Chapter 52: Dark Link, Autophilic Psychopath

…

Link took the stairs down to the next floor, which now gave him a clear idea of how all The Night's bizarre architecture fit into not only the technoworks but the island itself: it simply ignored everything. Even if Link assumed that the stairs were built on top of the hole Cale had made, there was no way The Night could have made another floor just under the surface without moving aside a massive amount of earth. It seemed to lend credence to Janni's claim that The Night was also the Sorians' Dreamweaver; how else would it know how to do that, short of picking the Dreamweaver's brain? Besides, as he had said before, Janni liked telling horrible truths.

When Link came to the next room, he found it almost dark save for some light coming from the stairs. He placed a hand on his sword and kept his shield raised, expecting an ambush.

Then a chandelier illuminated the room with electric light, blinding Link and forcing him to hide his head behind his shield.

"SURPRIIIIISE!"

The chorus of the single word did indeed surprise Link. As he peered around his shield, he realized that he was standing in what appeared to be a dining hall. A vaulted ceiling and brick walls had been covered with streams of paper of a variety of colors. The walls also sported the same portraits as the hall above, which Link took notice of when he glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was there and was met by a small picture of Cunimincus. A long dining table took up the room in the middle, platters piled with the sorts of delicacies that Link rarely ever saw outside of special occasions.

Perhaps the most surprising thing of all was that Link was the center of attention. The room was filled with people, a mixture of uniforms from different airship companies and casual clothing that looked quite odd. Many of them were faces he did not recognize, not even those dressed in Skyriders' blue tunics. He estimated about forty or fifty people, but, among them, there was only one face that he was familiar with.

"Welcome to the pahty, Captain," Leynne said as he stepped away from a fireplace providing warmth from the left side of the room.

Link was stymied by his appearance. Naturally, he wore a silk, button-up shirt and his usual taste in work slacks, but having a blue, cone-shaped hat tied to the top of his mat of black hair looked quite peculiar for him; as far as Link had known him, Leynne had never worn a hat. Link glanced around once more before asking him, "What party?"

"This one we ahranged foh you, of couhse," Leynne said, gesturing with a fancy glass in one hand to a banner overhanging the dining table. Link took a better look at the banner, not having shown much interest before.

—HAPPY DEATH DAY!

"Well," Janni spoke up near Link's ear. "This certainly took a turn for the bizarre."

"'Happy death day'?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's a 'death day'?"

"Quite simply," Leynne said, "a 'death day' is a day foh celebrating all of the people who died because of you."

Link felt his muscles tense despite the casual tone Leynne had used. He used a breath to keep calm and asked, "Who are these people?"

"These people ah the people that you've killed," Leynne answered. "As it tuhns out, the Skyridehs shot down quite a few vessels during the reign of the fake princess. These people heh ah the only ones who did not want to cuhse you on this occasion. Only half of them really know enough about you."

"And you?" Link asked. "Why are you here?"

Leynne decided to stop before he took a drink. Instead, he said, "I'm glad you asked, because I'd hoped to have to explain this to you just to be cehtain that I undehstand myself. You see, I will die in the days to come." Link's spine gave a shiver, although Leynne did not appear to notice. "I must admit to some vague impressions as to why I have come heh, but I believe that, shohtly befoh ouh retuhn to the kingdom, I accidentally walk off the edge of the ship."

Link glanced at the faces around them. "I don't see the crew," he said.

"That is because they joined the Obeetans," Leynne said. "They cannot die."

Link became aware of a groaning sound and looked down to find that he was clenching his fists hard enough to raise the sound from his leather gloves. He closed his eyes and thought to himself that it was only a dream, that the Leynne before him could not possibly be the same Leynne he knew in the real world. When he opened his eyes, he said, "You're just a figment of the Dreamweaver's imagination. I don't have any reason to believe you."

Leynne gave a shrug of indifference. "If that is how you would prefeh to think of it," he said. "It is simply all that I know."

Link looked over at the table. "Looks like a nice feast," he commented. "The last time I saw tables like this, the Gelto started beating the hell out of my dad's crew."

"We weh waiting foh you befoh we stahted," Leynne told him. "Can I get you a drink?"

Link glanced at the glass in Leynne's hand. "What is it?"

