Hello readers! I just wanted to clarify something. This story takes place seven years after Zelda sent them all back in time after they beat Ganondorf.
Chapter 10
A flash of light and suddenly you feel as though you're being hurtled forward at great speeds, only to stop so quickly it feels like your heart would be thrown from your body. That is what traveling though dimensions is like. When Phantom Ganon opened his eye, he found himself in the Forest Temple, the true Forest Temple. Dark Link stood before, a look of victory on his face.
"It worked. I can't believe it. After all these years…" While Dark Link reveled in his new-found freedom, Phantom Ganon calmly began to examine the room. This was definitely the chamber below the forest temple, but there was something missing…
"Where are the paintings?" Dark Link looked up at Phantom Ganon question, hoping nothing was wrong.
"Huh?"
"The paintings Lord Ganondorf created to serve me in my battle with the Hero. They are not here." It was true, the walls of the room were blank. In fact they showed no sign of anything being ever being up there.
"Who cares? Maybe Ganondorf decided to get rid of them after you failed. Now come on, I want to see what's its like outside." Dark Link made his way for the door, followed by a slightly confused phantom. Outside the elevator stood waiting for them, and the two jumped on and were quickly brought up to the upper floor. The entire time Phantom Ganon could not shake the feeling something was wrong. The dark presence that had existed when he was last here was gone. Instead a feeling of peace and balance filled the air, like the darkness had never even existed. This would only be possible if Lord Ganondorf had relinquished his power over this temple. But why would his master do that?
As the elevator came to a stop, they stepped into the main chamber. The room was filled wit the light coming from the four torches in the center of the room. The amount of light in the room threw them off for a moment, being trapped in a world of darkness did not help your eyes.
Before they could go any farther four poes appeared, each one above one of the torches. Each one was a different color, blue, green, red, and purple. The purple one was the first to speak.
"Phantom Ganon, it is a pleasure to see you once again. It has been many years."
"Greetings Meg, I did not expect to see you or your sisters here. Tell me, how fares Lord Ganondorf?" The poes looked at each other before Joelle, the red poe, spoke.
"You mean he doesn't know!"
"Silence sister!" The green poe, Amy, snapped. "Are you saying sir, you do not know what has happened?"
"My companion and I have been sealed away in the Shadow World for the past seven years and have not heard of any news since then. Why, what has happened?" The phantom looked to the sisters for answers, who seemed unsure as to how to answer him. Beth, the blue poe, was the first to respond.
"Lord Ganondorf has been defeated by the Hero of Time." The news sent shockwaves through Phantom Ganon, who seemed taken aback from the news. Dark Link just stood in the background, a smile of satisfaction on his face.
"That is…impossible. You mean to tell me that the great Lord Ganondorf was killed by that simple Hylian!" The phantom was quickly losing his composure as panic and confusion entered his voice.
"Not killed, simply sealed away in the Sacred Realm in the hopes that he would not escape." The news did not help to calm Phantom Ganon, who looked as though he was going through a breakdown.
"And that's not all!" Joelle spoke up. "Afterwards Princess Zelda used the magic of the ocarina to reverse time seven years, undoing all the damage he had done."
"You're saying that they did not only imprison Lord Ganondorf, but erased his very existence!"
"No, to erase every trace of him would have been a feat of magic that not even the ocarina is capable off. She just sent everyone in Hyrule back in time, memories intact, so that they could have a second chance to live there lives without Ganon's influence." Meg felt sorry for the former boss of the temple, who was not taking the news as well as she hoped.
"Wait a minute, if they made it so that Ganondorf never rose to power then that's mean that all the other bosses, Morpha, Ghoma, King Dodongo, should have never been created, right? So why are we still here? For that matter, why are you still here?" Dark Link hadn't said anything up until this point, mostly because he was too happy to hear that Ganon had been put in his place, but he felt he needed his questioned answered.
