Disclaimer:
I do not own the Legend of Zelda.
Pity me. I do however own an original game I'm working on. Expect shameless plugs to my game when I begin marketing it. )
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-Author's Note:
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-Chapter the Fifth. Did you honestly expect Link's luck to stay good for long? Maybe he'll finally have peace for a while after all of this chaos is through. Well. If he's still alive, that is.
Ruto hasn't taken kindly to being kidnapped, of coarse. She'll come back to the plotline eventually. As for Garland, well... he's about to have the luck of our hero. Come to think of it, Garland is a pretty unlucky fellow too. His plot to marry Ruto failed. His plot to kill Link failed. His plot to steal the two remaining stones.. failed. His five-second plot to kill Shadow Link failed. And he was born with his father's huge nose. Poor sinister tyrant.
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Anyway. I hope people still read this story. I'm kinda proud of it myself, not to be conceited One of the few Link/Ruto tales around I love writing unusual/unpopular couples such as this,
because chances are they're the ones I liked in the show/game/etc. And um. Yeah. This chapter's going to be bloody. Beware.
And a quick rant; You can thank Harry Potter book 6 for the completion of this chapter. (Spoilers to those who want to read it, by the way)
I'm a huge fan of Harry/Ginny. And, well. Let's just say the ending left me wanting more... But it should (I hope and pray) continue being as the romance in Spiderman and they shall reunite in the seventh tale. After all,
the young redhead has wanted his affections for this many years, I highly doubt she'll give him up that easily. Anyway, my thirst for romance has multiplied, and I must finish this story. Reviews are greatly appreciated, because some of the reason I don't update is I feel my work is going unnoticed at times. P But it'll help to actually update more than twice a year, I suppose. Enjoy!
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)Serenade of Water( -
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Chapter Five The MisAdventures of Garland & The Betrayal of Link -
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------The long, harsh storm finally ended as the morning sun rose above Hyrule, clouds parting to spread sunlight along the currently wet countryside.
Morning birds chirped cheery little songs, forest animals began to come out of their homes, children playing hide & seek amidst the trees.
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------And a man in black armor with a long flowing cape could be seen stomping through the forest with a constant scowl, cursing the annoying sounds of birds,
cursing the cuddly bunnies nearby, and most of all cursing the little children playing in these wretched woods he'd been lost in for hours. To see kids enjoying themselves in such an annoying place aggrivated him beyond reason. He'd likely kill the children now if it wouldn't violate the agreement he'd made with the Shadow Link.
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------Garland glared around. "Where the heck is the Forest Temple?" he wondered to himself. "I've been roaming around this obnoxious forest since midnight"
The dark knight looked down at one of the kids hiding behind a tree nearby and scratched his chin. "Hmm, perhaps these children could help... they seem to be familiar to these woods.." he said, walking over to where the little brown-haired boy was hiding.
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------"Go away, mister, you'll give away my hiding place!" the kid whispered as Garland drew near. The son of Gannondorf scowled, trying to keep his temper at bay as he slowly forced a pleasant smile - which ended up more creepy than pleasant coming from him.
------"I just need to know where the Forest Temple is"
------"Why should I tell you? You're going to give me away to the seeker"
------"Just tell me where the Temple is"
------"Bug off, ugly." the kid said, shoving Garland back an inch or so. The Gerudo Prince scowled, grabbing the child up by the collar of his shirt and holding him up high in the air. ------"Tell me where the Temple is!" Garland yelled in the child's face.
------"Eww, ever heard of breath mints?" the kid said, holding his nose.
Garland growled and shook the kid around a bit, before holding him still once more. "Tell me now, or I'll make you regret the day you were born"
------"Bite me." the little boy said, kicking Garland between the legs. The prince groaned in agony as he fell to the ground on his knees, the little kid running off to find a new hiding place. "I.. hate.. kids"
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------Meanwhile, nearer to the royal city of Hyrule, a young teenager in a blue tunic was sneaking through the alleyways behind the shops and homes, unnoticed by all but a few rats here and there. -
------"Sneaking is fine now, but what will you do to get in the castle?" Link heard his shadow's voice in his head once more, wishing he could have done this alone now. ------"I've snuck in once with ease, I can do it again." Link said as he darted through another opening between buildings, making sure nobody saw him.
------"You won't find it so easy this time around..." Shadow Link said with an unnerving cackle.
------"What do you mean?" Link said, recieving no reply as the shadow remained silent from then on. "Oh, sure, you can talk when it annoys me but you can't answer a simple question"
------"Halt! Who goes there"
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------Link stopped and looked up to see a pair of Hylian guards. In his arguments with his shadow, he hadn't realized he was already at the gate that blocks the path to the castle grounds. He heard a wicked little cackle inside of his mind.
"You really are as stupid as you look." Shadow Link commented.
------"Now how am I supposed to get the gem? You should have said something"
Link muttered quietly to his shadow.
------"Silence! Put your hands up!" one of the guards said as they both pointed their swords at Link.
