Chapter 29: The Hero's Dark Side
Two days went by. Nothing very eventful happened on the boat, aside from the party playing with the Pokemon cards and Link getting to know his son a little bit more.
The night time fell and the party fell asleep in their cabins.
Uten had a dream in which she was swimming through the deep ocean, and eventually she saw two red eyes look up at her through the darkness. The two eyes ascended and revealed a body that looked exactly like hers, just completely dark. It swam up to the surface and then she looked up. Her eyes opened for real. She looked up and saw her cabin, and in her cabin there were two red glowing eyes looking down at her. It raised a sword and sliced at her torso, which hurt her insides tremendously. She got off of her bed and rushed through the corridors to the other cabins.
"Help! Someone's here!" Uten screamed. She turned around to see the two red eyes looking at her through the darkness.
A cold and evil voice sounded from where the red eyes were. "You chose to kill them! You thought it was your decision to end their lives!" The red eyes approached her, and Uten kept on running through the corridor. Poump awoke and came out of his cabin, as well as Zhago and Tipa. They noticed the red eyes following Uten.
"That can't be good. Not at all." Zhago said.
"I think I know what this is about." Poump said. He pulled out his Magic Sword and pursued the red eyes. Uten eventually made it to a large room, where she barred herself in. The room had plenty of areas to hide. Poump tried shooting his energy beam at the red eyes, but they seemed to move out of the way from the attack. Then the eyes walked right through the door into the room Uten was hiding in. She tried hiding behind the different barrels in the room, but the red eyes found her very quickly. Uten got a better look at the eyes and discovered that it had a body, a silhouette of some kind. It shared the shape of Link with his green tunic.
"What in the-?" Uten exclaimed as the Dark Link thrusted it's sword into Uten's face. Even though her face didn't open up in reaction to this sword, it felt really sharp and painful, as if the sword's cut sunk itself through her head. The pain felt real, even though her head was completely fine. She fell to the floor in immense pain from the attack.
Zhago, Poump, and Tipa made it to the barred door. "It's barred." Zhago said as he tried pushing it open. "Hold on." He said as he grabbed Poump and Tipa. He teleported through the door and into the room, accidentally landing on a barrel, causing it to combust and the barrel's contents rolled across the floor. The Dark Link looked at the other three who landed in the room.
"This is going to be fun." Dark Link said maniacally with his voice of menace. He walked through the room and approached the three party members with his sword ready to attack. Tipa and Zhago tried attacking the Dark Link, but it parried both of their attacks and sliced through them, making them feel pain on the inside. Poump thrust his Magic Sword forward towards the Dark Link, which noticeably caused him to flinch just a tiny bit. Poump stabbed at him again, but this time the Dark Link hopped onto Poump's sword and looked at him. He felt weightless on the sword. However, Dark Link's energy froze Poump in place. All Dark Link did was stare at Poump for a little bit, and then he hopped off of the sword. Tipa ran up to the barred doors and opened them up.
"Where are you going Tipa?!" Poump shouted to Tipa.
Tipa looked back at Poump and then ran out of the room. She went through the corridors and eventually arrived at Link's cabin, which was locked. She looked both ways through the corridor and then flinched a little bit when she saw Link standing right behind her with a blank expression on his face. She waved her hand in front of his face. "Wake up." She said.
Link all of a sudden shook himself out of whatever the heck he just went through. "Tipa?"
Tipa put her hand out. "Gimme sword." She said.
"You mean this?" Link said as he pointed at the Master Sword on his back.
"Yuh." Tipa said.
"You can't have this." Link said with a slight red glow in his eyes.
Tipa decided to improvise. "Follow meh." She said. Link followed her through the corridor to the room where Dark Link was. She opened the door and Link saw Dark Link dominating the three party members inside. The Dark Link unnaturally shifted its gaze onto Link, as if it snapped it's own neck. The Dark Link paused and assumed Link's stance. Link walked into the room towards the Dark Link and then the Dark Link also walked forward at the same exact pace as Link's. The party recovered from the pain and looked up to see Link and Dark Link mimicking each other's movements exactly the same. Link made a feint, but Dark Link also made a feint as well. Neither of them managed to hit each other. Their swords waved away. Link decided to back up and the Dark Link also backed up. Link charged forward with his sword out front and Dark Link did the same exact thing. They bumped into each other and fell back. Link felt hurt, but he noticed the Dark Link was also hurting. The two of them clashed their blades together, both of them having the same exact movements, as if it was a reflection.
The party members watched the fight for a bit. Zhago came to the conclusion that if Link gets hurt, the Dark Link gets hurt as well. "We need to hurt Link if we want to hurt that thing!" Zhago said.
"Hurt Link? What if we kill him?" Uten said.
"That might be just what we need to do." Zhago said. He pulled out his sword and went for Link. He stabbed at Link, but Link parried the attack. The Dark Link forced itself to move Link into attacking the downed Sheikah Warrior. Link jumped into the air and stabbed the sword straight into the ground, but Zhago rolled out the way just in time.
"They want to kill us, just like they killed our friends." Dark Link said to Link.
"These people are my friends!" Link said to Dark Link. "They didn't fully mean to kill them! It was a big misunderstanding!"
"They are a detriment to us! We must let their blood spill!" Dark Link said.