"We are ghosts, the dead are not affected by such things. As for you, you said you were sealed in the Shadow World correct? The Shadow world is timeless, so you were not affected by the change in history. In fact technically, you are arriving here a few months after you were sealed." That made sense to Dark Link. It also explained why he never seemed to age in the Shadow World. With time standing still, he supposed, one didn't grow any older.
"Well I least I don't have to worry about the Hero looking older than me." Dark Linked joked, but seemed to be the only one in the room you found it funny.
"Come, we are leaving." Phantom Ganon ordered to Dark Link, who just began to laugh.
"What's a matter? Upset that your master is not as great as you thought?
"Do not toy with me shadow, I am not in the mood." With that Phantom Ganon walked towards the exit, not bothering to look back to see if Dark Link was following. Dark Link started to leave himself, but stopped a moment to look back at the sisters.
"Hey, before I go let me ask you something. Have any of you heard of a poe with one eye before?" Dark Link looked to the sisters for an answer, but all he got was Meg shaking her head.
"A one eyed poe? We have never heard of such a thing." Meg replied. Dark Link let out a hmph and turned to catch up with Phantom Ganon, leaving with the feeling that the sisters were holding something back.
"Do you think we should have told him?" Beth asked softly.
"You know what the penalty for messing in his affairs would be. As the oldest of us I am not willing to jeopardize my sisters' welfare." Meg disappeared after that, followed by her sisters as they each went off do to there business.
Dark Link found Phantom Ganon outside in the Forest Meadow. It was a little odd actually being in Hyrule. Everything was just so…peaceful. The gentle breeze of the night air, the firefly's flying around. It was so different from the Shadow World. Slowly making his way towards Phantom Ganon, Dark Link thought it would probably be a bad move to mock him at the moment.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Dark Link asked. Phantom Ganon didn't take his eyes off the stars and let out a sigh.
"I …don't know. Over these years I've clung onto the thought that one day I could gain my masters forgiveness and rejoin his army but now…I just don't what to think." Dark Link didn't really know how to respond, not being used to these kinds of situations, so he just said the first thing that came to his mind.
"Well, at least you still get a chance to kill the Hero." Phantom Ganon looked down at Dark Link, surprised the shadow was not mocking him.
"That is true…" He replied, and Dark Link flashed him an evil smile.
"That's right. Now come on, we have ourselves a hero to kill." The two unlikely companions, in a time not there own, made there way out of the meadow and into the Lost Woods, a newfound determination in there steps.
It was two hours since they had entered the Lost Woods, and the peaceful feeling Dark Link had felt in the meadow had quickly disappeared as the two found themselves lost.
"Don't you know your way around here? This was supposed to be your domain." Dark Link griped as he sat down to take a break. Phantom Ganon just gave him an annoyed look.
"I never actually traveled through theses woods. Lord Ganondorf transported me directly to the temple so I never got the chance." Dark Link let out another groan.
"I could fly out of here and carry you." Phantom Ganon suggested.
"That is not going to happen." Dark Link shot back. Getting back on his feet to try and determine there next move, he spied a bit of movement in the nearby bushes. Slowly making his way towards them, something short and green darted out and made a run for it. Before it could get away, Dark Link tackled it, wrestling with it for a moment before pinning it to the ground. Getting a clear look at it he could see it was a Kokiri child.
"AAAA! Let me go let me go let me go!" The kid shouted as he struggled against Dark Link.
"Shut up!" The kid quieted down at Dark Links outburst. Picking the kid up he handed him to Phantom Ganon.
"Here, hold this." Phantom Ganon took the child, holding him by the scruff of his neck with one arm. Dark Link looked carefully at the sniveling boys face, snapping his fingers as he relized who the kid was.
"Hey I know you! You're that Mido kid that thinks he's real tough stuff, aren't you?" Mido stopped struggling when his name was said. Dark Link grinned.
"Oh this is going to be fun." Dark Link slowly drew his sword and Mido pissed his pants.
