A little dramaticness in the first couple chapters, and still more to come, just to warn people. Lots of soul-searching and stuff, but it's all good. I highly recommend reading the first two chapters before this one (if you haven't already), since these stories are meant to be read consecutively. Anywho, as a refresher, Dark has just sworn to kill Ganondorf, 'cause he's kinda pissed. This is the official starting point of the actual adventure, so get ready! Ok, enough stalling. Here we go.
Chapter 3: Old Grudges
Dark sat up in the grass. Thinking about killing Ganondorf was one thing, but actually killing him was a different matter entirely. He didn't even know where his enemy was, but he'd have to find out before he started making any other plans. It shouldn't be too difficult to gather the information he needed, for though he considered Hylians to be simple, stupid folk (he'd obviously never met a human before), he knew that they were fond of gossip. If it had nothing to do with them, they would know all about it.
He looked around, and saw the entrance to Kakariko Village not far from where he was. He decided he would start there, since it was a quiet town, and rumors of his comings and goings would be less than in the Castle Town. He stood and mounted Shadowmane, then rode off North-West, pulling his hood up over his face so that the townsfolk wouldn't see his resemblance to Link and raise awkward questions. They would simply assume he was another faceless traveler among the hundred-some that came each year for trade or pleasure.
As he crossed the bridge and neared the castle, he saw someone walking down the stairs that lead up to the village. At first he took no notice of the figure (who did not see him anyway), but as he neared the stairs, he reined in Shadowmane to a halt. He recognized this person… the figure looked up from fiddling with something in his pack, and Dark felt like he was struck with a bolt of lightning as he saw the man's face; it was Link.
He knew at once why he hadn't recognized him at first. Link was dressed in the silver and red uniform of the Knights of Hyrule, which much befitted him. He no longer wore a shield, only shortsword at his hip which was standard issue for knights of his stature, and he too had abandoned his cap, but instead had his blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail like Dark.
As Dark's horse skidded to a sudden stop, Link gazed up at him suspiciously, not liking how he looked. "Morning," he said less-than-cheerfully, shifting his pack so that it hung (still open) from one arm, and letting his left hand come to rest casually on the hilt of his sword. "I don't remember seeing you around here before."
Dark swallowed hard, trying to loosen the knot in his throat. "I haven't ever been here before," said Dark, and it came out a little strangled-sounding. He gripped his reins a little tighter, not quite sure why he was so nervous.
"Huh," said Link, examining how Dark was dressed. "Where you from? Termina, perhaps?"
"I've lived in Hyrule all my life," said Dark. "I just never… got out much." He waved his hand vaguely, hoping to dismiss the issue. "I was never the social type."
Dark's voice was pretty much back to normal at this point, and Link recognized it. "I think I know you from somewhere. Have we met?"
"Oh, perhaps, a long time ago," said Dark, trying once again to avoid conversation. "I apologize, but I must be getting along, I have some important things to attend to…"
"Of course," said Link, "but I feel I must inform you of something about the customs of our country before you go. You see, around here it's rather impolite to wear your hood up around strangers. It gives the impression that you have something to hide." He said this last phrase in a hard tone, suggesting that those were his exact thoughts.
"I have nothing to hide," said Dark. He reached up hesitantly, than took hold of his hood and pulled it back from his face. He got the exact reaction that he'd been expecting: shock and terror, the same he'd gotten from every person he'd met face-to-face with during the past two days, only Link stared so blankly he looked a bit like a fish and a frog combined. Dark rolled his eyes. "There," he said irritably. "Happy?"
Link simply gaped at him for a minute or so, unable to form words from his scattered and frantic thoughts. "But, I…" he said finally, "you… you're supposed to be dead… I killed you myself, this year in an alternate time…"
Dark gave him a hard look. "You honestly think I don't know that?" he scoffed. "Look, I'm kind of busy at the moment. It was just lovely seeing you again, but I have business to attend to. So if you'll let me pass…" he attempted to guide his horse past Link, who reacted quickly and moved to block them.
"I can't let you do that," said Link firmly. "I have sworn to protect the peoples of Hyrule, and letting you roam free would go against the code which I've sworn to."
