Twilight's POV

After several more hours of loneliness, the door on my cell clicks open. I don't raise my head from its position resting against my knees. I've been trying to sleep for a long time, but my body stubbornly refuses to rest. I don't feel at all tired. Or hungry. Or thirsty. Still, just cold and empty, the Malice that adorns my skin providing the only comfort I have.

Someone steps into the cell, and the door closes again. The visitor doesn't even say a word. They just come and sit right next to me. I open one eye. It's First. The man looks exhausted. The Malice on his body slithers slowly, as though it too is pained and tired. I wonder if Sky really did run a blade through his chest. He seems alright, if that's the case.

"Your friends are coming," he says eventually, perhaps noticing my open eyes. "They're very strong."

"Did they hurt you?"

"I hurt them first."

We're silent again.

"You haven't told me…your story," I say awkwardly. "Are you the first hero?"

"According to Dark, yes, I am."

"Dark?"

"Dark Link."

"Oh. Right."

First shifts his body so he's looking more directly at me. I raise my head to look back at him. "I was chosen personally by Hylia to help her win a war. She came down from the heavens and assisted us Surface-dwellers in preparing for this war. She knew that a dark god, Demise, was going to burst from the bowels of the underworld and try to steal the Triforce for his own purposes. The Master Sword that you are all so familiar with, well, when I first held it, it was a blade forged by gods for gods. Hylia had me break it down and reforge it, so that I might be able to wield it properly. That sword was created through my own sweat and blood."

I nod.

"And when Demise came, I fought right alongside her against his forces. But he was too powerful. His demons were too much to handle. So Hylia carved a section of the ground out and had all her people, the Hylians, assemble there. She planned to raise it into the sky, so that the Hylians would be safe from the demons forever more. The rest of the intelligent races agreed to remain on the Surface and fight for their homeworld. And I…I stayed too. The Master Sword's power was needed to complete this magical erection of the land. I had planned to join my people at the very last moment, to use the Master Sword's power once the maximum number of monsters were slain. But I was fatally wounded, so I used the Master Sword's power and watched as the land soared away without me."

He closes his eyes, the Malice curling around his body slowly. "Hylia held me as I died. She cried as I bled out. But, I don't think she could bear to watch me die." He stares longingly at the floor. "She was so beautiful, and her arms around my body were the most fulfilling thing I've ever experienced. Even so, she could not bring herself to be there the moment I breathed my last. I suppose, to a goddess, death is a confusing and terrifying void. So, she left me before I passed on, unable to heal me.

And as soon as she was gone, Dark took me away, took me here. At the time, I had assumed he was just another one of Demise's demons. But…he explained to me who he is; a time-traveling reflection of the spirit of the hero. A spirit that is partially mine, my will passed onto the hero of the Sky by the power imbued in the Master Sword, but mostly the hero of the Sky's, wrought into full effect by the curse of Demise.

I was still dying when we got here. Dark had stabilized me as best he could, but I was still going to die. He wanted my servitude, and he wanted me alive. Malice fixed both of those problems. My life extended for all eternity, and my free will easily bought. So I've been here for…a long time, I think." He sighs heavily.

"How did Malice save you?" I demand. "That stuff…I've seen it in action. It kills people!"

"It isn't killing you," he says shrewdly.

"It feels like it is," I mutter.

He nods. "You're not tired. You're not hungry. You're not thirsty. You feel nothing. Isn't that right?"

I nod.

"Malice and darkness is all you need now. You won't eat. You won't drink. You won't sleep. The darkness in this room, that will be more than enough to sustain you indefinitely."

I shiver.

"For me, it is worse," he goes on. "Malice keeps me alive." He raises up his tunic and gestures to a thick coating of Malice along his torso. "There is not skin underneath that. Without it, I will bleed and I will die."

I just stare at it. The Malice pulses, and First drops his tunic, covering it. "What about where Sky stabbed you?" I question.

"That is healed normally," First answers. "Darkness has remarkable power."

"Then why isn't the other one be healed?"

"Nothing can heal that wound. Demise himself gave it to me. His blade was tainted with some kind of poison, the likes of which Dark has never seen, as far as I know. My gash will not close, will not clot. Hylia herself couldn't save me. Malice is the only solution."

I nod slowly. We sit in silence for several more moments.

"Do you hate him?" I ask eventually. "Dark Link?"

First shrugs. "He makes me do terrible things. But I would be dead if it weren't for him. I'm not sure which is worse." He sighs. "Feeling anything is difficult for me anyways."

I nod slowly. "The other heroes will find some way to heal you. Us. I'm sure of it."

First smiles sadly. "It is nice that you think that."