"Some wine spiced with hemlock," Leynne replied just before pouring the glass's contents into his mouth.

Link gave Leynne a confused look before asking, "What's hemlock?"

Leynne heaved a healthy breath, a clear look of enjoyment on his face once the glass was empty. Then, in seconds, Leynne collapsed sideways, causing Link to take a step back in surprise. Link watched as Leynne's breathing became labored. Before Link could react to help him, Leynne breathed out one last sigh.

Link's shock at witnessing Leynne's death turned into ire. His only response to watching two men, one in Zephyr Sails colors while the other wore a blue docker's jacket and overalls, pick up Leynne's body was to take another step back out of unconscious courtesy. Witnessing them heave Leynne into the fireplace with an evil hiss from the flames only made Link question what The Night thought that it was doing. Was it not paying attention to his thoughts anymore? What did it think it was making him watch? The illusion had long been over. The only thing Link felt while he watched a motionless facsimile of his trusted first officer burn black was the same level of annoyance he would get if he was walking about with a sharp pebble in his boot.

"Wooooooow…" Janni droned from nearby. "The Night's going for the jugular tonight."

"Doesn't seem to be so bad," Link commented.

"Oh? You're telling me that you don't have a response to what just happened?"

"Of course I've got a response," Link told her, finding her hovering above his left shoulder. "It pisses me off."

"Really?" Janni asked with delight in her tone.

"Is The Night stupid?" Link asked her, the heat in his tone becoming more apparent. "Does it really think it's gonna make me turn around because it pulls stunts like this? I know that wasn't Leynne. And why the hell should The Night know how many people've died because of me? Who are all these people supposed to be, my victims? I doubt if even a third of them existed! Does The Night think I'm gonna believe it hiking up a body count just because I don't know? I'm not falling for this, and I wish these people would just go away!"

Janni glanced at the other partygoers. "Well, it kinda makes for a boring party." Link glanced in the same direction, wondering what should have made the party as it was any more exciting.

In the next moment, Link raised his shield in defense and yanked the Sorian sword out of its sheath. Perhaps it was a condition he had gained from the various ventures into the waking dreams, as it seemed that any large change in the environment around him was evidence enough that something was about to happen.

The sudden disappearance of the partygoers felt like a fair reason for Link to suddenly be on alert. It was not a logical disappearance, either. Whereas he might have expected everyone to be on the floor because of the poisoned wine, the partygoers simply ceased to exist somewhere in the few moments Link had been distracted talking to Janni. No discarded plates or glasses on the floor, either; everything about the party and the banquet table remained pristine as if it had just been set up. Link let his eyes slowly take in the surroundings, looking for any place a threat might spring from at any moment.

"Wow," Janni commented after a few moments of observation. "If nothing else, your reflexes sure seem to be benefiting from all this experience."

"I'd like to think I'm learning when The Night is about to pull a fast one," Link answered.

"What, by making the people disappear?"

"Yeah."

"The Night didn't do that, Link; you did."

Link looked up at her for a moment. "What?"

"I'm saying that you got rid of them, not The Night," Janni replied.

"How? I thought only The Night could change the dream."

Janni appeared with a crisp snap on the banquet table in her normal form, legs crossed as they dangled over the edge and a smug grin on her face. "Oh? Did I say that?" she asked. However, Link blinked at her in confusion. Then he looked back at her fairy form still hovering next to him, wondering how he could hear her voice next to his head when she was sitting on the table in front of him. She giggled at the confused look on his face. "Do you think I'd be able to talk to you if The Night was the only one who could change the dream?"

Link put on a look of comprehension when he remembered how she had disappeared when he had previously put on the Mystics' goggles. "But then… no," he said as he tried to recall further conversations with her. "No… I remember seeing you change the dream before. But you…" He groaned and put the hand bearing the shield on his face in disbelief and irritation. "You never told me I could do it, either. Because that would be volunteering information."

"Ooooh, I feel so exposed…" Janni replied, her voice indicating delight.

"Do you need to put it that way?" Link moaned.

"Why not? I love seeing your cheeks turn red."

"Stop it!" he snapped at her. Janni giggled in response. He looked up at her and asked, "How? I haven't been able to do it before, so why now?"

