Link opened his eyes to find himself encased in a long glass tube with the only hole being right at the top. He tried to move but discovered his arms and ankles were chained to the wall that the tube was placed against. Saffron noticed slight movement from his direction so she went over to gloat.
"Well hello there Hero of Time, we meet again." She whispered stroking the glass grinning evilly.
"What do you want with me?" Link asked tugging on the chains trying to free himself. With a simple click of her fingers the glass tube went down leaving only the chains to hold Link in place. Moving seductively towards him she placed a hand on his face while she used the other to run her fingers slowly through his hair.
"I've always wanted to do this." She smirked and without warning latched her lips onto his forcing her tongue harshly into his mouth where it took in his taste.
Link nearly choked with disgust at the action, reacting the only way he thought possible he bit down on her tongue causing her to leap back. "Stay away from me you sick witch!" He shouted and spat away the foul taste of her.
Saffron growled at his reaction but quickly calmed herself. "Mmm I can see why Saria likes you so much, you feel good." She winked and clicked her fingers for the glass to return. "I might come back for some more later, when I'm done killing your girlfriend and other lovely friends."
Link glared at her as she left then took his first proper look around the room. It was quite a large room lined with golden brown walls and the same colour floor to match. He thought it slightly resembled the room Ganondorf had used for the final battle, except this room had no windows. Golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling creating the only available light source.
"I wouldn't blame Saria if she never bothered to look for me." He sighed sadly.
In the castle Saria was planning how she would go about getting to Link.
"You can't go alone you know?" Impa said as she was tidying away all the papers.
"You're right, I think only one or two should go and the rest remain on stand by. If you contact all the Sages and let them know where I'm going, I'll go and ask Ruto to come with me since she seems to know so much about this." Saria told Impa before she left the castle to go to Zora's Domain.
Saria entered the watery domain after having to yell for one of the Zora guards to let her in since she didn't have her ocarina to play Zelda's Lullaby which usually opened the waterfall entrance. Luckily most of the Zoras knew who she was so it wasn't a problem. Carefully walking up the rocky paths Saria waved hello to King Zora in the throne room then went out to the fountain where Ruto was feeding Lord Jabu Jabu. But as she entered Zora's Fountain all that Saria could hear were loud sobs, she came out of the tunnel to see a crying Ruto in a heap on the floor.
"Ruto? Are you ok?" Saria asked as she approached the crying Zora.
Ruto wiped her eyes and glared up. "Do I look ok?" She snapped getting to her feet, "If you and Mido had done what good little Kokiri's should do and stayed where you belonged none of this would have happened!"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Saria asked trying not to lose her temper for the second time in the space of two days.
Ruto started laughing, "Mido was just here! He broke up with me saying the feelings he used to have were gone so he'd be going away for awhile! You know what I think? I think he still has feelings for you! Had to take Link off me and now Mido didn't you?"
"I'm not taking Mido from anyone and Link was never yours in the first place! I didn't even come here to talk about this." Saria already being in a hurry was slowly losing patience.
"Oh that's right, it's all you you you! But whenever Ruto wants to talk about herself nobody wants to know!" She then proceeded to shout ' me me me' over and over in Saria's face until it all got too much.
SLAP!
Ruto stumbled back putting a hand to her face realising she'd gone too far that time.
"Selfish? If I'm so selfish why am I here right now asking you to help me find the person I care most about in the world? Not only is it your duty as a Sage to aid the Hero of Time but more importantly it is your duty as a friend but if you don't care then fine, I'll go alone." Saria finished turning to leave, before she got anywhere Ruto grabbed her arm.
"I'll come." She meekly whispered being careful not to anger Saria anymore
"Ok, meet me in Kakariko in an hour." Saria finished before heading back to the castle to collect some things.
Link had managed to drop off to sleep, leaning his head against the glass a faint mist appeared on it as he steadily breathed in and out.
Saffron slithered into the room once again to gaze at him.
"Now to weaken him some more, a nice nightmare should do it." She quietly chuckled opening up a small bottle containing dark purple powder. Tipping some into her hand she lowered the glass to sprinkle some over the sleeping boy. "Sweet dreams my dear."
