Chapter II: The Nightmare After

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't written or updated anything in so long... Keep an eye on my profile. I plan to update it and attach an apollogy/explanation when I get the chance. Anyways, there's another note at the end of this chapter. Enjoy!

The Twilight Palace, on the walkway directly in front of where the Twilight Mirror's portal had deposited him the one time he had ventured into the Twilight Realm itself. It was not the same as the last time, however. When Link had actually visited the palace, it had been crawling with monsters created by Zant, and unnatural darkness, like a great fog, surrounded the palace, filling the moat and spilling over the walls like water.

It had taken the Master Sword's power to pierce that darkness, but even it did not protect him when it touched his skin and he inhaled it, which immediately caused him to revert to his beast form, the one protection the Triforce of Courage granted him, which was at least better than being turned into one of the monsters like the Twili.

Now, the palace seemed empty. The walkways showed no signs of life, and there was nothing moving in the palace's windows.

It took Link a moment to get his bearings and remember that he wasn't actually at the palace. This was Midna's dream, or was it his own? Or maybe Cain's?

Link had not expected something so concrete so quickly, especially with being conscious that it was a dream. "Midna? Where are you?" he asked, "Can you hear me?"

His voice echoed unnaturally for no louder than he spoke, but there was no response. He looked up toward the palace again, and this time spotted something. A faint green light, in one of the windows near the top of the structure. With a sigh, Link started toward the palace at an easy jog. He remembered climbing that building once before, and was not looking forward to repeating the process.

He did not have to, it turned out, as the main door opened directly into the throne room. Link stopped, looking back, and saw not the outer walkway behind himself, but the correct passage of the structure as he remembered it. Okay, something he was not fond of regarding dreams, such jarring transitions.

There was Midna seated on the throne, a long flowing robe similar to the one Link remember Zant wearing. In fact, the room was exactly as Link remembered when he and Midna confronted Zant here. He was surprised there were not smears of meat and blood on the walls still after what Midna had done to him.

Midna's head was leaned forward and to the side, her eyes closed. Link called her name as he moved closer.

Then he noticed the shackles. Her wrists were bound to the arms of the throne, and her ankles to the front, so she could not move. Link called her again, moving more quickly, and his foot suddenly caught on something.

No, as he looked down, he realized something had actually caught his foot. A single blue hand, rising from the black floor, latched around his ankle and holding him fast. Link's own hand shot up to his sword, snatching the hilt and drawing the blade in one motion. He was not fast enough, however, as the hand suddenly pulled, and Link watched his own feet sinking into the black floor as if it were water, sending ripples across the room.

The hand had vanished beneath the floor, but he could still feel its grip on him. The floor was actually less like water and more like quicksand, as thick as it was, but he was still sinking into it. He shouted Midna's name, trying to wake her, but she did not stir, as the blackness rose over Link's waist and then his chest.

He kicked at the hand with his other foot, trying to loosen its grip while spreading his arms to slow his sinking, though it had little effect. In the distance, or perhaps more accurately in the back of his own mind, he heard a low, bass sounding laugh, slow and sinister.

But words flashed in his own mind, what Midna had told him. In this place, the stronger will dominates all. Link realized he was panicking, and that was weakening his resolve. Grinding his teeth, he focused his mind, trying to push the sudden fear of what was happening aside, and deliberately focusing on what he desired.

The distant laughter stopped, and there was a groan, though Link couldn't tell if it was of pain or frustration, and the hand slipped from his ankle as he rose, as if flying, from the floor. In a moment, he was on his feet again, and stomped one to confirm the floor was solid again.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash of something, and turned toward it, just in time to see the face in the wall, blue skinned like any Twili, which immediately faded from view, as if it had never been there. For one brief instant, Link had locked eyes with the face. They were the same as Midna's, yellow where a human's were white, with bright red irises surrounding pitch black pupils. But in those eyes, for that instant, he saw something completely different. A sinister malevolence like he had never before encountered other than the maniacal Zero.

Midna's fears had been correct, Link realized. There was a third presence in here with them.

As he realized this, the walls began to melt. Like thick black tar, they began to ooze around him, the liquid spreading slowly across the floor. "I can do this," Link told himself, closing his eyes and focusing, making a deliberate effort to exert his own will, and force the walls back into place.

"Don't get distracted," a low bass voice whispered directly into his ear.

Link's eyes shot open. "Wha-" he started to say, when two large blue hands shot from either side of his head, one clamping over his mouth and the other on his forehead and drug back...

Link fell, hitting the floor without any impact and falling directly through it. The hands vanished before he could strike at them, and now he could feel the wind whipping by. Turning his head, he saw something far below him, rapidly coming closer. He was miles above the palace, falling out of the sky. His heart racing, he struggled to regain his focus, and then, and moment later, managed to slow himself through sheer will, and set down on the palace roof lightly and unharmed.