Wild's POV

"Wild, do you feel alright?" Warriors asks me as we go about setting up a makeshift camp in this horrible place. We've been walking too long, we're tired, and we're fairly certain this entirely circular room that has thus far been void of monsters or threats can serve us as a safe resting place for a few hours.

"I'm worried sick, if that's what you mean," I reply as I go about making dinner. My hands shake as I hold the spoon to stir the soup. I hate this place. It's so dark and creepy and cramped. No open space. No fresh air. No sign of life besides us and monsters. Not even moss has claimed these decrepit black walls. I want nothing more than to find Twilight and get out. I don't care about killing the Black Lizalfos right now. My only two goals are getting Twi back and then leaving. So, no, I guess I don't feel alright. But I'm not ill.

"You feel warm," Warriors insists, reaching a hand out to test the temperature of my forehead.

I push it away. "I'm fine."

"I'm serious," the Captain insists. "Just standing next to you is warmer than anywhere else in this room."

Wind perks up at this and comes to stand beside me, running his hands across his bare arms. "G-good! It's freezing in here!"

"Is it?" I question. I haven't noticed it being cold.

"Not if you've got a fever it isn't," Warriors says, his voice taut. "Come here."

"I feel fine!" I snap.

"It won't do us any good if you're sick!" Warriors fires back.

"Hey! Everyone calm down!" Sky jumps in. "We're all tired and stressed and hungry. Let's not make it worse by yelling at each other."

"I was simply asking a question," Warriors says curtly. "Wild, I'm serious. If you're ill, even if you just have a fever, we need to deal with it."

"Of course he's warm, Captain," Time says, resting a calming hand on Warriors's shoulder. "You shouldn't be surprised."

"That he's sick?"

"I feel fine! I'm not sick!"

"I know you aren't," Time promises. He points at the crystal strung around my neck. "Of course he's warm."

"But that thing's cold," Hyrule objects. "It's evil and cold."

"It is," Time concedes. "But a phoenix is warm."

"He isn't a phoenix right now," Sky says, obviously confused.

"Haven't any of you ever seen Twilight's teeth?" Legend demands, picking up what Time means.

The others exchange glances.

"I'm sure they look something like this," Time says, baring his own teeth. They're unusually sharp, especially his canines, and look like a weird mix between Hylian and wolf teeth. Wolf teeth! Of course they do! And I'm sure Twilight's look even worse than Time's.

Various gasps of understanding fill the room.

"I'm warm because the fire of a phoenix is rubbing off on me," I say to Warriors, putting it all together myself. I mostly understood this beforehand. Twilight showed me the tattoo on his forehead, explained it was wrought by the crystal's darkness. But he never showed me his teeth.

"Precisely," Time agrees. "So, Captain, he's fine."

Warriors shakes his head slowly. "...Very well. I apologize, Wild."

I accept his apology with a nod.

"The longer you use that crystal the more severe the after-effects are," Four guesses. "Time, you've used it for several hours now. But Wild's used it for maybe half an hour at most. How is he already affected?"

"He's had the crystal with him all day now," Hyrule says. "That thing is condensed magic, probably originally condensed by the Master Sword. But such thick evil can only be contained so much. It leaks into the air around it. Not enough to affect anyone but the person wearing it. And the leakage is weak. Not enough to inflict transformation, not even transformation over time. But enough to brush off some of your true form's traits onto your regular body. For Time and Twilight, teeth. For Wild, heat."

"Not just teeth," Time says. "This too." He pulls up his undershirt and shows us a mark on his chest. The same symbol that Twilight's got on his forehead. The same dark lines inked into his skin. For now, the marks are light and perhaps unnoticeable at a quick glance. But they're definitely there all the same.

"When did you notice that?" Legend questions.

"My chest ached all afternoon. I looked at it only a few minutes ago." He moves to pull his armor on again. That was why he took it off. I was honestly wondering.

"It should go away," Legend says. "You only had that thing with you for a few hours. That's not enough to make it permanent."

"But whoever keeps that thing with them the whole time will end up with a permanent mark," Hyrule says gravely. "This mission is likely to take a few days."

For half a second, silence as we digest that. I had no idea just carrying the crystal would affect us this much. We stare at the ground for a moment.

"I'll do it," we all say at once, then stare at each other.

"We can't all be the hero this time," Four says lightly.

We exchange glances.

"Then I'll do it," Time and I say again.

I huff. He crosses his arms over his chest.

"I've already got a mark," he says, gesturing to his chest.

"It won't hurt me to get one," I say. "Transformation into a phoenix never hurts. This shouldn't either."

The others just watch us debate.

"It makes more sense for me to have it," I push. "If anyone gets hurt, I should have it."

"And someone is bound to get hurt," Legend adds.