The room was silent. Link cautiously opened his eyes, at first everything was blurred but then he realised he was still in that awful tower. Looking around he noticed he wasn't chained up anymore which was odd since no one was around to keep an eye on him.
"Maybe she decided to give up and went bowling." Link mumbled sarcastically taking a few uneasy steps forward. Suddenly footsteps came around the corner to reveal…
"Saria!" Link lit up as he saw the one person that meant so much to him. "I'm really sorry about-"
"Don't bother explaining." She cut him off but there was something different about her tone of voice. "I'm not listening to your excuses I only came here to tell you it's over between us, I can't trust you anymore and I'm glad that stupid locket was stolen, it's not like it means anything to me now!"
Link looked devastated, a burning pain seared through his body as his heart ripped apart, this was mental torture of the worst kind. A second later the image of Saria disappeared and was replaced by Saffron who began to laugh triumphantly.
"Looks like the only person who wants you now is me." She sneered clicking her fingers. Instantly Link felt himself being lifted off his feet flying back towards to wall, the chains clamped themselves tightly around his arms and ankles causing physical pain to go with the mental. "I like my guys where I can keep an eye on them, you and I would make an excellent team you know?" Saffron said floating up to him stroking his hair. "Why have a girl when you can have a woman?"
Link woke with a start to find himself in the tower room again, was he dreaming or was this real? His whole body was shaking, that dream or more better described nightmare had given him quite a scare. Hot tears fought to escape his eyes but he shut them tight trying to hold any back. Link hated to cry in front of anyone especially the enemy, he didn't want Saffron to think her plans were working. He tried to calm himself down but it wasn't working very well, the thing that frightened him most had just been shown to his face looking so real. Saria had not only rejected him, she hated him.
Back at the castle Saria was frantically searching through Link's room for any useful items she might need. She assumed he had a few with him since hardly any were on the floor or in the cupboards. Moving a hand under the bed she felt a small box, carefully bringing it out to reveal the dagger that had belonged to Link's father.
"The Master Sword is a bit heavy for me so I guess this will do." Removing the dagger from its box Saria placed it in her belt then exited the room, what she didn't realise was that something was following her from a distance.
Saffron was now in the lower level room of the tower where Ebony had been silently waiting.
"Right I have a big job for you little sister." Saffron smirked twisting the locket around the fingers of one hand. "I am assuming that Link's friends will be arriving quite soon, I want you to destroy any that try to get to him, just save the Forest Sage for me." Ebony gulped, she wanted no part in this sad vendetta but on the other hand if it pleased her sister then it was worth it.
The village of Kakariko was bathed in an orange glow as the sun set over the land. Two figures ran up the old dull steps on their way to Death Mountain.
"Did you let anyone know where we're going?" Ruto panted as she tried to keep up with Saria.
"I told Impa that if we don't come back within a few hours to send as many of the other Sages she can find." Saria informed the Zora princess. Taking out a map she looked ahead.
"What the heck do you need a map for? The way is obvious! It's up!
Saria sighed for once she actually agreed with Ruto, scrunching the map up she put it back in her pocket to carry on walking.
Death Mountain loomed over the two girls, as the name states it's not an easy place to travel up. The weak of mind and weak of body usually fail this feat. Saria stopped for a breath after scrambling up another tall ledge, Ruto eventually joined her after struggling to pull herself up. Behind them stood the highest cliff in the whole of Hyrule.
"Lucky for us we don't need to worry about that." Saria smiled standing back on her feet to continue their journey.
"How do you know where they are?" Ruto asked catching up to her.
"Because I saw a suspicious looking cave on the map that you called useless." Saria replied turning off the main trail which led to a small downhill path leading into said cave.
Inside the cave it was empty apart from the large flashing portal in the back. Saria ran in pointing to it.
"There's our answer, come on let's go!" She yelled jumping through without hesitation. Ruto was a little more careful.
"She must really love Link, she's been very commanding recently." The Zora shrugged following her fellow Sage into the unknown.
The world was dark, purple clouds hovered over the sky while the ground was dry and lifeless. The Shadow Sister tower stood glaring over the land near to where the girls had come out in, taking a final look behind them they entered it.
The first room was dimly lit by small candles dotted around the walls of the room. Dead leaves and vines grew out of the corners of the cold stone floor which caused every movement to echo loudly. Ebony was sat waiting in the shadows for anyone to come through the door, after her long wait two people finally did.