"Why? All I want is to find some information, and then I'll leave. I'm not armed, and I don't have any 'magic powers'."(Dark made a sarcastic gesture with his hands that looked like someone casting a spell as he said this.) "What more assurance do you want from me?"
Link thought a moment, then said, "Hold out your hands." Dark stared at him, and then complied hesitantly, unsure of what he was thinking. Link pulled what looked like a long gold cord from his pack and bound Dark's hands together, and then he took hold of Shadowmane's reins, leading the horse over to a nearby tree where Link's own horse Epona was waiting patiently. Link leapt expertly into the saddle, and then started off, leading Dark and his horse towards the castle. Dark fumed at Link's behavior and tried to struggle his hands free, but to no avail. He was forced to simply sit back and let himself be led away from Kakariko and over the drawbridge into the Market.
Hyrule Castle town was teeming with life that afternoon. Haggling buyers bickered with traders over prices at every stall, and children ran around the square or threw stones in the fountain. Everywhere a "chink" of rupees exchanging hands was present as the rich folk of Hyrule went about business as usual, bartering or talking with old friends. A few people turned to stare at Link and Dark (especially Dark), but Link kept looking strait ahead, keeping on steadily towards the castle, which rose up from the northern horizon ahead of them. They left the Market behind and were traveling the wide, dusty road up to the gate, the first defense of the castle.
The guard standing watch on the road beside the gate recognized Link, and was about to give the order for the gate to be opened when he saw Dark. He looked from Dark to Link in confusion, saying, "Sir Link, what…?"
"Just open the gate," Link said impatiently. The guard gave Dark a quick, nervous glance, and then called up to the guard on top of the gatehouse, who opened the gate by turning a crank in the guardroom. The gate opened just enough to admit the two riders, then creaked shut as they rode through it. They continued up the road and across the drawbridge into the keep, ignoring the stares they received from guards they passed. They rode out onto the parade grounds and slowed to a stop as a small group of people walked out of the castle entrance: two figures who could only be Princess Zelda and her hand maiden Impa, as well as an escort of about six guards.
"Sir Link!" Zelda called, hurrying down the stairs in front of the entrance. Impa followed close behind and put a restraining hand on Zelda's shoulder, preventing her from getting too close to Dark.
"Well Princess," said Link, dismounting Epona, "you were right. He has come back." Zelda looked at Dark in wonder, and Impa narrowed her eyes at him, silently telling him to watch his step. Link turned to the guards and pointed at Dark. "Get him down," he said, and they obeyed, grabbing the shadowy youth roughly by his shirt and pulling him down from his horse.
He tried to pull away from them, put that only made them tighten their hold. "Hands off!" growled Dark. He disliked being touched, especially in this fashion, but still the guards ignored him. He glared at Link, who was talking with Zelda. He saw Impa looking at him, and gave her a spiteful look before looking away. He hadn't done anything. Why was he being treated like a common criminal?
"How did this happen?" Zelda asked Link, speaking in undertones so that Dark couldn't hear. "I thought you told me you killed him…"
"I did," said Link, "or at least I thought I did. I don't know what could have brought him back after all these years, especially when the other monsters I destroyed haven't come back."
"Well, whatever it was that happened, we need to do something about him," said Impa. "We can't let him walk free in Hyrule, not until we know what's going on, and perhaps not even then. I trust you can find a place for him, Sir Link?" Link nodded. "Very well. Come along, princess." She led Zelda back into the castle, and Link turned to the guards, who still had Dark in their grasp.
"Follow me," he said, walking over to a side entrance. He opened the heavy wooden doors, and their hinges creaked sharply from disuse. They all walked through and moved down a musty corridor into one of the lower levels of the castle. A few of the guards grabbed torches from their brackets along the way so that they could see in the dim passage. They soon reached rows of prison cells stretching for great distances, used mostly for prisoners in wartimes. Link stood before one close to the center of the row, and the guards opened the cell door and shoved Dark inside, then shut the door and locked it. "You'll be staying here until we figure out what to do with you," said Link, and he and the guards walked off towards the stairs that would bring them to the upper floors of the castle.
Dark sat on the floor of his cell, not much liking his accommodations. It was much smaller and mustier than his room in the Water Temple, and besides, he was sick of constantly being locked up. He lay down and closed his eyes, wondering if the Hero and the Princess were going to let him live or not.