"You mean other than not being mad enough to simply wish something out of the dream?" "normal" Janni asked, causing Link to direct his attention to the banquet table. "I've told you before that the Sorians once used the dream to do work in their sleep. What exactly do you think they worked on?"

Link shrugged at her. "I don't know, magic stuff?"

"Stuff that was limited by their imagination," "fairy" Janni said, forcing Link to turn his head again. "Sciences and magics that can't possibly be experimented with on an island like this. Usage of resources that haven't existed on this island for over a century."

"So, if they needed something they didn't have, they simply asked for it?"

"Or thought it up," "normal" Janni said.

"Stop that!" Link told the "normal" Janni. The "normal" Janni flashed an irritated look before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"What it boils down to," "fairy" Janni continued, "is that you aren't limited to whatever The Night can think up. But it isn't necessarily easy."

Link relaxed his stance and replaced the sword. "Why not?"

"If The Night doesn't like your ideas, it can stop them," Janni said. "It all depends on what you're trying to change, whether it's vital to The Night or not. You probably have at least a few moments before The Night can respond to any changes."

"What about erasing things?"

"Probably about the same thing. The Night doesn't seem to be interested in the people you got rid of, so it didn't bother bringing them back."

Link sighed and placed a hand over his eyes. "Now you tell me."

"Don't make me break out the clichés again."

Link glanced around at the room once more. "Well, now what? Without all the people, there's really no point to this room."

"Yeah, but they left you gifts," Janni pointed out.

She sailed across the room and stopped on the opposite side of the banquet table. Link rounded the table to follow her after seeing that she had found another table bearing a pile of gifts wrapped in paper. "Yeeeah, these don't look suspicious at all," he commented. Then he noticed a gap in the gifts. He used the edge of the Dreamweaver's Shield to move a pair of gifts aside to reveal a different shape hidden under the gifts.

A round, wooden form.

"Of course," Link said.

"What?" Janni asked.

"The Mystics' item is under here," he said, pointing to the chest as Janni lowered herself to look. He raised his shield-bearing arm as if to sweep the top gifts off. However, he paused and asked, "What do you think?"

"That if any of these are booby-trapped, it'll be entertaining watching them snap on your arm," Janni replied.

Link first thought she was being sarcastic; her tone was a little hard to read. He then reminded himself that she delighted in seeing him maimed and decided to pull the Sorian sword instead. This gave him some freedom to back away a step. He took aim with the sword and used a backhanded swing to swat the top gifts off the pile with the flat of the blade.

Upon landing, the lid fell off one box, and a Rope slithered out of it. Link immediately turned his attention to it, but the Rope did not seem interested in Link at all. Instead, it slithered across the floor over to the fireplace, where Link lost sight of it on the other side of the banquet table.

"Well, so much for a venomous bite…" Janni said with a sigh.

"Okay, maybe we should try this a smarter way," Link said as he turned back to the gifts. He focused his gaze on one of the gifts and devoted his thoughts to his desire that it would disappear. After a few seconds, he said, "I wish this gift would go away."

It did not.

Janni snorted after a moment. "Not as easy as it seemed, is it?" she giggled at him.

"Am I doing something wrong?" he asked.

"It takes a certain mindset to pull it off," Janni explained. "Otherwise, any stray thought would cause anything to disappear. Some people got around it by having the wrong sort of expectations. Others have to convince themselves that what they want will come true without exception. It's kinda like what happened when you first discovered that the dream couldn't hurt you; up until I said something, you always expected that getting hurt in the dream was normal, therefore it happened."

"But I made everyone in this room disappear," Link pointed out.

"Probably had something to do with your desire for them to go away. You were mad at them; the gifts haven't done anything to you yet."

Link shrugged and said, "I should've known it wouldn't be that easy…"

"It helps if you're a little bit crazy."

Link raised his sword and carefully started sliding the gifts on the right toward the edge. He changed his stance so that it would be easier to back away should something spring at him as he gave one last, forceful shove.

SHNK! One of the presents suddenly released two dozen spikes and skewered the other gifts when they hit the ground. How spikes so large had fit in the box, Link just wrote off as The Night disregarding the logic. The spikes had embedded in the floor and the nearby wall, meaning that Link would have a difficult time moving it out of the way. Although, noticing blood dripping from some of the skewered gifts after a moment, he was sure he did not want to try going near any part of the hellish sculpture.