"Ah so you've come at last." She grinned flying out of the shadows landing neatly in front of them. "Well if you want to see your dear Hero of Time you'll have to get past me first."
Saria tilted her head to one side looking confused, she wasn't used to making friends with people then having to fight them.
"I guess you'd be Ebony then, Ellen was a nice disguise you pulled off." She said calmly. " You must care about your sister a lot to be her personal lap dog." Saria smirked seeing Ebony's anger building. Ruto stood quietly behind Saria, there was no need to say anything since her friend was doing fine on her own.
"Saffron said to leave you for her but I'm sure she wouldn't mind me weakening you!" With that Ebony flew up into the air before diving down casting a spell as she did so, Saria leapt out of the way pushing Ruto with her.
"No one makes me fall on the floor!" Ruto shrieked jumping up to power a blue orb that she shot towards Ebony with great speed. The younger Shadow sister crashed into a wall from the blow, even though she managed to quickly recover it had given Saria enough time to think of a plan.
"Ruto, see those vines over there?" She whispered. "If you distract her again I'll bring them to life." Ruto nodded understanding what Saria had in mind.
"Hey shadow sap over here!" Ruto shouted running around the room away from Saria. Ebony growled taking the bait perfectly.
The Forest Sage stood silently reciting a spell in her mind, a soft wind began to blow through the room drifting towards the dead vines, unexpectedly to Ebony the plants sprang to life clawing towards her. Trying to resist wasn't an option since the vines were too strong and a moment later she found herself tangled in a tight mess on the floor.
"Don't get yourself involved with people way out of your league." Ruto smiled dusting her hands off.
"It's alright, we'll get your sister back to normal for you." Saria said softly. "We just have to keep you down here for obvious reasons, Ruto would you mind keeping an eye on her…I want to do this by myself."
"Um if you're sure, if it gets too much I'll be straight up though!"
Saria thanked her then headed up the crumbling stairs to the highest floor.
Upon entering the final room she saw a pale looking Link practically hanging from the wall.
"Link!" She exclaimed running over to him, for some reason the glass was down but Saffron was nowhere in sight. Link opened his eyes blinking a few times.
"Sar? Is that you? Don't say this is a dream again." He choked out not knowing how much more pain he could take that day. Saria had never seen him look so helpless, she gently placed a hand on his face lifting it to look at hers.
"Shh it's ok now, I don't know what she's been doing to you but I'm really here, I'm going to get you out of this." She smiled affectionately. Link was so happy to see her, all he wanted to do was to hold her, to make everything up to her, unfortunately the metal chains were stopping him moving anywhere.
"Touching." A sly voice scoffed sarcastically. "Such a shame this fairy tale of yours ends here." Saffron appeared in the room clasping her hands together.
"You'll pay for hurting him." Saria threatened narrowing her eyes as Saffron moved closer.
"Oh really Forest Sage? Come on and try me then!" Saffron summoned her long dark sword charging towards Saria. The younger girl moved quickly out of the way taking out the only weapon she had, the dagger.
"You think you can beat me with that puny thing?" Saffron burst into laughter letting her guard down, Saria took the chance, using all of her strength she ran at Saffron sinking the dagger into one of her arms. The eldest sister cried out in pain. "That was a lucky turn." She let go of her wounded arm making a slash for Saria who easily avoided it.
Link watched the fight anxiously, not being able to protect Saria was killing him inside. He gasped when he saw what happened next.
Saffron made another swipe with her blade knocking Saria's flat out of her hand. After that she threw her sword aside rose into the air and dashed towards Saria pinning her against the wall by her throat.
"Looks like I win." Saffron whispered with glee telepathically calling her sword to her from across the room. "Now to finish you."
"I don't think so!" A voice filled the room followed by a storm of blue magic orbs all directed at Saffron who loosened her grip letting Saria slip to the floor catching her breath. Saffron twisted around to see the intruder.
"I see Ebony didn't do as I told her to." She snarled powering up some dark spells to counter Ruto's attack. Just as the showdown was about to commence the room fell into total darkness, a new guest had arrived.
A/N: Reviews are always welcome.