------"No one said you couldn't spill blood." the shadow said. "It appears that's the only way out of this mess, now, isn't it"
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------Link shook his head and did a quick spin, smacking the soldiers in the head with his boomerang and making their helmets spin backwards as he took off running.
"Guards! Intruder!" someone yelled as Link climbed the gate and darted through the outer courtyard, six guards dashing towards Link from several patrol points.
------"Idiot, if you had silently killed those guards, you'd have no witnesses.
Now the whole castle is going to know you're here in a matter of moments." the shadow laughed as Link ran for his life.
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- -------Garland glared down at a little blonde-haired girl below him, who stared up at him with innocent, big blue eyes, hugging a teddy bear nearly as big as her.
-------"Let's try this again..." Garland growled.
-------"Why"
-------"Because you didn't answer me! Now tell me where the forest temple is"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I want to know"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I can't find it"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I'm lost in these wretched woods"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I've never been here before"
-------"Why"
-------"Because this place is stupid"
-------"Why"
-------"Because it pointlessly loops you around in endless circles"
-------"Why"
-------"Because apparently someone doesn't want me to find the Forest Temple"
-------"Why"
-------"Because you don't want to know what will happen to you if you don't tell me where it is"
-------"Why"
-------"Because..." He growled as he lost his patience with the little girl.
-------"BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T TELL ME I'LL RIP YOUR TEDDY BEAR'S HEAD OFF!" Garland screamed to the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the forest. The little girl started up at him, unmoved.
-------"You're weird." she said.
-------"Why you little.." he started to say, before he overheard a couple of children talking about finding the "best hiding place" near the temple. Garland grinned and stalked the nearby hiders, finally drawing closer to his goal.
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-------The entire Hyrule Castle was covered in guards searching the castle and the courtyard, everyone combing the area for any sign of the aforementioned intruder,
though none seemed smart enough to figure out he was swimming along the bottom of the moat, his tunic's collar acting as gills. He swam through several different openings and into the lower waterworks of Hyrule Castle, which was a large rectangular area with grey stone walkways and rivers of water flowing through the castle to and from the moat, the only light coming from burning torches lining the walls.
"There's no one around. Surface, boy." the shadow said.
-------"I can get straight to the treasury through the waterworks." Link said,
before feeling something icey cold surround his neck, pushing the collar of the tunic away. -------"Can you make the shortcut without cheating?" the shadow said with a laugh as Link realized quickly he couldn't breathe underwater anymore. The young Hylian quickly surfaced and rolled onto the cold stone walkway nearby, coughing up some water as he gasped for air. "You idiot!" Link exclaimed with another cough as the shadow merely cackled inside of his head. The blue-clad hero stood up and began sneaking across the waterworks, quickly crossing the distance between himself and the exit of the waterworks, swiftly ascending a staircase leading to the bottom floor of the castle. -------"Turn left." the voice in his head advised. Link started to go the way he was told, before stopping and looking down the other hallway.
-------"I don't believe you. You have a sick sense of humor." Link said as he began walking his own way down the long, majestic red-carpeted hallway, white marble-looking walls and floor around him. Paintings of other royalty, pillars, and potted plants dotted the walls of the hallway as the hylian swiftly strode across it.
-------"Suit yourself." the shadow said, slightly amused, as Link continued ignoring his alter ego. As he turned the corner, however, he realized he made a big mistake as four patrolling guards spotted him. "There's the intruder!" one of the blue-armoured soldiers shouted as they pulled out their swords and began pursuing the Hylian.
-------"Told you so." the Shadow said.
-------"Fine, which way do I go now?" Link muttered, taking a few steps away from the hallway.
-------"Keep going, as fast as you can." the shadow advised. Link decided to believe him this time as he dashed between the guards and began running as fast as he could down the long hallway, the four royal guards in close pursuit.
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-------Meanwhile, near Death Mountain, a young Gerudo prince was climbing up the long winding paths that ascended the cliffside, admiring a green stone in his hand. "That was far too easy." he said cheerfully, placing the green stone in the appropriate slot in the hilt of his blade. Vines surrounded the handle of the sword, a few long thorns jutting out the sides of it where his hand wouldn't be and on the bottom, as the icey blade jutted out, covering itself in icey thorns and breaking apart to extend into a long whip of pieces of an icey, thorned blade with a long green vine-like whip connecting them together. He coiled his new toy delicately and put it away.
-------Just in time to have a boulder roll past him, crushing his foot.
"AAAAAGHHH!" screamed Garland as he held his foot in agony, cursing at the top of his lungs, several straying Gorons who were staring at him deciding to flee. The Gerudo Prince glared up the mountain as another rock soared past him, his cape flapping wildly in the wind. He began trudging up the rocky path once more, cursing under his breath between grumblings. "When I get my hands on that wretched shadow..." he growled, swiftly slamming his fist into an oncoming boulder, shattering it into a shower of painful little pebbles against him. "AAGH! I'LL KILL HIM!" he yelled in a cross between being humiliated at his failed attempt to avoid harm and having little jagged rocks stab him all over.