The other set of gifts on the left, he simply opted to push them aside with his sword. Once there was enough room for him to pull the chest onto the open half of the table without having to venture any closer to the spiked mess nearby, he replaced the sword and moved closer.

The chest slid with some difficulty, not helped by the fact that the only part he could get a grip on was the brass latch on the front. He was also trying not to jar any of the other gifts. Once he had it in a position where he was comfortable opening the lid, he did so.

The object he pulled out was something he had never seen before. At first, he thought it was some type of handheld anchor. It felt heavier than the Mystics' lantern, than any lantern he had handled before. Perhaps the most outstanding thing about it was the coil of rope wrapped around the exterior; he had never seen rope made of wire before. The way the wire rope round left it flush with the blue exterior shell. One end, which looked like it should detach from the body, was a small cone with a broad arrowhead of bare metal bolted to the top. Link turned the object downward to look inside the other end. It was hollow, and it looked wide enough for someone to fit a hand around the handle inside. Link decided to put his left hand inside to see how well it fit. It felt snug, especially since he was wearing the Sorian bracelet on that same wrist. With his hand around the handle, he found a trigger under his index finger.

"What is this thing?" he asked as he examined the object.

"Looks like a reel," Janni replied. "I've never seen portable ones, though. The Sorians around here used to have these built into their treehouses for people who couldn't fly anymore."

"How do you think it works?" Link asked as he aimed the arrowhead across the room.

"Well, I suppose you'd have to put the pointy end into something," Janni said. "Other than that, I really don't know."

Link squeezed the trigger. The object gave a heavy click and a kick in response as the cone on top sailed across the room at the wall. Link also felt the handle inside split open, nearly causing him to lose his grip. The arrowhead hit the brick wall with a chink and simply fell to the ground. Link had seen the coil of wire rope spinning and reducing itself as it followed the arrowhead to its destination. Once the arrowhead stopped, the wire rope twisted into larger coils as it fell to the floor.

Link grimaced. "I sure wouldn't wanna have that hit me," he told Janni. "That felt like it had a serious kick to it."

"If it's anything like the sword, you probably wouldn't survive whether you're in the dream or not," she said.

Link examined the reel again. "How does something like this work?"

"Magic?" Janni suggested.

Link felt the spring in the handle for a moment. Then he pointed the device in the same direction and squeezed the handle as hard as he could. Something inside gave a sharp click, and the reel began spinning again. Link watched the wire rope uncoil as the device pulled it in and re-spun it back onto the reel. It was difficult to gauge how fast the device was rewinding itself until the arrowhead picked up from the floor. Link gave a surprised look when the arrowhead jumped up, suddenly aware that the arrowhead was traveling fast enough that it just might hit him in the face. Then the wire rope pulled taut, and the arrowhead swung back around and planted itself onto the front of the device. Once the arrowhead clicked into place, Link felt the trigger pop back under his index finger.

Link heaved a relieved breath. "Well, that seemed to be a pretty interesting test."

"Yeah, great," Janni replied with a noticeable lack of interest.

Link removed the device from his hand and glanced at a rectangular seam he had noticed in the side of the base part earlier. He had to use a fingernail to pry it up. However, it only opened slightly outward from the device, and there did not appear to be anything underneath. However, he tugged on the small panel to find that it was solidly built into the base, so he turned it and slid the panel onto his gun belt. It fit snug, and Link slid it so that the device rested on his left hip. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I think the Mystics lost their minds when they came up with that one," Janni said, her voice sounding annoyed. "Seriously? A lift reel?"

"I think I can make use of it," Link told her as his eyes wandered the room. He spotted a doorway opposite from where they had entered and nodded toward it. "Looks like we go this way." Link was halfway expecting Janni to make some more conversation with him as they continued to the next room. However, Janni seemed to decide to wait before saying anything.

The next room was easily twice the size of the party room. It was mostly brick, but, lit under a set of five lanterns suspended in the four corners of the room with the fifth in the center, Link saw that mirrors had been placed at regular lengths along each wall. Link counted at least ten along the opposite wall before his eyes fell on something lying in the middle of the floor directly under the lantern.