That night, Link and Zelda sat in the castle library and discussed Dark's fate.
"Well," Zelda began, "I think that before we do anything, I should share some information with you that I think would be very useful." She took a book off of a large stack of texts next to her on the table and leafed through the pages, trying to find the one she was looking for. Link turned his head sideways so that he could read the titles of the books, but the leather coverings were stiff and tattered and the gold and silver letterings were worn out, and he had to squint to read them.
"Zelda… these are all books on black magic," he said with a concerned tone. "What gives?"
"I'm trying to find out about shadow spells," said Zelda, eyes skimming the page she was currently on. "Ever since the dream you had, I wanted to figure out what Dark Link was, so I started doing some research. I think I found it this morning, I just forgot to mark the page… ah, here we go." She tapped the page with her finger, own near the bottom. "'ShadowEntities'." She proceeded to read the article as it was written. "'Shadow Entities are creatures made of black magic and negative energy caused by the evil nature of a specific person. They are created by obtaining a drop or more of a person's blood, concocting a specific potion with the blood, and chanting an incantation. The Shadow Entity will take on the form of the donor of the blood but its appearance may vary from figures of black smoke to figures of solid darkness, depending on the ingredients in the potion and the potion's potency. A select few of the most advanced black magicians have been able to create an Entity that looks exactly like the donor, their only flaw being the red color of their eyes. Shadow Entities can be destroyed only by the death of the donor of the blood or the one who summoned it.'"
"So, the only way to kill him would be to kill me or Ganondorf?" asked Link.
"Sounds like it," replied Zelda. "Ganondorf must have gotten your blood off of one of his minions' weapons." She skimmed the page. "Here it just has some history of some evil sorcerers who first tried to find the correct formula for Shadow Entities, and then…" She read on. "Hmm, this is interesting… listen to this: 'A Shadow Entity can only injure or be injure by its counterpart or its master, unless one is to stand to stand in the way of its goal'."
"That is interesting, but what does it mean by 'goal'?"
"I suppose its goal is what it was summoned to do in the first place."
Link leaned back in his chair, and began to think out loud, speaking to himself. "In an alternate future, his purpose was to stop me from freeing the Sage of Water, and possibly to try and kill me. But he failed." He looked at Zelda. "Do you think he's come back to take revenge against me?"
"If he had, he wouldn't have let you take him to the castle, and he would be armed," Zelda pointed out. "I believe that he would have attacked you the moment he saw you if he was back to take revenge on you."
Link stared at the grains in the wood table for a moment, thinking. Then he said, "I think we should bring him up here."
Dark was escorted to the library by a couple guards, and he wondered what was going on. He'd only spent about five hours in the dungeon, and not the five-plus years he'd been expecting. As he walked through the doors of the library, the guards turned and left, closing the doors behind them. Link came forward and untied his hands, which were still bound by the gold cord. He was still a little wary, but he knew that he was the only one in immediate danger around Dark. "Please sit down," he said, gesturing to a chair placed on the side of the table opposite of Zelda. Dark gave him a scornful look, then went and sat in the chair provided for him. Link came and sat next to Zelda, who gave Dark her most polite smile, even though she was uncomfortable being around him.
"I apologize for keeping you locked up," Zelda began, "but we weren't sure if you were going to be a threat to us or not, us meaning the residents of the castle. However, as of now we have further analyzed the situation, and are perfectly willing to let you go free if you will just answer a few questions for us. Would you?"
Dark grunted. He was still angry about being tossed in a cell for no apparent reason, and was developing a dislike for Link all over again.
Zelda took the grunt as a 'Yes' and said, "Very well, first question: When exactly did you escape the Water Temple?"
Dark snorted. "'Escape'? I wouldn't call it 'escaping', myself. I walked out, yesterday afternoon."
Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Walked out?" she repeated.
"Well, yeah. You don't really expect there to be guards in a temple, do you?" Dark rolled his eyes. "Well there wasn't, just a bunch of unintelligent priests who never learned that it's rude to stare, especially when what you're staring at can rip out your throat with barely any effort."