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--------"What are you trying to do, get me killed?" Link yelled angrily as he skidded to a stop in front of a locked door - and a dead end. Eight guards already drew near enough to cut off any form of escape as Link turned to face them, bracing himself with his shield.
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--------"You intend to fight off eight of Hyrule's finest with a mere shield?" Shadow Link said scornfully. "Pull out your sword, fool"
------"I won't hurt innocent people." Link said calmly as the guards drew near.
------"You have no choice!" the shadow in the back of his mind spat back.
------"I'm a hero, I can do this without hurting anyone!" Link retorted - the guards seemed bewildered as to why Link was talking to himself, but were pulling out their spears nonetheless.
------"Eight against one, with spears strong enough to pierce metal, and you, a master swordsman, refusing to draw his blade... That isn't bravery, that isn't courage, that is suicide! You intend to perish at the hands of these incopetent so-called soldiers!" the shadow yelled, apparently sickened by how far Link was willing to go to avoid comitting a wicked deed.
------"I've got other things I can use, I"
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--------By now, of coarse, Link was already having to use his shield to parry endless jabs of spears, drawing his blade to work as a secondary shield and try to sever the heads from his foe's weapons.
------"Slay them now! Even if you run, they'll return in multiplied numbers"
the shadow hissed.
------"No, I'm doing fine -- Rrgh! -- like this..!" Link yelled stubbornly,
trying to find an opening to get past the guards, his left upper arm pouring blood from a spear wound that narrowly missed his chest. ------"If you don't do it now, I'll leave you!" the Shadow threatened, as if it were something that would devistate the Hylian hero.
------"Good! Without you I'd be done by"
------"And if I leave," hissed the shadow once more in Link's mind, his voice icey, but with a hint of amusement returned to it, "I'll make the young Zoran's death a slow and painful one, after recalling every moment of your foolish attempt at being valiant before you were murdered for being common, thieving scum"
------"Don't touch her!" Link said, growling as he felt energy building up in his blade.
------"Fight back! Fight back or she dies, because you gave up on her"
- - - - --------Suddenly - Link could not explain what he felt, it was as if the Shadow Link himself had taken over - but Link felt a burning hot rage from within him,
hating his alter ego with every fiber of his being, hating himself for allowing Ruto to be kidnapped, and hating Garland for causing all of this to happen; but instead of venting his anger in justified vengeance against those who had caused him such pain, he lashed out at the guards at last, any ounce of humanity he once had gone for those few berserk seconds that seemed to last hours.
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---------The Hylian swifly spun around as his shining blade sliced through most of the Guard's spears, Shadow Link diving out of Link's form in a calm frontflip over the soldiers' heads, landing behind to block their escape. Link glared at the guards, fiercly swinging his sword at them like an animal - he felt a searing pain in his leg as a spearhead thrust into it, but in the same instant he watched as his sword sliced through the man's arm, severing it & swinging around as if it had a mind of its own to continue rendering the flesh of his foes, his mind filled with nothing but rage, the anguished screams of his victims, and the mad cackling of the shadow that stood behind the crimson shower.
- - - - - - - ---------"How long is this bloody temple!" Garland scowled, as he reached a tall room inside the volcanic cavern inside Death Mountain; it was a square room, with a few rock balconies overlooking a pit that fell seemingly endless feet down into the volcanic dungeons below, the only thing bridging the gap being a thin walkway,
curving across the center of the room. "First I get lost in the bloody woods, then I have to trudge up a mountain that, for no apparent reason, has boulders flying down it nonstop, had to pick countless sharp pebbles out of my skin with a bloody sword, and now "
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---------In his current fit of pouting, Garland had failed to notice the golfball-
sized rock he was about to stand on, and for one horrific moment Garland felt himself trip, before plunging down into the volcanic dungeons below him, yelling loudly all the way down, the fall only taking about ten seconds but feeling like an eternity.
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---------The Gerudo Prince landed, face-first, on a rocky platform below, the intense heat of the flowing lava nearby not helping him feel any better as he staggared to his feet once more, yelling and cursing as he began his trek back up the cavern.
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--------After much annoyance, the Gerudo Prince had returned to the same room he once fell, which, in comparison to the lake of fire below him, felt almost cool. He began carefully walking across the thin path, muttering under his breath but being sure he focused on where he was stepping this time. And, after a short walk, he reached the other side and gave out a triumphant shout... which, most unfortunately, awakened a flock of bats in the cavernous tunnel, the swarm pouring out around and into the Gerudo Prince, who gave out a terrified cry as he staggared backwards, falling once more down the seemingly endless pit into likely another face-first visit to the rocks below.
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--------Link stood at the end of the hallway, his blue tunic stained from a shower of crimson, his blood dripping a bright red as he stared, horrified,
at the mutilated corpses of eight - or so he assumed, he couldn't quite remember now - guards before him, each one spread across the hallway a considerable bit in pieces. "Wh... What have I done..." muttered Link as the Shadow continued cackling before Link. Suddenly, the beastly shadow began to grow more ... colored, somehow... as he stood before his more heroic alter ego, who couldn't feel any less heroic than he did now.