Link felt the need to pull his sword out as he approached. However, he discovered that the pile lying on the floor was actually a pair of corpses. Link identified them both as Goriya, similar to the one back in the other mirror room. He found it disturbing that both of them were dressed in outfits quite similar to Link's, down to a sword which looked like an inornate imitation of the Sorian white sword. He also thought that it was ominous that both creatures had been decapitated, the bodies left lying in pools of crimson blood escaping from their necks. A quick glance revealed their heads had been flung not far away. One head was directly between him and the door beyond, looking to have been crushed by something.

"What the hell happened in here?" Link asked.

"The thief maybe?" Janni suggested. She fluttered down to the corpses and hovered about as if examining them. "But… this doesn't make any sense. Why would The Night make these things if it was just gonna make it look like something else killed them?"

"Another trap?" Link replied as he carefully looked around the room. "The Night did make Leynne kill himself a few minutes ago."

"For the trauma, sure," Janni said. "That, I can see getting on your nerves. But this? It just made your job easier! Since when does The Night make a room and then just let you walk through it?"

"Oh, wait a minute," Link said. He switched his sword to his shield hand so that he could dig into his trouser pocket for his goggles. Rather than put them on, he held them to his face so that he could quickly look over the room once more. Janni disappeared when he looked at her, but nothing else appeared different. "Well, so much for that…" he moaned as he removed the goggles.

"I know I don't usually say this, but I've got a bad feeling about this," Janni said.

Link was struck surprised by her admission, particularly how sincere she sounded. "I thought you liked it when things were off-kilter," he said, giving her a half-grin.

"Not like this." Janni fluttered back to eye level with Link. "I don't know how to describe it. Something just feels… wrong. Like something else is affecting the dream around us."

"Can you tell what?" Link asked, his voice concerned for Janni's change in attitude.

"That's part of the problem; I can't. About the best I can say is that I think the thief is the one causing this feeling."

"Well, that sounds ominous enough," Link said as he replaced his sword.

"You know I love seeing you get maimed," Janni told him as she made a circle around his head, "but this one doesn't feel like a fight you wanna lose."

Link stared at her for a moment. Then he looked at the door on the opposite side of the room. "Then I won't lose," he said as he started walking.

"Oh, boy…" Janni uttered, fluttering in his wake.

Link was still apprehensive about being able to simply walk through the room. His concerns barely lifted as he crossed the doorway.

His only hints about this room came from the narrow band of light from the previous room casting a meager beam on the floor. The floor was brick in this room as well, and Link glanced back to see that there did not appear to be a seam to show where the floors would have been built separate from each other. The doorframe was wooden; that was the best he could determine about the wall.

"Well, that's a little annoying," Link commented as he pulled out his flare gun.

"This is weird," Janni replied.

"Why?" Link asked as he pulled a shell from his belt and examined it in the poor light from the doorway.

"Well, I just have this feeling like I just walked through a wall."

"That's weird?" Link asked, loading the flare into the gun.

"Yeah, because we just went through an open doorway. There's a distinction that I'm pretty good at noticing."

Link closed the gun's breach. Then, after a pause to reflect on her words, he found her hovering beside his head and asked, "What are you saying?"

"I don't think this room is supposed to be here."

"What, like The Night som—"

Shhhk.

Link immediately dropped the flare gun and raised the shield in the direction of the sound. His free hand reached around to find the hilt of his sword. His eyes finished adjusting to the darkness, he soon began to make out shapes. The rest of the room did indeed look like the previous room, except there were no mirrors against the walls or lanterns hanging from the ceiling. He craned his neck as he looked into the darkness before him, as if the movement would improve his vision. He realized that the brick wall was broken up by a shadow, at least human in its outline. One hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword as if to provide some measure of confidence, he called out, "I am Captain Link of the Island Symphony."

Link felt a shiver rattle his spine when a pair of bright, red eyes opened in the shadow, his mind frantically recalling memories of the bowels of the Bold Island technoworks. The figure stepped forward to the edge of the light, revealing a sword already held in one ashen hand. "What a coincidence," the shadow replied in a raspy voice of a pitch much harsher than the Obeetans' shrill wails.

