Chapter 28: Possessed Hylian – Link?!

Being regarded in fear by people he cherished was nothing new. He had been called a monster and attacked by his loved ones before. He'd even caused people to run screaming in terror. But in those instances, he'd been a beast. The harsh treatment hurt less then because he knew people didn't see him as Link. All others saw was a dangerous predator.

This time it was different. He wasn't the blue-eyed beast. He was himself, in his proper human form, one-hundred-percent Hylian. And yet, there was fear on his companion's faces. Fear of him.

His gut instinct was to flee. To remove himself from the situation so they wouldn't be afraid anymore. But he couldn't. He wasn't in control. That…thing was.

Anjean had called them evil spirits, and she wasn't wrong. The thing inside him, beside him, controlling him, felt dark, made his head spin—if it was even his head anymore—but it couldn't be a spirit. Not of a person. It had to be a demon.

A burst of approval struck Link. Was that an answer to his musings? Could it hear him in some twisted way?

In any case, he didn't want it there. "Get out!" He screamed, though no sound came from his lips.

He attempted to claw himself back into control, but it was as if there were chains holding him down, and he couldn't break them no matter how much he strained.

Despite the resistance, Link kept trying. Shouldn't the Triforce of Courage force this demon out of his body? It was sacred energy, wasn't it? Shouldn't it hurt the spirit and make him an unsuitable vessel?

Apparently not because it was here and picking up the sword he'd dropped, leveling it at his friends.

"No!" Link felt his lips curl into a sneer.

"Link?" Kid's voice was small. Broken. Terrified. Yet he stood firm. Courageously. Stupidly.

"Run!"

"Sorry, but he's not your friend anymore," Vivian said. "He's my servant."

"He's no one's servant but mine!" Midna retorted, turning her fierce red eyes on him. "Come on, Link, snap out of it!"

"I'm trying!" Didn't she get that he was trying? Every fiber of him was straining. It was like a sneeze that wouldn't come, congesting his head and tensing his body, but still he couldn't force the spirit out. All he could do was watch and feel as his body moved of its own accord.

"Bring Anjean to me," Vivian ordered, cutting Midna off when she tried to get closer. "Then you can play with the others as you like."

His body moved so fast Link had trouble processing it. All he knew was that Embrose now stood between him and Anjean, the metal handle of Embrose's hammer preventing his sword from dealing any damage.

With all his might, Link attempted to wrench control and disengage. It may have worked, had he been using physical strength. However, he had none to employ. The evil spirit had sapped all of it from him. His body fought because the demon wanted to fight, and so he found himself trading blows with Embrose, all the while dodging light arrows when their brilliance lit up in his peripherals.

The demon must have been imbuing his sword with some of its energy because there was no way on Din's red earth he could've snapped Embrose's weapon in two like he just did without breaking his own.

Taking advantage of Embrose's shattered defenses, the evil spirit struck, impervious to Link's cries to stop. Embrose fell, clutching at the bleeding wound that tore across his chest and soaked his entire torso in red.

Anjean's scream pierced his heart.

"Stop! Leave them alone!" Link shouted at the evil inside him.

Laughter bubbled up in his chest and tumbled out of his mouth. It was suddenly hilarious that this slip of a girl was glaring at him with tearful purple eyes, daggers raised as if she stood a chance against him. He'd break her like a twig.

Wait. What was he thinking? Anjean was strong. He knew she was. She could beat him. She would. She had to.

He lunged forward, and Anjean rushed to meet him, expertly blocking his strikes. However, she must have still been wiped out from the battle with Embrose, for he noticed her hits weren't as forceful as he remembered and her speed was nowhere near as unnatural as he'd come to expect.

Distant shouts from the others reached his ears, but it was like he and Anjean were enclosed within a bubble. He couldn't discern what his other companions were saying or even twist his head around to see where they were. As long as they stayed out of this, he was happy. He didn't want them hurt. Not yet.

…Yet? No. Never.

Of course he did. He wanted to see them bleed, to hear them beg for mercy and then deny it. How could he lie to himself? He'd enjoyed tearing out monsters' throats as a wolf, the acrid taste of their blood in his mouth, the stickiness of gore in his fur, the gurgling final breaths that popped out of their mangled necks. It was pleasant. Satisfying.