---------"You did what you had to." Link heard the icey voice of his dark side say. He looked up from the bloodstained carpets to stare at his shadowy twin, who now inexplicably looked just like Link with a black tunic and slightly paler skin. Link's twin smirked cruelly at him. "Of coarse,
I've no use for you or the princess any longer. You've done your part"
--------"What do you mean?" Link said, his voice slightly shaken, warm blood trickling down his body, his heart sinking as the disgusting sensation didn't help his situation at all. --------"By spilling the blood of another mortal, you have completed me." the Shadow said with a cruel smirk, his crimson eyes still shining. "I am the purest essense of your sins, extracted from the broken, so-called hero who now stands before me, his knees shaking as if he were to fall at any given moment"
---------"Let Ruto go." Link said. "I held my end of the bargain, I did everything you told me to"
---------"I believe I told you to steal a certain valuable object for me. I also believe you have failed to do so." Dark Link said with another of his obnoxious, demented cackles, his new, more Hylian face twisted into a sadistic smirk. "You have the impudence to refer to yourself as a hero, and you cannot do a task as simple as "Go steal that thing." without ruining it." --------"I would have gotten it with ease if you hadn't messed me up!" Link shot back, the burning rage he had once felt beginning to boil inside of him again.
--------"Attempt and fail, attempt and fail, that seems to be the only thing I find you capable of doing as of late." the wicked twin said with another laugh. "But then, I really do not require either you, or the princess. I think I shall take her to your house in the Kokiri Forest, get you both out of my hair for a while... probably going to put her to sleep first, though, she puts up too much of a fight for my taste when conscious"
--------Link found himself chuckling lightly along with his dark side at this,
before the two glared at eachother once more. --------"Can't handle the thrashings of a girl?" mocked Link. His dark side scowled, but his facial expressions soon twisted back into a wicked smirk.
--------"I don't know why you care if she's released now..." it said with a small cackle.
--------"What do you mean"
--------"Look what you've become, Hylian. You've mercilessly slaughtered eight innocent people loyal to the King -" the Shadow Link said, before quickly interrupting Link's protest, " - don't attempt to justify your sins, you mutilated them all with the ease of a genocidal maniac. The fish woman will be waiting for you in the Kokiri Forest... Go, if she'll take you back. You did well, you earned a few days of peace before I purge the mortal scum from the face of Hyrule." the psychotic shadow said as he faded into the nearby shadows.
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--------Link stood there for a few more moments, continuing to stare down the hallway as blood dripped from his tunic, hating himself more than ever for what he'd done as the cackling of his dark twin still rang in his mind, before deciding it best to leave the castle as swiftly as possible and make sure his alter ego held to his word.
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-------Storm clouds gathered all over Hyrule, blackening the skies as another downpour began. The most bizarre patch of clouds in particular was the swirling mass of darkness over Death Mountain, where, high atop its peaks, you could find a man in black, jagged armor holding up a long, icey, thorn-covered blade, his burned cape flapping wildly in the wind whipping up around the volcano. -
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-------"AT LAST!" Garland cried triumphantly, as he slid the last stone into the remaining empty slot of his blade. The entire sword began flashing blue, green and red, as a feminine, though eerie, voice began to chant some prophecy from out of nowhere. Garland smirked cruelly, ignoring the icey rain and harsh winds around him as he held his shining blade high in the air, awaiting it to finish.
"ULTIMATE POWER"
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-------"... mortal body consumed, the soul devoured,
-------The life of its user will be its power"
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-------"What?" Garland said, his triumphant cries cut short.
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-------"Immortality at great cost,
-------The flesh devoured, emotions lost"
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-------"What're you talking about!" Garland yelled at the invisible sources of the voice as it chanted on; realizing he was in mortal danger, he made to hurl his long-cherished blade off the face of Death Mountain, only to find himself a split-second later enveloped by a large bolt of lightning, screaming in agony as he was blinded by its flash, an unearthly roar echoing with the thunderous boom of the bolt, dust flying around him from the impact.
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-------As the dust faded away, leaving a smoking Garland standing in a small crater collecting water, an eerie groan of agony escaped his lips from the relative darkness of the storm. He took a few steps out of the water, bent over with his tattered cape draped over his body, holding in his hands a burning blade emitting a frosty mist around it, broken at the moment into many smaller pieces of blade along a vinelike whip. The Gerudo Prince slowly staggered around to stare at the puddle of water collecting inside the hole where lightning had just struck.
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-------He chuckled a few times as he stared at his reflection, an eerie green glow escaping from his eyes. The chuckling turned into a soft,
creepy laughter, which then grew into a bone-chilling cackle that echoed through the stormy skies, lightning flashing to reveal his blackened skeleton. "A small cost for my immortality..." Garland said between cackles, mad with power in his new form, his voice sounding as if three Garlands were speaking at once, one voice more distorted and deeper,
one raspy & slightly wheezing, and the other much like his normal voice. "Ultimate power!" he continued to laugh madly, throwing his arms up into the air as countless bolts of lightning began to crash around Death Mountain. "Hyrule will be mine at last"
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End Chapter
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I do not own the Legend of Zelda.