"So am I." One more step forward revealed what Link had mostly expected.

Himself.

It was not the same as the Technomos doppelganger the Bold Island technoworks had produced. Rather than a figure composed of technoworks moving undaunted across its body, this creature sported a much more detailed appearance. His skin was sickly grey, as was his hair in a darker shade. His red eyes sported black irises. His clothing was mostly black with slightly brighter shades on his belts and boots. The sword in his hand looked like the Sorian sword composed entirely of unpainted steel. The shield on his right arm was too black for Link to make out any details.

"Oh, no, not you again," Link said as he pulled his sword out.

This "dark" Link smiled teeth of bright white, allowing them to stand out from the surrounding shadows. "Who else would you expect to find in your worst nightmares?" Dark Link asked. Then his smile grew wider, unnatural, until it was almost bisecting his cheeks.

"Wow," Janni commented from nearby. Her next statement featured a giggle as she said, "Man, you've got some issues…"

Dark Link lunged forward, sword already swinging in a horizontal arc angled toward Link's neck. Link only had a second to respond, distracted as he was thinking of a response to Janni's comment. He used a diagonal upswing intended to block the oncoming strike. Metal struck metal with a sharp kang. The jolt Link felt through the hilt almost caused him to fumble the sword on top of the fact that the way he twisted with his hand raised over his head left him standing awkward. Dark Link quickly withdrew his sword and then went for a thrust with one foot advancing. Link's stance forced him to stumble to his right in order to recover, leaving Dark Link's blade searching the air where Link's left side had been moments before. Once Link had his footing, he spun back toward Dark Link just as Dark Link swiped at him in an attempt to salvage the missed thrust. Dark Link's sword did not reach far enough, and Link wheeled around to deliver a horizontal slash to Dark Link's right. Dark Link raised his shield and intercepted Link's blade, the shield giving a dull thmp in response to the sword. Dark Link then pushed Link's sword aside and, at the same time, made to thrust his own sword into Link's crotch. Link jumped back while lowering the Dreamweaver's Shield and knocked Dark Link's attack toward the floor.

Dark Link withdrew the sword and sidestepped into the shadow closer to Link. "Can you fight in the dark, Captain?" Dark Link taunted.

He then twisted his wrist, whipping the sword into a short strike aimed directly at Link's shield. Link's eyes flinched from the sudden flash of reflected light off Dark Link's blade. He felt the sword strike the shield and pushed the blade away.

Fmp! Link's head jerked to the right upon being struck by Dark Link's shield. He stumbled, his footing trying to recover through the sudden change in direction and the feeling of his eyes swimming through a dark pool. Once he had himself under control again, he turned back toward where he expected Dark Link to be.

Bmpf! "Gah!" Link cried out as he felt a sharp object jab into his stomach. Bwumpf! In the next moment, Link fell backwards from a subsequent uppercut to the jaw. His sword and shield rang against the floor while he landed flat on his back with the grace of a sack of potatoes. The few shadows he saw in the ceiling twisted for the moment that it took his subconscious to realize that he was still in a dream that could not hurt him. He reached for his sword, thinking that he had dropped it at his side.

"Looking for this?"

Link pushed himself into a sitting position.

Dark Link stood in the beam of light, a face of lust gazing at the blade of the Sorian white sword he held in his hand.

"Oh, crap…" Link uttered.

"Link!" Janni shouted from nearby. "You can't let him cut you with that sword!"

Link immediately rose to his feet, well aware of what kind of danger he was now in. But how was he supposed to get the sword back?

Dark Link glanced up at Link. "I'm going to enjoy carving your body apart," he said. Then he raised his shield hand to the doorway.

In the next instant, the entire room became black. Link's heart, already pounding hard against his sternum, skipped a few beats when Dark Link's presence was reduced to just a pair of eyes and a wide smile floating in the blackness before him. His only chance would be to get a flare out as soon as possible. But when he reached around his back to find the holster empty, he remembered with dread that he had dropped it earlier. He had a moment where he considered hand-lighting one with the pin hammer again, but he doubted that Dark Link would give him the time to do it.

But with Dark Link's eyes and mouth open, he had a target. He quickly pulled out his boomerang.