Time nods. "...Alright. I can't argue with logic. You keep it, Wild."

"It's not like it's going to kill me," I say quickly. "Twi's fine and he's had it with him for years, probably."

Time nods again. "I suppose you're right."

"Now, I've got dinner ready," I say. "Who's hungry?"

Twilight's POV

"How about you?" First asks after we sit quietly for another long while. Sitting so close to each other, our Malice jumps between our bodies. His feels different from mine, and it doesn't stay with me for long, as though I'm not a satisfactory host. Likewise, the Malice that leaves me quickly returns, as though I am the only suitable being to bear it. But the substance is stupid, and continues jumping between us and quickly retreating. It will continue to do so until we separate from each other, I quickly decide.

"What about me?" I reply numbly.

"Tell me your story," First answers.

I nod slowly. "Oh. Sure. Well…it all started several years ago. I worked as a ranch hand on a ranch in the smallest village in all Hyrule. It was a quiet place with not many people, and I lived alone with my horse and did my work not for the paycheck but for the small pleasure of working to feed my good friends and tentative family. One day, the town swordsman Rusl asked me to deliver a sword and shield to Hyrule castle as my village's tribute to the royal family. But the day before I left, our village was attacked by monsters. I woke up alone, my best friends captured and my village distraught."

I shake my head slowly. "The rational thing to do would have been to form a search party of multiple people, or ask for Rusl's help, or even get some kind of a weapon. But I guess being rational isn't part of being a hero. Instead of doing any of that, I ran out of my gated village and straight towards the woods where I thought my friends were taken. Alone. Unarmed. Without any kind of combat experience."

First's lips curve up slightly.

"I got across the bridge leading out of my hometown and was met with this solid black wall of…something. I didn't know what it was then. Now I know it was a barrier between my realm of light and a realm of shadows that had overtaken Faron Woods. A monster from inside the barrier reached through the wall and pulled me in, choking my neck and forcing me into unconsciousness."

First listens with rapt attention. Even the Malice belonging to him stops its idle slithering and almost perks up on his skin, as though he and it are truly interested in what I have to say. So I go on and on and on for hours. I talk about waking up in that dungeon alone, in a new body, with no idea where I was or how I'd gotten there or what had happened to me. I talk about meeting Midna and her breaking me out and our original agreement of servant and master that quickly gave way to strained partnership and then eventually a healthy friendship. I talk about finding the Master Sword and the legacy that it carried at that point, and that I'd never known it was another hero who forged it. I talk about the Mirror of Twilight and finding its shards and soon I'm trying not to cry as I get closer and closer to Midna leaving.

And weirdly enough, it feels good. The sorrow I feel now, as I always do when recounting my true best friend's departure, feels so much better than the horrible emptiness and cold I've endured for the past several hours. First feels something too. He stares at me with veiled eyes and a soft smile on his face, a kind of saddened ghostly smile, as though he knows all too well the loss I'm experiencing. I guess he does. Dying in his beloved's arms–don't think I didn't notice the fondness with which he described Hylia–knowing that his last moments on the planet would eternally stain her memory with grief.

I finish my tale and by that point I am crying. Usually I resist the urge, but simply feeling emotion feels so good that I've embraced the sadness and allowed the tears to fall from my eyes. The tears from my right eye are gross and black and stained with evil, proving that that eye is doubtlessly pink and yellow and horrible, but for the moment I don't care.

"Wonderful," First says after we both sit in silence and tears for a few minutes.

I stare at him in disbelief.

"I'm sorry your friend left," he promises, tears falling from his own cursed eyes. "Terribly sorry. How tragic. But…I felt something. It's been so long. Too long." He sighs. "I was always guarded against feelings anyway. A knight, a direct servant of Hylia, ought to present himself accordingly. Undaunted by any situation, good or bad. When emotion was taken from me, it wasn't so terrible. I'd always forced that on myself anyway. It was just easier now. But I've been without real human company and real human emotion for so long…" He smiles. "Thank you, Twilight. You've given me something I didn't know I could have any longer."

I take his hand, smiling back as much as I can. "You're welcome. I think, together, we'll be alright."

He nods numbly. "Together. I agree."

The cell of our door suddenly clicks open. Dark is standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes glowing with terrifying excitement. "Hello again, Twilight."

I pull my hands into fists and don't reply.

"Ready to see your friends again?"

I don't say anything.

Dark grins malevolently. "Get up and follow me, both of you. We've got some heroes to capture."

First and I are left with no option but to do as he says, the Malice on our bodies coiling threateningly around our necks as the thought of resistance flashes through both our minds. So we stand up and walk behind our enemy obediently, both of us unsure what's about to happen. I get to see the others again. But what will Dark make me do to them?