Pity me. I do however own an original game I'm working on. Expect shameless plugs to my game when I begin marketing it. )
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-Author's Note:
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-Chapter the Fifth. Did you honestly expect Link's luck to stay good for long? Maybe he'll finally have peace for a while after all of this chaos is through. Well. If he's still alive, that is.
Ruto hasn't taken kindly to being kidnapped, of coarse. She'll come back to the plotline eventually. As for Garland, well... he's about to have the luck of our hero. Come to think of it, Garland is a pretty unlucky fellow too. His plot to marry Ruto failed. His plot to kill Link failed. His plot to steal the two remaining stones.. failed. His five-second plot to kill Shadow Link failed. And he was born with his father's huge nose. Poor sinister tyrant.
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Anyway. I hope people still read this story. I'm kinda proud of it myself, not to be conceited One of the few Link/Ruto tales around I love writing unusual/unpopular couples such as this,
because chances are they're the ones I liked in the show/game/etc. And um. Yeah. This chapter's going to be bloody. Beware.
And a quick rant; You can thank Harry Potter book 6 for the completion of this chapter. (Spoilers to those who want to read it, by the way)
I'm a huge fan of Harry/Ginny. And, well. Let's just say the ending left me wanting more... But it should (I hope and pray) continue being as the romance in Spiderman and they shall reunite in the seventh tale. After all,
the young redhead has wanted his affections for this many years, I highly doubt she'll give him up that easily. Anyway, my thirst for romance has multiplied, and I must finish this story. Reviews are greatly appreciated, because some of the reason I don't update is I feel my work is going unnoticed at times. P But it'll help to actually update more than twice a year, I suppose. Enjoy!
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)Serenade of Water( -
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Chapter Five The MisAdventures of Garland & The Betrayal of Link -
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------The long, harsh storm finally ended as the morning sun rose above Hyrule, clouds parting to spread sunlight along the currently wet countryside.
Morning birds chirped cheery little songs, forest animals began to come out of their homes, children playing hide & seek amidst the trees.
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------And a man in black armor with a long flowing cape could be seen stomping through the forest with a constant scowl, cursing the annoying sounds of birds,
cursing the cuddly bunnies nearby, and most of all cursing the little children playing in these wretched woods he'd been lost in for hours. To see kids enjoying themselves in such an annoying place aggrivated him beyond reason. He'd likely kill the children now if it wouldn't violate the agreement he'd made with the Shadow Link.
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------Garland glared around. "Where the heck is the Forest Temple?" he wondered to himself. "I've been roaming around this obnoxious forest since midnight"
The dark knight looked down at one of the kids hiding behind a tree nearby and scratched his chin. "Hmm, perhaps these children could help... they seem to be familiar to these woods.." he said, walking over to where the little brown-haired boy was hiding.
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------"Go away, mister, you'll give away my hiding place!" the kid whispered as Garland drew near. The son of Gannondorf scowled, trying to keep his temper at bay as he slowly forced a pleasant smile - which ended up more creepy than pleasant coming from him.
------"I just need to know where the Forest Temple is"
------"Why should I tell you? You're going to give me away to the seeker"
------"Just tell me where the Temple is"
------"Bug off, ugly." the kid said, shoving Garland back an inch or so. The Gerudo Prince scowled, grabbing the child up by the collar of his shirt and holding him up high in the air. ------"Tell me where the Temple is!" Garland yelled in the child's face.
------"Eww, ever heard of breath mints?" the kid said, holding his nose.
Garland growled and shook the kid around a bit, before holding him still once more. "Tell me now, or I'll make you regret the day you were born"
------"Bite me." the little boy said, kicking Garland between the legs. The prince groaned in agony as he fell to the ground on his knees, the little kid running off to find a new hiding place. "I.. hate.. kids"
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------Meanwhile, nearer to the royal city of Hyrule, a young teenager in a blue tunic was sneaking through the alleyways behind the shops and homes, unnoticed by all but a few rats here and there. -
------"Sneaking is fine now, but what will you do to get in the castle?" Link heard his shadow's voice in his head once more, wishing he could have done this alone now. ------"I've snuck in once with ease, I can do it again." Link said as he darted through another opening between buildings, making sure nobody saw him.
------"You won't find it so easy this time around..." Shadow Link said with an unnerving cackle.
------"What do you mean?" Link said, recieving no reply as the shadow remained silent from then on. "Oh, sure, you can talk when it annoys me but you can't answer a simple question"
------"Halt! Who goes there"
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------Link stopped and looked up to see a pair of Hylian guards. In his arguments with his shadow, he hadn't realized he was already at the gate that blocks the path to the castle grounds. He heard a wicked little cackle inside of his mind.
"You really are as stupid as you look." Shadow Link commented.
------"Now how am I supposed to get the gem? You should have said something"
Link muttered quietly to his shadow.
------"Silence! Put your hands up!" one of the guards said as they both pointed their swords at Link.