Just like the delicious crack Anjean's skull made when he drove the pommel of his sword into it. She crumpled quickly—they always did—but he caught her by a limp arm before she could fall completely and hoisted her over his shoulder.

"Drop her!" Link willed himself to do it. For his fingers to uncurl. But they were clamped tight and didn't loosen until he dumped Anjean unceremoniously into Vivian's arms.

This wasn't right. And yet it felt right.

Link was horrified to find that it felt right that Vivian had teleported back to the safety of the Demon Train with Anjean. It felt right that Embrose, as bloodied as he was, chased after them. It felt right that Link turned to kill his friends.

"These aren't my feelings," he reminded himself, wishing he could close his eyes and ears and shut everything out. "These are not my thoughts."

But they were the demon's intentions, and Link wondered if they weren't a tiny bit of his as well, as he found himself moving to eradicate Princess Zelda. She blocked his first strike, but his second was too fast for her.

A cry of pain erupted from the princess as his sword cut into her shoulder and disappeared in a flurry of black squares.

What?

Zelda stumbled back, hand flying to her wound, but Link's gaze was already whipping around to focus on the Twilight Princess. She had to be taken care of.

"Didn't like that, did you?" Midna smirked, taunting him. No, the evil spirit did not like being disarmed one bit and proved it by taking a clawshot out of the pouch on his hip and firing it at her.

Midna dipped into the shadows, ensuring the claw caught nothing but air. He pressed the button to reel it back in, and Midna popped up again.

An exaggerated yawn escaped the imp. "You gotta do better than that if you want to catch me."

The evil spirit spurred his body into a run. When he was close enough, he reached out his hands to grab- strangle her, but she slipped through his fingers like water.

Midna floated backwards away from him, beckoning him with her orange hair hand. "Come and get me!"

Chasing her was obviously a distraction, and yet, Link willed the demon inside him to keep pursuing her. As long as she remained in her shadow form, he couldn't touch her. Which meant he couldn't hurt her. Which bought time for the others to formulate a plan.

To his delight, the evil spirit played right into all the Twilight Princess's jibes and wasn't discouraged from capturing her even when all its attempts to pull her forcefully out of the shadows failed. Midna led him around and around, in an impossible game of cat and mouse until a shout of "Midna, now!" shattered it.

A flash of light in his peripherals clued him in to the fast approaching light arrow.

Perfect.

Midna chose that moment to solidify, her hair hand reaching out to restrain him. Silently, Link cheered her on. He expected to feel some conflicting emotion from the evil spirit. Fear. Anger, perhaps. But there was nothing. He didn't realize why until his hands fisted in Midna's magical hair and pulled.

A pained yelp escaped her as Link swung her into the path of the light arrow. Midna swiftly phased into her shadow form, leaving Link grasping nothing, but it didn't matter. He'd already positioned her right where he wanted her.

The arrow exploded in rays of light as it pierced the Twili girl and forced her into solidity.

Midna's agonized scream sent shivers of pleasure down his spine. She collapsed to the ground, instinctively curling around the arrow in her stomach.

Suddenly it was freezing rain clamping fur to his skin and ragged breaths and white where black belonged and black where white belonged and Midna please don't leave me all over again.

Link rushed to her side, intent on helping her ending her. A silent scream born of horror at his own actions, his own helplessness, tore from his throat as his shield was ripped from his back and raised overhead.

It wasn't enough that the arrow had immobilized her. The demon wanted her dead. He knew it the same way he knew the sun rose in the east and set in the west.

Just as he was about to bring the shield down, light caught the corner of his eye, and he brought his shield to bear instead. The arrow stuck deep in the wood, light scattering around it like scrabbling spider legs.

Lowering his shield, Link locked gazes with Tetra. Her face was stone, but he saw how Kid's bow shook in her grip. Even little pirate princesses weren't immune to fear.

"Tetra, back down, please." He didn't want her hurt. Didn't want the attention on her. But backing down wasn't like Tetra. She nocked another arrow, and Link found himself running to intercept her, only to be blocked by a blade. He ducked under it, easily wrenching the sword out of Princess Zelda's grip and using his momentum to drive it forward.