"Wha…what are you going to do to me?" Dark Link moved his sword closer to the visibly shaking boy, his grin getting even wider.
"We'll get to that later. First I want to know what your doing out here." Mido gulped as the sword was brought up to his neck.
"I…I…I was looking for Saria. She wa-wa-wasn't in her house so I thought she might be in the forest meadow. I swear it's the truth."
"Hmm, I believe you. Now listen, my friend and I here are a little lost and I'm assuming you know how to get out of here right?" Mido nodded.
"Good. So I guess that settles it, you're going to lead us out of here." Dark Link stepped back, pleased with his plan. Mido looked down at his sword again and somehow found the courage to speak up.
"Only if you promise not to kill me!" Dark Link gave an angry look at Mido, who instantly regretted what he said. Dark Link was about to give him an angry threat when he was interrupted by Phantom Ganon.
"Agreed, now lead the way." Shaken up, Mido looked up and Phantom Ganon, and with a nod, pointed them in the right direction. Dark Link, grumbles, then sheathed his sword and followed.
With there newfound guide they were able to make there way out the forest in hardly any time. Save for a few wrong turns, for which Mido was angrily cursed at for by Dark Link, they made it out with little trouble, soon finding themselves in Kokiri Village. Mido, still scared, looked over at Dark Link who was looking back with an evil glint in his eye.
"You-you promised not to kill me remember!"
"Oh don't worry, I'm not going to kill you." Mido let out a sigh of relief as Dark Link looked up at Phantom Ganon.
"How far do you think you can throw him?"
"Hmm, a good distance."
"Alright, aim for that pond."
"HEY WAIT A-"Mido was cut short as Phantom Ganon winded und threw him into the air and into the clod waters of Kokiri pond. Not much time later Mido ran off, wet and covered in mud, crying all the way to his house.
"Ha ha ha! Oh that was great! Did you see the look on his face? Priceless!" Dark Link kept laughing to himself as Phantom Ganon just stood there annoyed.
"Now that we have gotten that out of the way, don't you think we should leave before we attract unwanted attention?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Dark Link calmed himself and followed Phantom Ganon as both made there way down the ledges. Once they were down they made there way out the exit tunnel, over the bridge and out into Hyrule field.
Both of them came to a stop as they came to Hyrule Field. This was definitely not the rocky, barren wasteland of the Shadow World. No, this was a vast filed of green that even under the night sky held a strange beauty to it.
"I must say, this Hyrule is a lot more than I expected." Dark Link commented.
"I…would have to agree with you." There moment of peace was cut short however, as gruff voice cut though the air.
"Well well well, what do we have here? Two travelers out by themselves on a night like this? That's dangerous you know." Turing to there left they saw three men, two on horseback and one on the ground, each one holding a sword. The big one who had just spoken was most likely there leader.
"This just isn't lucky day boys." With a hand gesture the three bandits all moved forward to attack. Groaning in annoyance, Dark Link shadow-warped on to the back of the leader's horse, much to the bandit leader's surprise.
"Hey, what the-"Dark Link quickly silenced the man with his sword, grabbing the man by the hair then slashing his throat. Knocking the bleeding man's body off the horse, Dark Link grabbed the reins and tried to get the horse under control.
"Boss!" The other horse-rider turned around to try and help, but found himself impaled on Phantom Ganons spear. Seeing that they were clearly outmatched, the bandit who was on foot decided it was a good time to make a break for it. He only made it a few feet before a blast of dark magic ended his life.
The bandit leader lay on the ground clutching at his throat, trying to get the blood to stop flowing out of the wound. As he felt his life slipping away, he saw Dark Link looking down at him from his own horse, smiling at him.
"This just wasn't your lucky day." Those were the last words the bandit heard before death overcame him.