------"No one said you couldn't spill blood." the shadow said. "It appears that's the only way out of this mess, now, isn't it"
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------Link shook his head and did a quick spin, smacking the soldiers in the head with his boomerang and making their helmets spin backwards as he took off running.
"Guards! Intruder!" someone yelled as Link climbed the gate and darted through the outer courtyard, six guards dashing towards Link from several patrol points.
------"Idiot, if you had silently killed those guards, you'd have no witnesses.
Now the whole castle is going to know you're here in a matter of moments." the shadow laughed as Link ran for his life.
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- -------Garland glared down at a little blonde-haired girl below him, who stared up at him with innocent, big blue eyes, hugging a teddy bear nearly as big as her.
-------"Let's try this again..." Garland growled.
-------"Why"
-------"Because you didn't answer me! Now tell me where the forest temple is"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I want to know"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I can't find it"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I'm lost in these wretched woods"
-------"Why"
-------"Because I've never been here before"
-------"Why"
-------"Because this place is stupid"
-------"Why"
-------"Because it pointlessly loops you around in endless circles"
-------"Why"
-------"Because apparently someone doesn't want me to find the Forest Temple"
-------"Why"
-------"Because you don't want to know what will happen to you if you don't tell me where it is"
-------"Why"
-------"Because..." He growled as he lost his patience with the little girl.
-------"BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T TELL ME I'LL RIP YOUR TEDDY BEAR'S HEAD OFF!" Garland screamed to the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the forest. The little girl started up at him, unmoved.
-------"You're weird." she said.
-------"Why you little.." he started to say, before he overheard a couple of children talking about finding the "best hiding place" near the temple. Garland grinned and stalked the nearby hiders, finally drawing closer to his goal.
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-------The entire Hyrule Castle was covered in guards searching the castle and the courtyard, everyone combing the area for any sign of the aforementioned intruder,
though none seemed smart enough to figure out he was swimming along the bottom of the moat, his tunic's collar acting as gills. He swam through several different openings and into the lower waterworks of Hyrule Castle, which was a large rectangular area with grey stone walkways and rivers of water flowing through the castle to and from the moat, the only light coming from burning torches lining the walls.
"There's no one around. Surface, boy." the shadow said.
-------"I can get straight to the treasury through the waterworks." Link said,
before feeling something icey cold surround his neck, pushing the collar of the tunic away. -------"Can you make the shortcut without cheating?" the shadow said with a laugh as Link realized quickly he couldn't breathe underwater anymore. The young Hylian quickly surfaced and rolled onto the cold stone walkway nearby, coughing up some water as he gasped for air. "You idiot!" Link exclaimed with another cough as the shadow merely cackled inside of his head. The blue-clad hero stood up and began sneaking across the waterworks, quickly crossing the distance between himself and the exit of the waterworks, swiftly ascending a staircase leading to the bottom floor of the castle. -------"Turn left." the voice in his head advised. Link started to go the way he was told, before stopping and looking down the other hallway.
-------"I don't believe you. You have a sick sense of humor." Link said as he began walking his own way down the long, majestic red-carpeted hallway, white marble-looking walls and floor around him. Paintings of other royalty, pillars, and potted plants dotted the walls of the hallway as the hylian swiftly strode across it.
-------"Suit yourself." the shadow said, slightly amused, as Link continued ignoring his alter ego. As he turned the corner, however, he realized he made a big mistake as four patrolling guards spotted him. "There's the intruder!" one of the blue-armoured soldiers shouted as they pulled out their swords and began pursuing the Hylian.
-------"Told you so." the Shadow said.
-------"Fine, which way do I go now?" Link muttered, taking a few steps away from the hallway.
-------"Keep going, as fast as you can." the shadow advised. Link decided to believe him this time as he dashed between the guards and began running as fast as he could down the long hallway, the four royal guards in close pursuit.
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-------Meanwhile, near Death Mountain, a young Gerudo prince was climbing up the long winding paths that ascended the cliffside, admiring a green stone in his hand. "That was far too easy." he said cheerfully, placing the green stone in the appropriate slot in the hilt of his blade. Vines surrounded the handle of the sword, a few long thorns jutting out the sides of it where his hand wouldn't be and on the bottom, as the icey blade jutted out, covering itself in icey thorns and breaking apart to extend into a long whip of pieces of an icey, thorned blade with a long green vine-like whip connecting them together. He coiled his new toy delicately and put it away.
-------Just in time to have a boulder roll past him, crushing his foot.
"AAAAAGHHH!" screamed Garland as he held his foot in agony, cursing at the top of his lungs, several straying Gorons who were staring at him deciding to flee. The Gerudo Prince glared up the mountain as another rock soared past him, his cape flapping wildly in the wind. He began trudging up the rocky path once more, cursing under his breath between grumblings. "When I get my hands on that wretched shadow..." he growled, swiftly slamming his fist into an oncoming boulder, shattering it into a shower of painful little pebbles against him. "AAGH! I'LL KILL HIM!" he yelled in a cross between being humiliated at his failed attempt to avoid harm and having little jagged rocks stab him all over.