Metal rang on metal as the stolen weapon screeched to a halt just a breath away from impaling Tetra, courtesy of the Master Sword. The save did nothing to lift his spirits. His little brother had just put himself in his line of fire, and Link had no way of holding back.

"Don't fight!" He screamed, but Kid couldn't hear him; he simply moved to block the demon's latest flurry of sword strikes with his mirror shield, an expression of intense determination on his face. Link feared he would see his counterpart lying on the ground dead very soon.

The shield didn't protect Kid long, for the demon side-stepped and dropped his body into a roll, executing a back slice. Kid, thankfully—frustratingly—rolled forward out of harm's way. Link could only wonder how. Not how Kid dodged, but how the demon knew what a back slice was. It was a hidden skill. No one else knew about it. Only him, the Hero's Shade, and Kid.

As his body sailed with raw power through the motions of the Jump Strike, it clicked. The evil spirit didn't just have access to his thoughts. It had access to his memories, his knowledge. Maybe that was why it wasn't letting up. Maybe that was why it had forgotten all about Tetra and Zelda. It knew he viewed Kid as family.

It was targeting Kid on purpose.

Rage bubbled up inside him, and he would have thrown a fit, had he been able. Alas, with his body no longer his to control, he couldn't express his fury. Only the demon knew of it, guzzling it up like a ravenous animal.

Link felt the power behind his every swing and only grew more frustrated that he couldn't direct that power where he wanted. Every time, without fail, it fell to Kid and every time, Kid blocked it.

That is…until he couldn't.

The demon had been recklessly swinging and slashing, using hidden skills whenever it saw fit but relying on its strength for the most part. That had left it open. Just for a second, hardly enough time for Kid to do anything, but the boy tried anyway.

Link didn't miss the way Kid flipped the Master Sword around so the flat would hit him instead of the sharp edge, but it didn't get that far. The sacred sword halted mid-swing, as if it had been physically stopped by an object. Except, nothing was there.

Judging by the shocked expression on Kid's face, it wasn't his doing.

The demon didn't care about Kid's failed attack. All it cared about was hurting him, and Kid had just left himself wide open.

"Move!"

Kid back-flipped out of reach in the nick of time, Link's sword passing directly underneath him.

The Master Sword had returned to its sheath, and Link didn't miss the panic on his counterpart's face as he stole a glance at the sword on his back. "Fi?"

"I cannot harm my Master." The reply was a shock but the demon didn't give Link any time to process it. All too soon he was in motion again, ill intentions guiding his hand.

"None of us want to hurt him," Kid said, just barely dodging the attacks coming his way. "But he's possessed. If we don't fight back…" Kid didn't finish his sentence, but Link knew what he was implying, and he agreed. If his friends did not defend themselves, he would kill them. In fact, he might have already killed Midna. Sickness churned in his gut at the thought. He prayed it wasn't true. He'd never forgive himself if that was the case.

A shimmering blue barrier suddenly flared to life before his eyes, separating him from his counterpart. Undaunted, the demon lifted his arm and brought his sword down in a careless vertical slice, shattering the magic shield to prove to Link and his companions that they were outmatched. Nothing they could do would protect them.

Of course, Kid tried anyway. It was just in his nature. The boy tugged at the hilt of the Master Sword but apparently couldn't draw it "Um, Fi? I need you." Kid hopped back out of reach of the demon's next swing, the terror in his eyes growing more prominent.

"I will not harm my Master."

"I won't swing to hurt him," Kid assured the sword spirit, continuing to just barely keep up with Link's possessed body as it attacked him. "I'll fight defensively."

"Defense has the potential to be offense."

"Fi, let him draw you!" Link screamed as the helm splitter the demon performed drew a bright red line on his little brother's cheek. Now was the absolute worst time for the sword spirit to display a personality!

"I'm your Master too, aren't I?" Kid demanded, changing tactics. "Protect me!"

The sacred sword shot out of its sheath, just in time to block the demon's latest attack. It took a moment or two for Kid to scurry out of the way, so mesmerized with Fi's actions as he was.

