all costs.
---
Across the sea of sand beyond the chasm stood a large monument of the Triforce erected to honor the Goddesses settled in the rock walls surrounding the large entrance of the Temple of Spirit. The Temple was housed largely inside of a rock wall that created the enclave of the southern region of the Gerudo Desert, which was the lowest tip of the entire Kingdom of Hyrule.
Inside of the Temple, as all of them, awaited dangerous traps and enemies about the corridors, all of them set up and summoned in order to protect the Dark Orb that had consumed the essence of Spirit, which resided inside of a large room settled near the very top of the Temple itself. Inside of that room, the seal placed upon the door already broken, stood columns settled around the walls with statues of former Sages built in their memories, some men, some women, and some old enough to be worn down without proper care during the last period of seventeen years that had passed.
The roof was domed out, etchings of patterns decorating the inside of the dome and the walls, a testament to the fact that the Temple used to be a friendly, and a safe place. In the center of the room was a pit of sand, over it settled the Dark Orb that Zelda sought to destroy, gleaming a golden color of the energy it had consumed inside of it. Beyond the orb, near an alcove in the room, stood a dome of barrier magic, and inside of it lay Zelda, her eyes coming slowly open.
Her head throbbed, the side of her face around her left eye aching from where she'd been backhanded earlier, and she groaned softly, slowly pushing herself up. Settling herself on her knees with the burgundy of her skirts folding about her legs, she reached up to the side of her head to tentatively touch the tender spot around her eye, taking in a breath. Dark Link, she thought to herself, fisting her hand in anger. Where had he taken her?
With the thought in mind, she glanced up and about at the dome of translucent magic surrounding her, imprisoning her. The barrier glowed a translucent white, and she could see the room beyond her magical prison as well. Looking the dome over, it was then that she spied the Dark Orb resting in the sand about twenty feet from where she was currently trapped.
The Spirit Temple? Zelda narrowed a brow and pushed herself up to her feet, the dome of magic holding her captive high enough for her to stand and large enough in circumference for her to walk around in by a good ten feet. Slowly, she began to head toward the magical barrier, wondering if perhaps she could use her power to break through it, and raised her hand toward it slowly.
Then she stopped suddenly with a thought in mind. Before she tried, she had to make sure there were no threats about, especially Dark Link. She turned her face slowly in order to really look, but didn't spy him anywhere, at least, not until she turned around and saw him standing directly behind her, walking through the dome of magic that seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever, telling her that he'd been the one who'd erected it, not that she'd expected any differently.
She backed away from him and closer to the wall of the force field, causing him to lift half of his lips in a little smile and inform her, "I wouldn't touch those walls if I were you. It might hurt."
Zelda did stop herself when she heard that, and kept that thought in mind, despite the fact that she loathed anything to come from his mouth. Standing where she was, warily watching him, she decided to slip to the side if he got any closer to her in order to keep a bit of space between them. But he continued standing there without approaching her, allowing her time for thought and response to his words, and so she asked him, "Why are you doing this? I would think it's to lure Link here so you can try to kill him, but after our last encounter, I'm not quite so sure."
He seemed to be amused in a way, waving a hand casually as he informed her, "Well, at least you didn't forget our little tryst in Engleton."
"Tryst?" She asked. "If that's your idea of a tryst, then please spare me from any others you have planned. In fact, if you want to seal me inside of this dome, then do me a favor and seal yourself out at the same time."
The evil mimicry started laughing over her words, turning his head a slight bit before pushing his white hair from his face, looking back over at her with those same red eyes she believed would end up haunting her if he didn't stop tormenting her with the things he'd done to her so far. She hated him for what he'd done of course, but more so, she hated him because he looked exactly like Link, and she never wanted to see any kind of incarnation of Link doing the things he'd done, hitting her, holding blades to her throat, violating her in the darkness under the guise of being the one she actually loved.
His words only served to make her angry as well, telling her in reply to what she'd said, "You really are too cute for words, Princess."
It just sounded somehow sickening to her coming from him, and she gave him a look that said she wasn't pleased at all. When she did, he took a few steps forward, the movement causing her to slip to the side suddenly with a gaze on her violet blue that nearly screamed at him to stay away from her, but he just ignored it and asked her, "What's so different about me from him?"
Still approaching her, though not swiftly enough to actually catch her, all while she carefully backed away from him without running into the walls, she informed him, "What's the same? You're evil and twisted. Link would never hit me or hurt me in any way, but you've left a bruise on my face I'm fairly sure, and locked me inside of the Spirit Temple, threatened my life just to see him hurt, and you've killed for no reason except for that same one. What's different? Can you really seriously ask me that?"
"Of course I can," he smirked, still following her as she backed away, "I only do the same things he's capable of, and he'd do them too if he thought it would put me in jeopardy."
"Link would never kill someone innocent, even if it meant your demise!," Zelda argued with him angrily.
