Chapter Thirty-Five - Just Like Him
Sarah yawned and sat up. Opening her eyes, she winced as the sunlight became painfully obvious. She got up and looked around. She took a second to get her bearings, and only after that did she realize what was wrong. It was morning, Link was fast asleep in the chair, and Zelda's bed was empty.
It took her only a second to connect the dots. Forgetting her fight with Zelda, she rushed over to Link. After trying every way she could think of to wake him, she just shoved the chair over. He collapsed in a heap of chair and person.
After taking a few seconds to untangle himself from the toppled chair, he looked around.
"She's gone!" Sarah shouted.
"Wh-what?"
"Zelda is gone! You fell asleep."
He yawned. "No, I was up until sunup, which couldn't have been too long ago... Wait, he really got her? How? When?"
"I don't know! I just woke up half a second ago to find her gone and you asleep."
"Oh great..." Link grabbed his sword and ran out the door.
--
Zelda awoke only to find herself in a pitch black room. Standing, she started to walk forward, only to find that some sort of bars blocked her way.
A light was lit as Dark Link walked into the room. "The Queen of Hyrule, trapped like a caged rat." He walked up to the cage where Zelda was and laughed. "Your hero's still recovering. In about eight or nine hours he will awake only to find you gone."
"What do you want with me?" she demanded.
"Nothing at all, actually. I could care less about you. It's the fact that my counterpart takes so much interest in you that interests me."
"You're a twisted person, you know that?"
"Why thank you. I'm glad to hear that you noticed. Either way, you've got about six hours to sit here before I return."
"Just get it over with. I'd rather die now than wait six hours."
"Die? Who said you were going to die in six hours? Oh no, no, no, no, no. I have something much better planned for you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll see in about six hours," Dark Link responded as he left the room, extinguishing the light.
Zelda sat down on the floor. She was trapped in a cage, being held hostage in a place she didn't recognize, Link was nowhere to be found, and Dark Link was planning something. That last thought made her shudder. Whatever he had in mind, she knew for a fact that she wasn't going to enjoy it. With nothing better to do, she laid back on the crude mat and tried to go to sleep.
-
Zelda was jostled awake only to find Dark Link standing over her. She jumped up and backed away from him.
"Good evening, my Queen. Glad to see you awake."
"What time is it?"
"Oh, probably around noonish."
"You won't get away with whatever it is you're planning, you know."
"Oh really?" Dark Link smirked at Zelda, as if he knew a big secret. "And why is that?"
"Link will stop you."
"Oh please. He was up until six this morning. He won't even wake up until two. By the time he gets here, I'll be through with you."
"Through... with me...?"
"You heard me. What I have planned won't take much more than an hour or two, if that."
"What exactly do you have planned?"
"Oh, let's not ruin the surprise, shall we? Come along, then." Dark Link opened the door to the cage and stepped out.
"And what makes you think I'm going to come with you?"
"Simple: I don't care. You're welcome to stay in there, but I figure you'd be hungry, so I was going to feed you first. However, if you'd rather stay in here..."
"I'll come," she said, hunger overpowering reason.
"Good." Dark Link led Zelda out of the room and into another, where a table full of food was placed. Having not eaten since the day before, Zelda rushed to the table and ate like she'd never eat again, which was still entirely possible.
"Don't eat too much, now. We don't want your stomach to start hurting later, now do we?"
Zelda completely ignored him and continued eating, her royal instincts managing to slow her down. After eating as much as she could, she leaned back in a chair.
"Relax for a few moments. I'd rather not have you puke on me."
"Don't tempt me."
Dark Link smiled. "Already sounding evil. I think I'm rubbing off on you."
"I don't want anything rubbing off on me, got it?"
"Feisty little queen, aren't we?"
"Better than dead shadow."
"You're lucky my job doesn't include killing you, you know."
"Your job?" Zelda asked, curious.
"Yeah."
"What job?"
"You're stalling, aren't you?"
"Yup."
"Very well. I might as well indulge this one tidbit to you. I work for Ganon, which you already know. He told me to distract Link for a while. Seeing as how I despise that brat, I happily obliged. The only rule is that the only person I can kill is Link."
"Why, then, do you go through all this kidnapping and such? Would it not make much more sense just to lob his head off?"
"It does seem I'm rubbing off on you. However evil and twisted I may be, I still have a bit of honor left. Attacking the wounded is just plain wrong on either side of the fence."
"So, kidnapping is honorable, now?"
"Well, no, but that's not that dishonorable. I'm feeding you, answering your questions, even letting you live. All in all, I figure I'm being pretty nice, considering that I did kidnap you."
"You're only doing it to annoy me."
"That might be so. However, in the scope of things, does it really matter?"
Zelda stood. "Of course it does! It's like dangling a mouse in front of a cat! It's torture, plain and simple."
Dark Link laughed. "So, you're a mouse now? I must have missed the change." He walked closer to her, causing Zelda to back up against the wall. "You know, for a light-dweller, you're not half bad looking. I think I see what Link sees in you." He placed his hand on her cheek.
Suddenly, Zelda drew Dark Link's sword and ran him through with it. "Don't you EVER touch me!"
Dark Link dropped to his knees, and then removed the sword, sliding it back in its sheath. As Zelda ran out of the room, he stood. "Heh. This is going to be interesting."