"Come on out!" Link said, turning and looking around himself, "Why don't you show yourself? Unless you're afraid of me?"

"Oh, you I like," the deep voice said, this time from a definite direction, causing Link to turn with his sword raised, as the dark figure rose directly from the roof. Its body like flowing clouds of darkness, rising and taking shape, then the shadows opened, revealing two hands and the face, with the same red eyes as Midna, but so unnerving to stare directly into, unlike hers.

"I knew it," Link said, "So you really are Cain, and you're tormenting Midna in her sleep."

A smile appeared on Cain's lips, though his mouth did not move as he spoke. "Tormenting her? I am strengthening her, to face what is to come. She is too soft to save her own people, let alone to face a monster such as Shaklator. She needs me. By extension, you need me."

"Just like Shaklator herself claimed I needed her," Link said, "Let me tell you something, I don't need her. And Midna does not need a monster like you."

"You would condemn every person in this world, everyone you know and care about, to death, just because you fear me?" Cain asked, "You are just as foolish as Darius, to not accept help when it is offered..."

Suddenly Cain appeared behind Link, having vanished and reappeared so quickly. Link spun, aiming a strike at where he thought Cain's face would be. His wrist was caught by Cain's hand, and as he struck back with his right hand, Cain caught it as well. Cain's face leaned down close to Link, where he could just see it out of the corner of his eye.

Cain inhaled, taking a long deep breath. "Especially with such a close connection as you have," Cain whispered, "I can smell it. Shaklator's blood in you, an unholy darkness filling your veins, even after eight thousand years and countless generations. I wonder what it is like, to know you are descended from one of the greatest traitors history has ever known. A 'hero' who fought for years against those who opposed the current order, leader of an attempted genocide of both the Twili and Dra'thul, in spite of taking a dark elf as her husband, only to then turn on it all and change sides, for the sake of her own revenge on Darius, the man she believed had wronged her, and now spreading it to a complete xenocide of all life in the world."

"I don't care what connections we have," Link said, "I won't let her do it."

"And how do you intend to defeat her?" Cain asked, "She is far mightier than you. Your brief encounter in the Void taught you that much."

"How do you know about that?"

Cain chuckled. "Your will lacks the strength to hide your own thoughts from me in this place," Cain said, "I'll admit, it was an amusing idea, with Midna bringing you here to fight me. But I find the fun is going out of it."

"What do you want?" Link asked, "Why are you doing this to her?"

"Revenge is a simple enough answer, and it is the truth," Cain said, "The memory of what she did to the Twili during my era is as fresh as ever. I will spare you the details, but understand that I want her. I want to crush the life out of her with my own hands. If someone else takes her life, well, I suppose I will follow her example and spread my revenge elsewhere. I think killing every one of her living descendents would satisfy a bit. Now that I think about it, I think I'll do that anyway."

"That..." Link started, realizing what the creature was implying, "But that could be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people by this point!"

"Not to worry, I'd save you for last," Cain said, "Provided you cooperate for now. All I need you to do is not interfere any more. Midna is mine, and as I am no longer a part of the world of the living, as you consider it, will serve as my avatar, the new body to carry my consciousness. Though I do apologize that your relationship with her will have to come to an end, given that she will no longer be anyone but me..."

With a roar of rage, Link created a flash of white light born of his will. Cain recoiled, crying out in pain and releasing his grip on Link, who spun and quickly backed away before the monster could strike back.

"I won't let you have her!" Link said, "Darius was right, you are nothing but a monster."

Cain looked up, smoke rising from his hands and face, as his lips curled in a snarl, gnashing his teeth at being denied. "Fine," Cain said, "No more games. Come and save your princess, if you can."

Even Link didn't expect what happened when he lunged back toward Cain. As if responding to his will on its own, his sword suddenly began to glow, white light shining into the darkness, and the shape of the blade changed, growing in length, and serrations growing along the blade, intend on doing far more damage than just a slice.

The strongest will would prevail. Cain may have been nearly invulnerable in life, but here, he was not, if Link's will was strong enough.

Link suddenly found it wasn't. Cain did not even move, but Link's blow was deflected and he was sent staggering backwards from the force of the invisible counter. As Link regained his balance, he readied to charge again, only to find his sword changing once more. The blade rounded off and started to twist, the tip coming back toward him, the tip itself opening into the hissing mouth of a snake, fangs dripping with venom, aimed directly at him.

Link quickly hurled the weapon aside, which vanished in a puff of smoke as it hit the stone under them. Forcing himself to focus, he turned on Cain, clenching his hands into fists and struck back with nothing but his will.

There was no effect. "What...?" Link said, and then he found more happening. His feet were glued to the ground, but looking down found it was not the same as before. His eyes went wide with horror as he realized his flesh was melting, spreading across the stone like paint of every color, from the brown of his boots, white of his trouser, and the color of his own skin. He lifted one hand in front of his eyes, and watched as his fingers bent in unnatural directions, through no will of his own, and started to drip.