Bringing the horse to a stop and dismounting, Dark Link looked over at Phantom Ganon who seemed to have the second horse under control. Figuring the phantom could take care of himself, Dark Link decided to go through the bandits belongings. They didn't have much, only 300 rupees and some dinged up weapons that Dark Link wouldn't even consider using. The only thing that caught his eye was a bottle attached to a bandit's belt.
"Hello…" Looking over the bottle in his hands, Dark Link could see a little pink fairy inside. Remembering from the memories from the Hero, Dark Link knew this was one of those fairies's that brought people back to life.
"I'll save you for later." Attaching the bottle to his belt, Dark Link turned his attention back to the bandit's loot. While he was doing so the sun began to rise, but he probably wouldn't have noticed until Phantom Ganon spoke up.
"It's…beautiful."
"Huh?" Dark Link looked up at the phantom, who was staring at the sunrise. The bright mixture of red and orange was unlike anything either of them had ever seen, and the sunlight hitting the field was nothing short of breathtaking.
"I have never seen such a thing before. I have always been kept in the darkness since my creation. This is…spectacular."
"Yeah it's…great." Dark Link wasn't exactly sure how to respond. Phantom Ganon usually didn't show so much feeling towards anything besides Ganondorf, and this sudden display of emotion made Dark Link uncomfortable. Both of them stood in silence for a minute or two, until Phantom Ganon regained his composure and remembered why they were here.
"You probably know more about the Hero than I do, being his shadow. Tell me, what exactly should our next move be?" Dark Link looked back at Phantom Ganon, glad that little display was over.
"Well, I suppose the best move would to go somewhere were he usually hangs out, and then take him by surprise."
"And where would you suggest?"
"Well, the market would be a good place to check, but that usually has a lot of people and guards about. Probably the best place to start is that ranch place he likes, Lon-Lon." Dark Link gestured towards off to the distance, where the silhouette of the ranch could be seen.
"Come on, I bet the Hero just dying for a reunion." Mounting his newfound horse, Dark Link rode off towards the direction of Lon-Lon Ranch. Mounting his own horse, Phantom Ganon took one more look at the sunrise before following.
As the sun rose up over Hyrule Field, Lon-Lon Ranch was beginning to wake up itself. Malon had already woken up a little while ago and was busy making breakfast for her dad and Mr. Ingo who, by the sounds of it, was yelling at her dad to get out of bed.
It was a little annoying how her father slept all the time, but she loved him anyway. As she placed everyone's plates on the table, she could hear her dad coming down the stairs followed by Mr. Ingo, acting grumpy as usual.
"I swear Talon I'm getting sick and tired of going through this with every morning. I don't want to drag your lazy ass out of bed every morning for the rest of my life!"
"Oh hush up Ingo, there's no need to use such language so early in the morning. Besides…sniff sniff, mmmm, what to have cooking for us Malon?"
"Good morning to you too dad, and its bacon and eggs." The men sat down at the table, Ingo still grumbling, as Malon served the food on to their plates. Before anyone could enjoy there meal however, the front door opened up, revealing a large, dark man wearing some kind of skull mask.
"Uh, sir? Where a tad bust at the moment, you think you could come back later?" Paying no attention to Talons words, the man kept walking forward towards them. Ingo was the first to react, grabbing a knife from the table, he stood right in front of the man and waved it right in front of him, not realizing he was dealing with the Phantom of Ganondorf
"Listen buddy, I don't know who you think you are but around here…" Ingo never got to finish his sentence. In one quick movement, Phantom Ganon backhanded Ingo, sending him flying into the wall.
"INGO!" Malon screamed as she and Talon ran to his aid.
"Shit, I think his arm is broken." Talon tried to wake his unconscious friend up but Ingo didn't respond. Seeing Phantom Ganon standing before them, Malon moved in front of her father and Ingo.
"Who are you? What do want form us!" Phantom Ganon said nothing, instead moving to the side to let Dark Link move in front of him. "Link?"