Link was impressed too. Fi hadn't displayed any hints of being able to manipulate her sword form without help before. Yet, she was doing so. The unknown territory would have made Link smile if his lips had been his anymore. Unknown was good. If he didn't know how to deal with a situation, it was likely the demon didn't either.

The mild frustration that bubbled up inside him only served to confirm this. With a wide swing, the evil spirit attempted to disarm the invisible hand wielding Fi. Unfortunately, she was stronger than she looked. Fi flipped herself around, nearly disarming him, but Link held firm. Losing one's sword in a swordfight wasn't advisable.

As he continued to brawl with Fi, Link was aware of the two children conversing a safe distance—or what they determined to be a safe distance—away.

"What do we do?"

"How should I know?!" Tetra snapped. "You're the hero."

"You're the princess."

"Shut up!"

"What about a light arrow?" Kid suggested, throwing an uneasy glance Link's way.

"Can't. No magic."

"Zelda?" Kid ventured, tone searching for hope but not quite finding it.

Tetra gave a rigid shake of her head. "She transferred the last of her magic to me." The 'I wasted it' went unsaid, but Link heard it in her tone. "And even if she hadn't she's busy with Midna at the moment. You need to use Fi."

"I can't. She won't let me."

"Then-"

That's when Link sheathed his blade. Fi stopped her sword form a breath away from cutting him and retreated to the sheath on Kid's back.

"Convince Fi. I'll cover you," Tetra declared, assuming a defensive stance in front of Kid, dagger raised.

She wouldn't last a second. At least, that was what Link would say if he were wielding his sword. As it was, the demon left his hands empty. The question was: why? Surely the evil spirit didn't think it could win with its—his—bare hands? Maybe it was going for a mortal draw? The thought dropped his stomach to his toes, but his horror was swiftly whisked away, as if it had never been.

There was nothing to worry about. He assured himself with the lack of tension in his muscles, in his slow but sure steps forward. Everything was fine. It would be fine as long as he didn't raise a weapon against his friends.

Closer now, almost within range of Tetra's dagger should she choose to use it, and his hands remained empty. A surge of confidence rushed through him. Maybe he was getting to the spirit somehow. Maybe he was having an effect by just thinking.

One step closer, two, and he seized her wrist. Tetra made to twist out of his hold but he twisted faster. Her dagger fell to the dirt, echoed by a cry that was quickly silenced when he smacked her across the face.

N o . This isn't right. His thoughts slogged past him in slow motion as he watched the pirate girl crumple to the ground. She was far more adept at hand-to-hand combat than him. Link should have lost.

But of course he didn't. He had the demon on his side. It was boosting his strength, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't fascinated, and a tad disappointed, by how easily he'd triumphed over Tetra. No matter. There was still one more.

His vision settled on Kid, and the fear reflected there—on a face that was his own but wasn't—would haunt him for the rest of his days. His little brother in all but blood looked at him like he was a monster. No, like he was evil incarnate.

And as Link lunged forward, he realized that was exactly what he was.

"Please-"

Kid's plea was cut off by a choked gasp as Link wrapped his left hand around the boy's neck and squeezed, lifting the child into the air.

"I'm going to break his neck!" Link realized in horror. Then, "I'm going to break his neck." It wasn't such a horrid thought the second time.

Suddenly, he was in the castle dungeons all over again, chained to the floor. A man. A beast. What was the difference anymore? No amount of tugging or clawing or biting would free him. Only Midna's Twili magic could liberate him, but…there was no Midna here.

Just darkness and damp and his hand crushing a fragile neck and a metal vise around his foreleg—wrist?—and cold stone and… heat.

Not heat, fire.

The chain binding him disintegrated.

His hand seized, fingers refusing to grip anything and depositing Kid on the ground with a thud. Link doubled over, cradling his hand to his chest in pain.

He cradled his hand to his chest in pain.

He cradled his hand to his chest. Not the demon. Not some other force. Him. Link.