Zelda turned right after leaving the room and found herself in a living room of sorts. Suddenly, Dark Link appeared behind her and shoved her to the ground.
"Here I was being nice and polite and you shishkabob me with my own sword!" He watched as she spun around and scrambled back against a wall. "Well, now I'm done being nice. I've always hated it anyway. You're going to regret doing that with every fiber of your being." He walked toward her as she tried to hide behind whatever she could. Finally catching up to her, he grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. Dragging her toward the hallway, he stopped and spun around as a crash echoed through the house.
In the doorway stood Link, his sword drawn. He seemed much taller, but it was just the way the light was. Either way, Zelda couldn't help but to stare at him. Even the way he stood seemed to announce 'hero.'
"Let her go!" he shouted.
Dark Link released Zelda, who ran over to Link. "Well then, this is unexpected. You're early."
"No, I'm late." He turned to Zelda. "Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine."
"What did he do to you?"
"N-nothing, yet. Perfect timing, by the way."
"Alright, reunion over. Zelda's my hostage, and I'd like her back. We have some unfinished business that needs taken care of."
Link walked to the center of the room. "You honestly think I'm just gonna hand her over?"
"No, but I thought I'd try at least. And for the record, I've been pretty nice to her, up until she stabbed me. The only injuries she should have are a few bruises and painful hands from grabbing my sword."
"That merits me running you through, you know."
"I've already been run through once today. Could we be creative, please?"
"I could always lob your head off."
"There we go! Creative! Well, it's a start at least. You and her think a lot alike, you know."
"Huh?"
"Never mind." Dark Link readied his sword. "You do remember what happened last time we fought, yes?"
"How could I forget?"
"What's he talking about?"
"Oh ho! She doesn't know! This is a twist. You see, last time we fought, I killed him. Gut stab, actually."
"He... what?"
"Plus, while he's been recovering, I've gotten better. I assume you've not trained at all?"
"Actually, no, I haven't. Does it matter?"
"Well, I figured you'd rather not let her see you die by my hand."
"You won't kill me."
"You sound so confident."
"You forgot one thing."
"And what's that, Hero of Time?"
"I am stronger than you."
"And how do you figure that?"
"Each and every time you've tried to hurt me or my friends, I win. You see, the difference between you and me is that you fight just to make me mad, yet I fight for a reason. I fight to protect my friends, I fight to protect Hyrule, and most of all, and this is the main reason why you won't win, I fight to protect Zelda!" he shouted, bringing his sword up then down to smash into Dark Link. Caught unawares, the Master Sword sliced deep into Dark Link's arm. He grunted and backed up, only to be attacked again by Link.
Dark Link had never seen him fight like this. He was borderline reckless, but each attack, each step, even each breath was precise. Link was using every tactical advantage he had, and unfortunately for Dark Link, he had a ton.
Link slammed the flat of his sword against Dark Link's sword, letting it bounce off. He brought it around, cutting through the air and finally coming into contact with Dark Link. He followed through with several more twists and turns that left Dark Link wishing that he hadn't got on Link's really bad side. Dark Link could see the anger in Link's eyes during every swing, every block. Dark Link had brought Link's wrath upon him, and he was really regretting it.
Zelda watched as Link drove Dark Link back against the wall. Something was different about Dark Link; each attack seemed to do more damage, each cut seemed to be real instead of his usual ethereal cuts. Dark Link was obviously stuck on the defensive, and Link didn't look like he was giving Dark Link any room to make mistakes.
And indeed he wasn't. Dark Link brought his sword to strike back at Link, but instead of Link jumping into defending himself, he turned the attack against the attacker. Sidestepping the attack, Link swiped his sword around and watched as it sliced through Dark Link. Not giving him a chance to recuperate, Link attacked several more times, incorporating several fancy sword tosses. Dark Link took every single blow and, as a result, collapsed onto the floor. Link brought his sword once again to Dark Link's throat, but instead of the middle, he placed it slightly to the left.
"Not so tough now, are we?"
"How? How are you doing this?" Dark Link asked.
"I told you, I am stronger than you."
"We are of equal strength."
"No. You fight for evil, for destruction. I fight for justice and light. So long as you fight with malice in your heart, love will always overpower you!"
"Well, I wonder how full of malice you are right now, hmm?"
"Shut up!" Link shouted, bringing his sword up. He swung it down, intending on cutting his adversary in two, but he heard Zelda's voice echo in the small house.
"Link, no!"
He stopped. "No? Why should I stop? He's tried to kill me. He's even kidnapped you! That's going too far. This shadow deserves every bit of pain I can inflict on him!"
"I know, but if you keep this up, you'll just be like him."
He seemed to calm, but only a little. He let his sword drift back to his side and walked over to Zelda.
"Well, you know what? You two go have fun. She doesn't seem that exciting anyways," Dark Link said, rising to his feet.
Within seconds, Link had unsheathed his blade. "You do not talk about Zelda like that!" he shouted, sending his sword smashing into the ground. The force of the blow split the wooden boards along the line where they were nailed together, sending Dark Link falling into the basement. Link turned and walked to Zelda.
"Come on. Let's go before he regains consciousness."
Surprised at how fast the wrath he had just released vanished when he spoke to her, she silently nodded and followed her rescuer.