"No, not Link" she thought "Link doesn't wear a black tunic or have black hair. His skin is too pale to be Links, and those eyes…who has black eyes with red pupils?" Malon tensed up as the dark man got closer to her.
"Close but no sweetheart, they call me Dark Link." It shocked Malon to hear his voice, it sounded almost exactly like Links. If it weren't for the way he talked to her she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.
"You must be the ranch girl, Malon, that the Hero's friends with right? I have to say your not really that bad too look at." As he spoke, Dark Links eyes traveled lower. This did not go unnoticed.
"Malon, please don't do anything rash…" Talon thought to himself, hoping his daughter would be ok.
"Just what are you looking at?" Malon asked, not liking the wandering eyes of the shadow. Dark Link simply looked up and put it simply.
"Your breasts." In a clear lack of good judgment, Malon slapped Dark Link hard across the face. The entire room went silent and Talon grabbed his daughter and moved her behind him. What happened next shocked everyone even more, as Dark Link began to laugh.
"Ha! Glad to see that some Hylians can put up a fight! She's probably tougher than bandits we met, huh Phantom?" Phantom Ganon just stared at the laughing shadow, deeply confused. In the time he had known Dark Link, he never let anyone treat him that way. Those that did usually met a painful end.
"O.K., enough of this, I have few questions that…hey, what's that smell?" Dark Link looked over and made his way to the table where their breakfast lay. Looking over the wonderful smelling foods, Dark Link realized how hungry he was. Grabbing a handful of bacon Dark Link stuffed it into his mouth. It was perhaps the single greatest thing he had ever tasted.
"Now this is some good stuff, much better than that shit they have in the Shadow World. Who made it?" Malon looked up.
"I…I did sir."
"Well, it's good. Come here a minute." Talon tried to hold his daughter back, pleading with her to stay behind him. Malon hugged her father for a moment, assuring him that she would be fine, before walking slowly to Dark Link trying to put on a brave face.
"Now, I know for a fact that your good friends with the Hero, so all you have to do is tell me where he is right now, and me and my friend will be on our way." Malon did know where Link was, but felt that she would be putting him in danger if she told him. Praying that he believed her, she decided to lie.
"I don't know, he hasn't been around recently." Dark Link looked into the ranch girl's eyes, getting the distinct feeling that she wasn't being honest with him.
"Alright then, guess I'll just have to talk to that Ingo fellow over there, maybe after we rough him up a bit he'll be willing to tell us." Dark Link gestured for Phantom Ganon to bring the unconscious Ingo to him, but Malon ran in front of the Phantom before he could get to him.
"NO! Please I'll tell you where he is, just don't hurt anyone, please." Dark Link smiled at her newfound willingness to cooperate, and gestured for her to come closer. Moving back over to him, Malon told him everything.
"Link not here, he's not even in Hyrule. He left a week ago with Princess Zelda to a land called Termina, something about alliance talks. I have no idea when he will be back, that's all I know." Dark Link looked Malon straight in the eye again, and could tell she wasn't lying which really pissed him off. The Hero being in another land, one Dark Link hadn't even heard of before, really complicated matters, and Phantom Ganon could sense the same thing.
"So now what?" Dark Link looked over at Phantom Ganon question, his face revealing his growing anger.
"How should know! Links not even this damn country and we have no way of knowing when he coming back! Not to mention that by the time he does get back one of those damn sages will have probably figured out were here! SON OF A BITCH!" In his anger, Dark Link kicked one of the table chairs sending it flying across the room. He was about to attack another chair when he was stopped by an excruciating flash of pain shooting through his body. Falling to his knees Dark Link screamed in agony clutching at his chest. He felt as if someone had jabbed a thousand needles into his heart and was pushing them in as deep as they could go.
Malon, seeing a moment of opportunity, grabbed the frying pan she used for the bacon off the table and, in the hope of knocking him out, bashed Dark Link over the head with it. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work.