Dully, he was aware of Kid desperately gulping in air and coughing each time he took in too much, but at this point he was just glad that Kid was breathing. Link raised his head—it felt as if the ball and chain was balanced atop his skull—and directed his gaze to sweep over the area to see how much damage he'd done.

Or at least, he meant to.

In reality, Link only had enough time to settle his gaze on his kneeling counterpart, golden light fading from his hand, before he was jerked to his feet like a puppet on strings.

The brief taste of freedom only increased his hunger for it. Unfortunately, Link had no idea what he'd done to gain it in the first place. Already, his hands were reaching for Kid. No more savoring the hunt. This time, he'd kill him quickly.

To his great irritation, doing so was made difficult by Tetra. Why did this girl always have to interfere? He'd have to dispose of her too. Another knock to the head should do it. He'd hit her harder this time.

No! What was he thinking? He didn't want to hurt any of them. He wanted to hurt the darkness swirling inside him. Oh, but wasn't that darkness his? It spoke the truth he was too scared to acknowledge for fear of what it'd make him. Of what he already was deep down inside.

He felt his hand curl into a fist and his arm throw it forward, but Tetra was just the right amount of agile to dodge it and drag Kid back with her.

"He gained control for a second. Did you see?"

Kid, breathing a bit easier now, threw her a bewildered look and shook his head.

The two children evaded his grasp once more, and Tetra continued, "When you touched him, your Triforces reacted."

"It hurt," Kid rasped.

"I kno-" Link lunged again, aiming for Tetra because she was perceptive and likely had a plan, which meant he would lose this fight, and he couldn't lose. He was much stronger than these insolent children.

Be that as it may, the little hero and princess made up for it by being slick. They dashed in opposite directions, ensuring he couldn't keep an eye on them both at once. His eyes wouldn't twist that way. Not in this body.

"I know!" Tetra called, barely twisting out of the way of his latest attempt at attack. "But you have to do it again and this time hold-ah!"

Link tackled her like he would a rampaging goat, and they both went down hard. He barely felt it. Tetra squirmed beneath him, a rabbit caught in a snare. He lodged his forearm under her chin and pressed his full body weight down. She clawed at his arm, finding purchase and pushing back. Too slow. This way of silencing her was too slow.

He reeled back his fist, but before he could bring it crashing into the fierce face of the girl beneath him it was captured by tiny, calloused hands.

Then the burning started. Bright and jarring as if his entire hand had been engulfed in boiling hot metal. He sucked in a pained breath through gritted teeth, pulling his hand away but not getting far. Kid's hands remained firmly clasped around his own.

When he turned his head to look at his counterpart, it took a moment for him to realize that he'd done it on his own. Of his own free will. His choice. Removing his hand from Kid's was also Link's choice, but the Hero of Winds held firm, face etched in a pained grimace. "Link?"

"Yes," Link confirmed. "Now, please, let go." It felt like his hand had been dipped in lava. He could practically feel his skin melting off, tendons and muscles snapping and popping and bones becoming charred until they were little more than dust.

Kid shook his head vehemently. "Can't. The spirit."

Despite the young hero's clipped words and the haze of pain clouding his mind, Link understood. If they broke contact with each other, the evil spirit would take over again.

Apparently Tetra didn't think either of them understood the consequences of cutting off their connection. "Don't you dare let go!" She rose up on her elbows and scooted completely out from under Link.

"How long?" Kid demanded, shooting her a pleading look.

"Long enough to force the spirit out, obviously!" Tetra shot back, the sassiness lost on the cough that forced its way out of her throat.

Both heroes glared at her in return. Link didn't care so much for himself. If he had to endure the pain, fine. He would. In fact, he'd endure it gladly if it meant he didn't hurt anyone he loved anymore. But it didn't. Kid was experiencing the same excruciating pain as he was right now. He saw it in the set of his counterpart's jaw, the mistiness in his eyes and the tension in his tight grip.

A second or a decade passed and still no change.

"Fight it," Kid implored, squeezing his hand harder.

Well, of course! If only Link had thought of that! He was in too much pain to exercise sarcasm at the moment so Link simply asked "How?"

"Imagine it," Tetra said when Kid didn't respond. "That's how Zelda and I got my Triforce piece out of me."