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--------"What are you trying to do, get me killed?" Link yelled angrily as he skidded to a stop in front of a locked door - and a dead end. Eight guards already drew near enough to cut off any form of escape as Link turned to face them, bracing himself with his shield.
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--------"You intend to fight off eight of Hyrule's finest with a mere shield?" Shadow Link said scornfully. "Pull out your sword, fool"
------"I won't hurt innocent people." Link said calmly as the guards drew near.
------"You have no choice!" the shadow in the back of his mind spat back.
------"I'm a hero, I can do this without hurting anyone!" Link retorted - the guards seemed bewildered as to why Link was talking to himself, but were pulling out their spears nonetheless.
------"Eight against one, with spears strong enough to pierce metal, and you, a master swordsman, refusing to draw his blade... That isn't bravery, that isn't courage, that is suicide! You intend to perish at the hands of these incopetent so-called soldiers!" the shadow yelled, apparently sickened by how far Link was willing to go to avoid comitting a wicked deed.
------"I've got other things I can use, I"
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--------By now, of coarse, Link was already having to use his shield to parry endless jabs of spears, drawing his blade to work as a secondary shield and try to sever the heads from his foe's weapons.
------"Slay them now! Even if you run, they'll return in multiplied numbers"
the shadow hissed.
------"No, I'm doing fine -- Rrgh! -- like this..!" Link yelled stubbornly,
trying to find an opening to get past the guards, his left upper arm pouring blood from a spear wound that narrowly missed his chest. ------"If you don't do it now, I'll leave you!" the Shadow threatened, as if it were something that would devistate the Hylian hero.
------"Good! Without you I'd be done by"
------"And if I leave," hissed the shadow once more in Link's mind, his voice icey, but with a hint of amusement returned to it, "I'll make the young Zoran's death a slow and painful one, after recalling every moment of your foolish attempt at being valiant before you were murdered for being common, thieving scum"
------"Don't touch her!" Link said, growling as he felt energy building up in his blade.
------"Fight back! Fight back or she dies, because you gave up on her"
- - - - --------Suddenly - Link could not explain what he felt, it was as if the Shadow Link himself had taken over - but Link felt a burning hot rage from within him,
hating his alter ego with every fiber of his being, hating himself for allowing Ruto to be kidnapped, and hating Garland for causing all of this to happen; but instead of venting his anger in justified vengeance against those who had caused him such pain, he lashed out at the guards at last, any ounce of humanity he once had gone for those few berserk seconds that seemed to last hours.
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---------The Hylian swifly spun around as his shining blade sliced through most of the Guard's spears, Shadow Link diving out of Link's form in a calm frontflip over the soldiers' heads, landing behind to block their escape. Link glared at the guards, fiercly swinging his sword at them like an animal - he felt a searing pain in his leg as a spearhead thrust into it, but in the same instant he watched as his sword sliced through the man's arm, severing it & swinging around as if it had a mind of its own to continue rendering the flesh of his foes, his mind filled with nothing but rage, the anguished screams of his victims, and the mad cackling of the shadow that stood behind the crimson shower.
- - - - - - - ---------"How long is this bloody temple!" Garland scowled, as he reached a tall room inside the volcanic cavern inside Death Mountain; it was a square room, with a few rock balconies overlooking a pit that fell seemingly endless feet down into the volcanic dungeons below, the only thing bridging the gap being a thin walkway,
curving across the center of the room. "First I get lost in the bloody woods, then I have to trudge up a mountain that, for no apparent reason, has boulders flying down it nonstop, had to pick countless sharp pebbles out of my skin with a bloody sword, and now "
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---------In his current fit of pouting, Garland had failed to notice the golfball-
sized rock he was about to stand on, and for one horrific moment Garland felt himself trip, before plunging down into the volcanic dungeons below him, yelling loudly all the way down, the fall only taking about ten seconds but feeling like an eternity.
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---------The Gerudo Prince landed, face-first, on a rocky platform below, the intense heat of the flowing lava nearby not helping him feel any better as he staggared to his feet once more, yelling and cursing as he began his trek back up the cavern.
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--------After much annoyance, the Gerudo Prince had returned to the same room he once fell, which, in comparison to the lake of fire below him, felt almost cool. He began carefully walking across the thin path, muttering under his breath but being sure he focused on where he was stepping this time. And, after a short walk, he reached the other side and gave out a triumphant shout... which, most unfortunately, awakened a flock of bats in the cavernous tunnel, the swarm pouring out around and into the Gerudo Prince, who gave out a terrified cry as he staggared backwards, falling once more down the seemingly endless pit into likely another face-first visit to the rocks below.
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--------Link stood at the end of the hallway, his blue tunic stained from a shower of crimson, his blood dripping a bright red as he stared, horrified,
at the mutilated corpses of eight - or so he assumed, he couldn't quite remember now - guards before him, each one spread across the hallway a considerable bit in pieces. "Wh... What have I done..." muttered Link as the Shadow continued cackling before Link. Suddenly, the beastly shadow began to grow more ... colored, somehow... as he stood before his more heroic alter ego, who couldn't feel any less heroic than he did now.