"Oh, really?" said Link, acquiring a know-it-all attitude. "I heard from a very reliable source that you can only attack those standing in the way of your mission."
"That so?" said Dark, raising an eyebrow.
"Moving on to the next question," said Zelda quickly, shooting a glare at Link, who she believed was causing unnecessary conflict. "Link mentioned your goal, so let's talk about that. What is your mission? Why have you come back?"
"Why have I come back?" echoed Dark. "As far as I can guess, I never left. As far as I know, my body remained in the Water Temple as my spirit slept in Limbo for seven years. You know what I'm talking about," he added to Link, who agreed despite himself. He had spent seven years in an alternate lifetime asleep in the Temple of Time, waiting for the day he would awaken and become the Hero of Time. "As for why," continued Dark, "I haven't a clue." Then he paused a moment to think. He wondered if he should tell them of his plan to take revenge on Ganondorf, but he wasn't sure what their reaction would be.
"Ok," said Zelda, assuming he was done, "one last question. If we let you go, what do you plan to do?"
That decided him, and he chanced it: "Where is Ganondorf?"
"Why?" asked Link. "Do you want to try and beg his forgiveness in order to rise among his ranks and help him lead an army of undead soldiers against the army of Hyrule?" He smiled at Dark in a nasty, mocking way.
Dark glared hotly at Link, and a snarl curled the corner of his mouth. "Never again will I be a nameless minion of that spineless, narcissistic imbecile!" he growled, spitting out every word through clenched teeth. "It is true that he gave me form and meaning and that, indeed, I owe him my very existence, but he owes me much more. He owes me every day wasted waiting in the same room, wondering what the outside world was like. He owes me the years I lost sleeping in the Water Temple, years that I will not ever be able to get back because I don't have a magic sword to put in a rock." (He aimed this comment directly at Link, and needless to say, it was not appreciated.) "I would much prefer to not exist than to have spent all of my existence in one room, knowing nothing save solitude and the sole purpose of being someone's puppet. Excuse me for being a little pissed about not being anything more than the shadow of the man I was created to kill." Dark sat back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking away to examine a tapestry on a wall to his right. He was surprise at how good it felt to get that all off his chest.
Zelda and Link looked at him in shock, not previously having any idea of what he'd been going through. They simply hadn't given it a thought, assuming that he didn't have feelings or opinions, which is all too common of an opinion of villains, I'm sad to say. They turned away from Dark so that they could talk in private.
"Well, I'm convinced," said Link. "Either he's really ticked off at Ganondorf, or he's the best actor in all of Hyrule."
"I have to agree," said Zelda. "We should probably tell him about Ganondorf, though. He has a right to know, I think."
They turned back around, and Zelda cleared her throat, calling for his attention. Dark looked around at her, and she gave him her polite smile once again. "We have decided to answer your question about Ganondorf's whereabouts," she began. "Ganondorf was defeated and sealed into the Sacred Realm by the six sages, Link, and I. His dark powers transformed it into the Dark World, and there he will stay, hopefully until the end of time." As Dark listened to her words, his face fell, and any hope he had for getting his revenge against Ganondorf was crushed. "Anyways," Zelda continued, convinced that Dark was no longer in league with Ganondorf, "you have answered all of my questions, so you have my permission to go freely about Hyrule as you please. Because you are only an immediate danger to Link, you are allowed to go anywhere you will be accepted in Hyrule. However, if we receive word that you are causing even the slightest bit of trouble anywhere, you will be returned to our dungeon. Link, will you see him to the front gate?"
Dark quickly rose from his chair and said, "No thanks. I can find my own way out." He turned and left the room, and the other two watched him go with a mixture of apprehension and relief, letting out heavy sighs as soon as he was gone and silently agreeing that it was time to turn in for the day.
Dark made his way out of the castle, passing guards without a word. Descending the stairs to the stable yard, he saw Shadowmane standing off in a corner by himself (apparently the stable hands hadn't been able to get the horse to cooperate, and so they let him alone). Dark whistled, and the horse trotted over, happy to see his master. Dark stroked his horse's silken muzzle, saying softly, "Come on, boy. I have a plan, and I might need your help." He climbed up into the saddle and rode of into the night, hoping never to see the castle again.