Then, in the single moment it took for him to press the switch to open it, Dark Link closed his eyes and mouth.

Link raised the shield toward where Dark Link had been. "Shi—Janni!" he hollered. "I don't see him!"

"I can't manifest myself!" Janni shouted back, panic clear in her voice. "Something's stopping me from affecting the dream!"

Link decided to take his chances and threw the boomerang at where he had thought Dark Link had been standing. Almost a second later…

Plank! Ka-plomp.

He realized that he had missed. He reached for the rigging knife he had remembered to grab with the rest of his gear. Although it was dark, he still found himself looking down when his hand did not find the hilt right away.

When he looked up, a pair of red eyes were staring him in the face. Link quickly moved to put the Dreamweaver's Shield between them.

Tnk! "Gyah!" Link felt the Sorian sword strike the inside edge just under his hand. However, he did not try to stop the blade from leaving the shield, shocked to hear, of the two people in that room, Janni call out in pain.

Link quickly backed away. "Janni, what's wrong!?" he cried out.

"N-nothing!" Janni replied, her voice shaky. "I-I'm fine!"

That was all Link needed to hear. Having lost Dark Link again, he continued to back away from where he had been standing and shook his arm free of the shield's straps. Just before he could drop the shield, he grabbed the strap that slid off his arm second. With this, he quickly flung the shield away to his right. Ka-KANG bblang! the shield rang when it hit the floor.

"Link, what are you doing?!" Janni cried out.

"Making sure you're safe," Link said as he continued to walk backwards.

"You're defenseless!"

Link let out a grunt when his back found a wall. Unless Dark Link could disappear into walls, he felt that this would at least prevent Dark Link from sneaking up behind him. He still had to reach his flare gun, and he considered sliding along the wall to help him find the doorway again. He decided against it since he doubted Dark Link would leave him alone long enough to try. With his eyes watching the darkness in front of him, Link used his right hand to find and pull out the rigging knife. His left hand slipped into the lift reel, as he expected to at least be able to block with a device that fit over his wrist.

Wh-wh-wh—PLONK! "Guh!" Link uttered when something solid struck the middle of his forehead. He reeled for a moment, unsure of what had hit him.

When his vision seemed to straighten out (difficult to tell since he had nothing to look at), he felt warmth drain from his body upon perceiving a pair of red eyes in front of him.

No time to think. He knew that sword would be down on him in fractions of a second. So he took the only action he could.

He lunged toward the eyes.

His right shoulder and elbow made contact with a human-like mass, thrusting it off-balance. Dark Link grunted and staggered backwards. With his opponent's attack thwarted, Link pressed forward with the rigging knife swinging diagonally in the direction he had felt Dark Link's body. The blade must have come up short; he felt nothing through the swing. Once Link had a moment to think, he realized that he could still be in range of the Sorian sword and backed into the wall again. He also swung his left hand forward for good measure, hoping to fend off attack.

Klang! The lift reel jolted upon impacting metal. This jerked Link's elbow upward, wrenching his shoulder in the process. As he withdrew his arm to keep Dark Link from potentially lopping it off, he saw that Dark Link's eyes still hovered almost directly in front of him. Link chanced taking a step forward again and jabbing the lift reel at Dark Link's face.

Dark Link closed his eyes just as Link's punch lost momentum. So, Link pulled the trigger.

"Agh!" Dark Link responded just a hair of a second after the lift reel kicked in response. His eyes opened to Link's right just before disappearing once again. This time, Link realized that Dark Link had turned away from him rather than closed his eyes to hide himself. So, Link pressed forward once again with the rigging knife poised for a stab. "Ugh!" Dark Link's voice did not sound particularly hurt when Link felt the knife deflect off something. Which was probably why Link subsequently felt an elbow strike his jaw. Link quickly backed away, knowing that Dark Link might have easily turned that into a slash if that was his sword-hand. Just as Link's back found the wall again, he remembered that the lift reel was still extended and squeezed the handle to summon it back.

At some point during the lift reel's return, the wire rope snagged on something, jerking Link's hand forward. Link quickly became concerned that Dark Link had caught it and tugged hard on the rope.

"Whah!" Dark Link cried out in an astounding sound of surprise. This was followed by a clatter, sounding as if he had dropped the sword.