---------"You did what you had to." Link heard the icey voice of his dark side say. He looked up from the bloodstained carpets to stare at his shadowy twin, who now inexplicably looked just like Link with a black tunic and slightly paler skin. Link's twin smirked cruelly at him. "Of coarse,
I've no use for you or the princess any longer. You've done your part"
--------"What do you mean?" Link said, his voice slightly shaken, warm blood trickling down his body, his heart sinking as the disgusting sensation didn't help his situation at all. --------"By spilling the blood of another mortal, you have completed me." the Shadow said with a cruel smirk, his crimson eyes still shining. "I am the purest essense of your sins, extracted from the broken, so-called hero who now stands before me, his knees shaking as if he were to fall at any given moment"
---------"Let Ruto go." Link said. "I held my end of the bargain, I did everything you told me to"
---------"I believe I told you to steal a certain valuable object for me. I also believe you have failed to do so." Dark Link said with another of his obnoxious, demented cackles, his new, more Hylian face twisted into a sadistic smirk. "You have the impudence to refer to yourself as a hero, and you cannot do a task as simple as "Go steal that thing." without ruining it." --------"I would have gotten it with ease if you hadn't messed me up!" Link shot back, the burning rage he had once felt beginning to boil inside of him again.
--------"Attempt and fail, attempt and fail, that seems to be the only thing I find you capable of doing as of late." the wicked twin said with another laugh. "But then, I really do not require either you, or the princess. I think I shall take her to your house in the Kokiri Forest, get you both out of my hair for a while... probably going to put her to sleep first, though, she puts up too much of a fight for my taste when conscious"
--------Link found himself chuckling lightly along with his dark side at this,
before the two glared at eachother once more. --------"Can't handle the thrashings of a girl?" mocked Link. His dark side scowled, but his facial expressions soon twisted back into a wicked smirk.
--------"I don't know why you care if she's released now..." it said with a small cackle.
--------"What do you mean"
--------"Look what you've become, Hylian. You've mercilessly slaughtered eight innocent people loyal to the King -" the Shadow Link said, before quickly interrupting Link's protest, " - don't attempt to justify your sins, you mutilated them all with the ease of a genocidal maniac. The fish woman will be waiting for you in the Kokiri Forest... Go, if she'll take you back. You did well, you earned a few days of peace before I purge the mortal scum from the face of Hyrule." the psychotic shadow said as he faded into the nearby shadows.
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--------Link stood there for a few more moments, continuing to stare down the hallway as blood dripped from his tunic, hating himself more than ever for what he'd done as the cackling of his dark twin still rang in his mind, before deciding it best to leave the castle as swiftly as possible and make sure his alter ego held to his word.
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-------Storm clouds gathered all over Hyrule, blackening the skies as another downpour began. The most bizarre patch of clouds in particular was the swirling mass of darkness over Death Mountain, where, high atop its peaks, you could find a man in black, jagged armor holding up a long, icey, thorn-covered blade, his burned cape flapping wildly in the wind whipping up around the volcano. -
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-------"AT LAST!" Garland cried triumphantly, as he slid the last stone into the remaining empty slot of his blade. The entire sword began flashing blue, green and red, as a feminine, though eerie, voice began to chant some prophecy from out of nowhere. Garland smirked cruelly, ignoring the icey rain and harsh winds around him as he held his shining blade high in the air, awaiting it to finish.
"ULTIMATE POWER"
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-------"... mortal body consumed, the soul devoured,
-------The life of its user will be its power"
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-------"What?" Garland said, his triumphant cries cut short.
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-------"Immortality at great cost,
-------The flesh devoured, emotions lost"
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-------"What're you talking about!" Garland yelled at the invisible sources of the voice as it chanted on; realizing he was in mortal danger, he made to hurl his long-cherished blade off the face of Death Mountain, only to find himself a split-second later enveloped by a large bolt of lightning, screaming in agony as he was blinded by its flash, an unearthly roar echoing with the thunderous boom of the bolt, dust flying around him from the impact.
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-------As the dust faded away, leaving a smoking Garland standing in a small crater collecting water, an eerie groan of agony escaped his lips from the relative darkness of the storm. He took a few steps out of the water, bent over with his tattered cape draped over his body, holding in his hands a burning blade emitting a frosty mist around it, broken at the moment into many smaller pieces of blade along a vinelike whip. The Gerudo Prince slowly staggered around to stare at the puddle of water collecting inside the hole where lightning had just struck.
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-------He chuckled a few times as he stared at his reflection, an eerie green glow escaping from his eyes. The chuckling turned into a soft,
creepy laughter, which then grew into a bone-chilling cackle that echoed through the stormy skies, lightning flashing to reveal his blackened skeleton. "A small cost for my immortality..." Garland said between cackles, mad with power in his new form, his voice sounding as if three Garlands were speaking at once, one voice more distorted and deeper,
one raspy & slightly wheezing, and the other much like his normal voice. "Ultimate power!" he continued to laugh madly, throwing his arms up into the air as countless bolts of lightning began to crash around Death Mountain. "Hyrule will be mine at last"
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End Chapter
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