The pain Dark Link had felt before had subsided just in time for him to feel the frying pan come crashing down onto his skull. Needless to say this did not help his mood. In an instant, Dark Links hand was around Malon's throat, and she was pressed up against the wall. Talon yelled for his daughter, but was held back by Phantom Ganon, who was unsure as to what exactly had just happened.
A moment later Dark Links sword was drawn and was raised up to Malons face. Malon tried to break free from her attackers grip but he proved to strong for her, and she soon found herself turning red from the lack of oxygen. Her entire life flashed before her eyes, her mother playing with her when she was young, the day Epona was born, her first meeting with the fairy boy…
Dark Link was fully prepared to end her life then and there, but something happened to him that he couldn't quite explain. For a moment, his angry red eyes meet with her terrified blue ones, and Dark Link flinched.
Dark Link let go of Malon and she fell to her knees, gasping for breath. Looking back up at him she saw him staring back at her, with an angry, confused look on his face.
"I'm going to take nap in one of the beds upstairs. Don't disturb me." Dark Link told the Phantom and then made his way for the stairs. "Keep an eye on them, don't let them try anything."
"Are you alright Dark?" Phantom Ganon was a tad concerned for the shadow. Falling to the floor in agony was strange enough, but Dark Link was not the kind of person to hesitate to kill someone.
"I'm fine." Dark Link left for one of the bedrooms upstairs, leaving the phantom to keep an eye over the terrified family.
Dark Link eventually found himself in one of the bedrooms. Judging from the messy state and the unmade, comfortable-looking bad, he guessed it to be Talons. Moving to the edge of the bed to sit, Dark Link thought over the events that had happened downstairs.
"What happened to me down there…?" Dark Link put his head in his hands. These last few days had really been messing with him. Every time something seemed to be going right, something bad just came along to ruin it. He began to wonder why he started this thing in the first place. Lying back on the bed, he began to drift to sleep until a voice brought him back to reality.
"I may have forgotten to tell you something else." Dark Link knew that voice. It was one that he was quickly growing to hate. Opening his eyes he saw the one-eyed poe floating above him.
"WHAT the HELL do you want?"
"Oh what's a matter? Not happy to see me?" The poe floated about the room, giving Dark Link a fake "hurt" look.
"Tell me why you're here before I ram my sword up your ghost ass."
"Hmm, touchy. Anyway I'm just here to tell you that I overlooked one little aspect of the medallion." Dark Link did not like were this was going.
"Does this have anything to do with what happened downstairs?"
"Yes exactly! Well, except for the frying pan, that was the girl. She's got guts, that one."
"Just tell me what I need to know."
"Fine, geez. Apparently there is a fail-safe device in the medallion to prevent anything evil from escaping the Shadow World. You see, in order to prevent that from happening, whoever uses the medallion dies seventy-two hours after its activation, and since you are the one who actually used the medallion I'm afraid you're the one who will die. That pain you felt was just a prelude to the main event."
"So that's it? I'm going to die?" Dark Link was more than just a little upset. He finally escapes that hell-hole and now he was going to die? It wasn't fair!
"No, you're not going to die. You see there's a way to deactivate the magic. All you have to do is put the medallion back on its pedestal."
"And go back to the Shadow World? I don't think so."
"No, you don't have to do that. You see, the pedestal has a counterpart in this world located in Kakariko Village in the well. All you have to do put the medallion back there and everything will fine." Dark Link grumbled, life just kept throwing more and more shit at him.
"Is there anything else I need to know?"
"None, I swear to it!" The Poe raised his hand to where his heart would have been, trying to look truthful. Dark Link just groaned and laid back on the bed.
"Alright, I'll go to Kakariko and take care that, but not now. I'll do it after I get some sleep.
"You do that. I'll be waiting at the well for you but I suggest you hurry. Time is not on your side." The poe vanished in his usual style and Dark Link closed his eyes.
"Life's too damn complicated."
Wow, my longest chapter yet. Hope you enjoyed it and please leave a review!