Dark Link seemed to ignore the words however, continuing on through them with his points of similarities as if to say she were completely wrong, "I look almost the same, if not better, I want what he wants, and believe it or not, I actually do regret having to hit and threaten you. But would you really have cooperated otherwise?"
"Never," she spit out at him, "so I guess you take that as being forced into no other choice, don't you?"
Dark Link smirked over the question, the look telling her that he probably did in fact think that before he suddenly moved forward much more quickly than he had been. The movement made her gasp and jerk back to stay away from him, but he grasped her wrist before she could get away completely. As he did so, she turned away to try to get her arm free while he pulled her back toward himself.
"Let go!," she sneered, knowing he wouldn't, but she had to try. Once she was close enough to him, he pinned her arms down at her sides by wrapping his own around her, and held her back to his chest, his mouth close to her pointed ear as he informed her of his answer despite her protests of being held anywhere near him.
"That night in Engleton, you didn't even know the difference. You were willing. But you'd still kill me now if you had the opportunity, wouldn't you? So what do you think? Did I really not have a choice, or did I do it because I really wanted to?"
"Because you wanted to," she jerked, trying to get away from him, but his grip was like granite, and with his voice so close to her ear as it was, she turned her head away, having never wanted to see Link more in her entire life than she did in that moment. She couldn't stand it, how he sounded just like Link, how she couldn't see him now making it hard to tell a difference between the two, scaring her into thinking that some day, Link might actually be in a place she couldn't see him, and it would only remind her of the sickening feelings she had churning inside of her now.
No, it was easy to know this wasn't the same man, but at the same time, she knew it would be easy for this evil mock up to tarnish things, mar her perceptions, and she prayed nothing like that would happen. Prayed she'd never hear the real Link's voice and be reminded of this, look at his face and remember, feel the need to cringe away from him because of it.
The dark mimicry of Link holding her however just chuckled softly, saying the words, "You're right, I did want to. But only because I want you with me so badly, and not with him." While he spoke, she fisted her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, letting him continue after a moment, the words dark and threatening indeed, "After all, I could just force myself on you, and you know I could."
Her eyes flew open with a loud gasp of fear over the mere notion, and Zelda jerked harder than she had yet to try to get away from him, prompting Dark Link to draw out a soft shush to her and tighten his hold, adding, "I'm not going to. I don't want to hurt you." He emphasized, "I want to do this the right way, and have you come with me because you want me back. So tell me, Zelda," he stopped himself, smirking as he leaned into her ear and amended on a soft whisper, "love, how could I convince you to do that."
She'd become stiff and rigid against him, her breathing shaky as she trembled with both illness flooding through her as well as a bit of self loathing, because the words against her ear had sent a shiver through her that she was scared had been originated by unwanted response and not by the deep seated hatred she had of him, prompting her to scream inside of her head at herself.
He'd watched her trembling, taking in the sight of the side of her face, really looking her over now, her fair skin and slightly bronzed blonde hair, inhaling the scent of flowers before he let his eyes wander down her throat, to the amulet settled around her neck that belonged to her family with the blue gem embedded into it, then lower, to the swells of her breasts contained within the white bodice of the long sleeved burgundy dress she wore. It was no wonder he felt such an attraction to her, no wonder he had so much interest. She was, in fact, a gorgeous woman.
He almost felt no need to resist, his hand settled against her rib, and he could remember very well what it had felt like to cup that softness in his grasp from the night he'd found her in Engleton, the urge to reach for the soft mound within the confines of her bodice almost overwhelming. But he wanted her answer more than her body first, and he could decide from there what he would do, waiting, listening for it.
Finally, she gave him one, slowly turning her eyes in the direction he was in without turning her head, saying , "You could release me from this prison and allow me to do what I wanted to come here to do."
She felt his breath against her throat as he breathed out a slow breath, and she wasn't sure what he would do, her heart pounding in fear that he wouldn't, but even worse, he would begin to touch or try to kiss her in some way. But in a moment of apparent mercy, he lifted his head and let her go.
She wanted away from him so badly that when he did, she pushed herself forward and stumbled onto her knees, looking back quickly to see him waving a hand. "Maybe I will," he smirked at her. "Let me think about it for a little while. In the meantime, you return the favor and think about it too, and for now, I'll leave you alone to it."
He'd turned and started walking away. The barrier wavered around him as he passed through it, heading across the sand and past the Dark Orb, through the double doors, shutting them with a resounding thud. When he did, she squeezed her eyes shut and balled one of her fists. Think about it? What was there to think about? He had let her go, yes, but that didn't make up for everything else he'd done, and would continue to do. She had nothing to consider.
But he'd done her the favor of listening to her, and pushing herself over onto her bottom so she could sit with her knees drawn up and her arms resting on top of them, she pressed her forehead against them and felt a tear traveling down her cheek with the desperate want to get out of the magical cell she was contained within, the want to see Link and hug him tightly.
Consider it? Perhaps she would. But she knew that Dark Link wouldn't like the results.