"But we're not-" White hot pain whisked the rest of his protest away.

"Not trying to get rid of the Triforce. I know," Tetra agreed, hurriedly. "But it's the same concept. Picture yourself kicking the evil spirit out of you."

"Me…me too?" Kid ventured through gasps.

"Sure, can't hurt, but be ready with Fi," Tetra returned. "As soon as it's out, use a Skyward Strike to kill it."

Kill it. That's what Link wanted to do. He wanted to kill the demon inside him, not just force it out.

"Link!" More pressure piled onto his hand, courtesy of Tetra. "Whatever you're doing stop it! Just do what I told you to. Imagine it—"

"I can't force it out of me or it's going to possess one of you!" Link shouted back, his vision momentarily flickering black before coming back.

"No, it won't!" Tetra yelled right back.

"It will!"

"It won't because I have a plan!"

"How many times have your plans actually worked?!" He countered. Nothing against Tetra but her plans were always reckless and never worked out exactly as intended.

"Lots of times!" Tetra retorted. "Now stop getting angry! You're feeding it!"

That gave him pause. Was his anger really feeding it?

"Link…" Kid's small voice drew his attention. "Please, trust us."

And he did. Link found that he did trust them. His companions were far from ordinary children. It was time to put his faith in them.

Holding Kid's gaze—because he wouldn't be able to do this otherwise—Link worked on letting go of the anger boiling in his veins and heating his skin. Or maybe that was the Triforce attempting to burn the evil spirit out of him?

Link let that thought invigorate him and pictured the mass of black within him writhing in pain as holy light burned it alive. He could almost hear its screams. They echoed in his head, raw and pitiful and all-around ear-piercing.

Yet, despite the splitting headache and the screams only he could hear, nothing changed.

"'s not…working," Link ground out through gritted teeth.

"Picture a door," Tetra instructed, her tone so no-nonsense that Link couldn't even begin to disobey.

"Got it?"

Link answered with a curt nod. The door looked much like the door to his home in Ordon. Hopefully that would do.

"Open it and shove the spirit out."

Easier said than done. As soon as Link reached for the handle, his movement was restricted. He looked down to see iron clamped around his wrist and a chain leading back into darkness.

To cold stone and damp. To the cell of a beast. To-

Wait. No. This was wrong. The intense burning sensation in his hand told him so. It shocked him back to reality, and he opened his eyes briefly—when had he closed them?—to confirm Kid and Tetra were still there. They were.

That's right. The door. The door of his tree house home that had been his ever since he turned fifteen. It wasn't a prison. There were no chains in his house. No darkness. Well, the basement was pretty dark but not anymore! It was light. He lit it with an abundance of lanterns, chasing away the shadows. Any dark corners in his house were too little to contain anything malicious. That's why he could easily identify the black mass in the middle of his home as the intruder. He reached into the darkness, ignoring the cold seeping into his fingers, and yanked.

He met resistance. His uninvited guest didn't wish to leave, but it had no choice. He would make sure of that. This was his home. His body. Evil had no right to it. Only light.

The Triforce flared hotter on the back of his hand and fisted as his hand was in the evil spirit, Link knew the sacred energy hurt the demon. It recoiled, but Link didn't let it retreat. He pulled harder and took one step to the door. Then another. And another. It was comparable to trying to control a Bulbos after it had been kicked. Once those boars got going, they didn't stop until they hit something or exhausted all their energy. The demon was a lot like that, functioning in spurts of raw power. If not easy, it wasn't too difficult to take advantage of when Link understood it.

Each step was a fight and sometimes the spirit forced him further inside the house, but Link didn't let any lost progress deter him. It was agonizingly slow, like he was moving through molasses, but eventually he reached the door and threw it open.

There were no trees or wildlife outside of it like normal. No rocks or dirt or grass. No path to Ordon Village or road leading into the woods. Instead, there was light. Blinding white-gold light that even had him twisting his face away as he hurled the darkness out with a ferocious war cry.

What he didn't plan on was being dragged out with it. The light burned at first but quickly transformed into a warm caress. It was like being swaddled in sunlight.

He pitched forward, and quick as it had come, the light winked out.