"No!" Link cried out, and found himself falling. He hit the stone hard, with a wet splat, and tried to push himself up, onto to find his arms giving way, as he sank closer to the floor, parts of himself running onto the stone in a constant stream now.

"Now, this," Cain said, not moving a bit, exerting this on Link through nothing but the force of his will.

Pain shot through Link's middle, and he screamed in agony, a second later finding himself lifted into the air. Looking down, he saw his own hanging entrails, his torso ripped away from his lower body, and his insides dripping not with blood, but dissolving themselves as the outside was. Pain shot through him again, and he felt bones shattering and flesh tearing. He ground his teeth, trying not the scream, but as his breastbone split in two with a loud snap, he was unable to do so, and screamed in pure, unmitigated pain.

When the red mist started to clear from his vision, he realized there were tears running down his face. In all his life, even as a child, he had never before cried from pain. But the realization was replaced with utter horror, when he realized he could see himself. Each of his eyes saw a different image, yet the same. He had been split in half vertically, and now the two halves had been turned to face each other, and he was still completely conscious. His next scream was not of pain, but of terror.

Suddenly, the two halves were slammed together, and like a twisted creation in clay, Link was restored, but it was slowly, and painfully, as each organ and bone moved into place, sending pain throughout his body. Then the pulling sensation started again.

"Stop it!" Link screamed, "No more!"

His own voice sounded strange to him, begging in such abject terror, a fear like he had never experienced. Fear at being so utterly helpless, fear of what would come next, and fear that, though he knew this was a dream, and not real, the simple fact that he was not waking up...

"All you have to do, Link," Cain said in a low tone, though his voice echoed clearly audible, "is submit to me and allow me to do as i want to your precious little Midna."

"Over my dead body," Link said through gritted teeth.

"So be it."

Link suddenly found himself flying through the air. As he flew, he checked himself, a brief sensation of relief flowing through him at the sight of his body being back to normal. At the climax of his flight, he looked down to see Cain forge a long, jagged sword out of his will, and ready it like a baseball bat, intending to cut Link in half when he reached the right height.

Then, Link was stopped in mid air. He looked down to see a large red hand holding him aloft about twelve feet from the ground. He looked up the length of the arm to see Midna. His strength was renewed at the sight of the love of his life was unharmed in any way.

Then, Midna was thrown aside as she was struck by magic much like her own. Link's rage renewed as he continued his descent towards the ground. He was able to land on his feet, only slightly crouching to lessen the inpact of his fall.

He looked up towards Cain. He was still recovering from the tenacious blow of magic that Midna had delivered to his face.

Have to get him while he's vulnerable, Link thought to himself.

Link stood up. He conjured from nothing but his will, a long blade of pure silver and rushed his downed enemy.

Only for it all to fail as he was slung to the side by an invisible force. He managed to get on his feet quickly.

What Cain then saw was his worst nightmare as Link willed a copy of his co- Triforce bearers into existence. Cain's face was contorted in anger, but was quickly replaced by fear as the golden triangle on Zelda and Ganondorf's hands began to glow brightly.

The snarl vanished from Cain's face in an instant, replaced with fear as gold sparks began to dance around Ganondorf's right hand, the golden triangle beginning to glow brightly for all to see. It was impossible for him to react in time, and with a single finger, Ganondorf sent a streak of gold through the air that struck Cain in the chest.

A hole was blasted through Cain's chest, sending black fog dissipated as the monster howled in pain. Immunity to common magic and weapons provided no protection to the power of the goddesses themselves, as he found in that moment.

Cain turned his head, seeing Zelda coming, and saw the gold light that appeared in her eyes. He tried to move away. Zelda thrust her hand forward. Like a lightning strike with no sound, a sharp hiss in the air, and Cain screamed, a foot wide chunk of his left shoulder was burned away, turning white and disappearing in thin air.

Link looked at Zelda as she issued a cry of pleasure as if she was enjoying this.

Another shot from Ganondorf caused Cain to cry out again, staggering back from the shock of the blast. Zelda blasted him a second time, this time crying out herself, though in a much different tone from Cain. More than half his body was burned away in the assault from the two,Cain staggered back, screaming in fury instead of just pain.

He saw Ganondorf's sneer, and in it, his own end rapidly approaching.

Then the rhythm was suddenly broken, a coming attack did not appear. With a long, throaty cry, Zelda had sunk to her knees, the glow fading from her eyes, and fell back on the stone floor. In the second he regained his balance, Cain turned, Ganondorf's next strike only grazing him as he disappeared in a thin trail of smoke and was gone in seconds.

Zelda and Ganondorf began to shimmer and disappeared.

I deeply apologize for the short chapter, especially after such a long gap in posting. But the next chapter isn't too far in the future! It will be a direct contunuation of this one.