"LINK!" Janni suddenly shouted. Just in the corner of Link's eye, he spotted her green "light" hovering over something. "Get it! Quick!"

Link did not bother asking what she was hovering over. He just sprinted in her direction.

"I'm gonna kill you first, you mangy little fairy!" Dark Link roared. At almost the same time, Janni's fairy form blinked out of existence.

Link dropped the rigging knife and dove forward over where he thought the light had been. And his free hand found the flare gun!

"Link, hurry!" Janni cried out.

Link did not worry about where he aimed the gun; shooting right-handed was difficult enough, and he already spent too long trying to figure out how it was supposed to fit in his hand.

WHAM! "Gyah!"

FZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The flare bounced into a wall and dropped almost halfway back to Link. This must have done something to it, because it burst into blue light sooner than he expected.

And masked by shadow in the far corner of the room, he saw Dark Link standing over the Dreamweaver's Shield with the Sorian sword raised over his head, hold reversed and ready to stab it into the shield.

Link immediately aimed the lift reel at Dark Link and pulled the trigger. Dark Link only had a moment to look over his shoulder in response to the reel's thick click.

"RAAAGH!" Dark Link roared when the arrowhead pierced into the lower part of his left latissimus with a meaty thud. He dropped the sword, which simply bounced off the shield, and arched his back as he writhed in pain.

Link squeezed the handle to recall the arrowhead. The jolt of having the blade jerk free of his back caused Dark Link to stagger. Black liquid spattered the floor, visible if only because it was darker than the shadows caused by the flare's distance from that corner. Dark Link placed his right shoulder on the wall and tried to bend over to retrieve the Sorian sword.

Link sprang forward. One step, two steps, and then he twisted and jumped. The twist allowed him to gain some forward momentum while negating height. It was a trick he had learned from Layna, and, when combined with the feather and the boots, the maneuver made it easier for Link to cover distances. Granted, flailing his legs through the air felt a little showy and awkward, but the shift in his weight as he spun pulled him toward Dark Link; if he had just run, the boots could easily cause him to crash into the wall. Once Link landed, he was still too far away to grab the sword before Dark Link. So, Link threw the lift reel at him.

It could only have been luck that Link hit Dark Link's wound with an object about the weight of a brick. "GRAAAAAGH!" Dark Link hollered in response, standing and pressing his reaching hand against the wound. "You miserable shit!"

Link scrambled to pick up the sword. When he saw Dark Link reaching for the edge of the Dreamweaver's Shield, Link twisted hard.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Dark Link screamed as the Sorian sword cut clean through his elbow. The severed limb fell straight down, spattering black blood on the floor. "AAAAAAAAAAGH!" Dark Link, his remaining hand pressed over the elbow, stumbled away from the corner. After taking a moment to bear up against the pain, he then turned back to the corner.

He found Link glaring at him, the flicker of the flare showing the malice in his eyes. His left hand gripped the Sorian sword tight, held back in preparation for a strike. "Stay away from my crew, asshole," he told Dark Link in a soft voice barely audible over Dark Link's heavy breaths.

"Grrr…" Dark Link started to growl, trying to build to a shriek.

"YAH!" Link cried out as he swung the Sorian sword in a horizontal strike with as much strength as he could.

No guard. No dodge. Dark Link's head simply tumbled off after his body dropped unceremoniously to the floor. Link stood above the body for a moment, his breath heavy despite the lack of fatigue.

Then he allowed his sword arm to go limp when he saw that Dark Link was not getting up. It only seemed paranoid now; a few minutes ago, he was willing to believe that Dark Link would miraculously recover once his back was turned.

Link replaced his sword and returned to the corner. "Janni, are you all right?" he asked the shield. He looked down to realize that there was a large cut just above the shield's eye, crossing the white bands at a downward angle. The edge of the shield also sported a notch where it had been struck much earlier. "Janni?"

"Yeah…" Janni answered from the shield.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-I don't know," Janni said with a noticeable shake in her voice.

"Is the—" Link began.

Then, without warning, Link's vision blacked. Every muscle in his body clenched at the same time. Yet, his body could not move, as if he was simply frozen in place. Even his eyes were locked. He only had a few moments to experience this before his mind simply blanked.