"AUGGHH!" Link screamed in excruciating pain as Dark Link slid himself into him. The Master Sword dropped out of Link's hand. Tipa picked it up, but dropped it as she noticed it seemed to be burning hot. Link, merged with Dark Link, became a much more visible version of Dark Link. Link's blonde hair turned white, and his blue eyes turned pure red. His whole tunic turned from green into black. "There is no more Hero, there is just US!" Dark Link said. The Dark Link pulled out a dark version of the Master Sword with a red crossguard instead of the purple crossguard. Dark Link swung his sword into the ground and it created a dent in the floor. "I can hurt you all now. For real this time." The Dark Link swung his weapon at the party members. Poump held the Mirror Shield in front of him, which blocked the sword's attacks. Tipa rolled up to the Master Sword and grabbed it. It wasn't hot anymore, and she was finally able to use it for herself. She slashed at Dark Link and managed to cut him just a bit. Dark Link fell to the floor and disappeared.
"Look out Tipa!" Uten screamed to Tipa. Tipa turned around and saw Dark Link approaching her from behind and she quickly blocked the incoming attack. As the battle happened, Poump noticed 4 ghosts appear around Link. They were the ghosts of a Goron, a Rito, a Zora, and a Gerudo.
"Break out of it Link! We know you're better than this!" The Zora ghost said to Link.
"Let go of your dark feelings!" The Gerudo ghost said.
"Link is no more! There is only Dark Link!" Link replied.
Poump watched Tipa and Dark Link clashing with each other a little more and then remembered something. He rushed out of the room and ran through the corridor to Link's cabin. The room was locked, but Poump decided to punch the door open. He saw Pep standing in the center of the room with his pig next to him, looking out the window. Pep looked back at Poump with a worried expression on his face. "What's going on?" Pep said, sounding a bit worried.
"Come with me." Poump said. He picked up Pep in his arms.
"AAHH!" Pep screamed and then bit Poump's arm.
"OW!" Poump exclaimed and then he dropped Pep onto the floor. Pep got up. Poump felt his arm a little bit. The bite wasn't too bad. "Just follow me kid."
"Okay." Pep said. Poump ran through the corridor and Pep followed behind. They reached the room with Dark Link and entered. Tipa was still clashing with Dark Link, and Uten and Zhago were watching from a distance. Poump presented Pep into the room and Dark Link paused to look at him. Then as if by instinct, Pep ran up to Dark Link. "AAAHHHHH!" Pep screamed like he was in pain. He jumped right up to Dark Link with his arms out and then he embraced the evil beings with his arms.
Everyone's visions turned blurry. They closed their eyes and then opened them again. They found themselves in a flat plain, which seemed to be endless. The ground was wet, allowing them to see their own reflections in the water. The only thing they could see around the endless plain was a single wilted and dead tree, and Link standing in unison next to Dark Link. Pep stood in front of both of them.
From Link's perspective, he saw Pep standing in front of him, not moving at all. Then, next to the dead tree, a bunch of Dark Links rose from the ground. An uncountable army of them walked in formation towards him and surrounded Pep. Pep spread out both of his arms and levitated into the air. The Dark Links all looked at Link and then pointed at his feet. Link looked down and saw Dark Link looking at him in the reflection. The Dark Links lined themselves up in a single file line behind Link. Link marched forward, with the multiple Dark Links marching behind him. Pep was levitating away from him. He tried running, and the Dark Links also ran. No matter how fast Link ran, Pep would always levitate away much faster.
After what felt like an exhausting amount of time, Link stopped running. Pep was still suspended in the air above him. He looked behind himself and saw the dead tree. Link realized all his running got him nowhere. The tree was still in relativity to where he was. The line of Dark Links were also looking back at the tree. Link looked forward and then saw the back of another line of Dark Links. They were looking forward. Link walked to the side and they walked to the side in sync with his movement. He looked up at Pep and then saw the horrifying image of Pep slowly being overtaken by Malice, becoming a demon. The Dark Links all pulled out their swords and Link pulled his sword out as well. They all pointed it at Pep.
"Kill the child." The Dark Links chanted together. "Kill the child."
"Kill the child."
"Kill the child."
"Kill the child."
"Kill the child."
"Kill the child."
The Dark Links started to walk out of sync from Link. They all piled on each other, some of them stabbing themselves with their swords. Their bodies fell limp as they piled up, creating a mound of dead bodies that lead up to Pep. Without thinking, Link climbed up the dead bodies of the Dark Links. As he climbed the bodies, he started to see familiar faces on the bodies. He saw Revali, he saw Mipha, Urbosa, and Daruk. All of his former friends from 110 years ago. As he climbed, he eventually saw the faces of Yunobo, Teba, Riju, and Sidon, all dead. He kept on climbing the mound of dead bodies, that seemed a lot more tall and endless than what he remembered it looking like. More faces appeared. The faces of Poump, Zhago, Tipa, and Uten, all dead. Then he saw the faces of himself, with white eyes. He kept climbing and then he saw the dead body of Zelda sandwiched between the dead bodies of the Dark Links. He stopped to look at her and put his hand on her face. She was cold with her lifeless face limping lazily. Then her eyes opened.
"No… NOO!" The dead Zelda screeched. This startled Link a little bit. "This can't be happening! Hyrule is no more! It belongs to Demise now!" She continued screeching and then her dead arms grabbed Link's shoulders. "This is all because of YOU! Everyone is dead! The only hope we have left rests on that island!" Zelda let go of Link's shoulders, and he continued climbing the tower of dead bodies. It seemed endless. The faces of the citizens of Hyrule appeared. He knew all of their faces. Among them were Selmie and Nebb.
After what seemed like several minutes of climbing the dead bodies, Link made it to the top of the tower. He walked across the skeletons of many monsters. He saw Pep, suspended in the air. He walked towards Pep, but then the arms of the skeletal monsters reached up and grabbed his legs. Pep stopped being suspended in the air and landed on the floor. He wore a green tunic and the Master Sword on his back. Pep also seemed to be older. The skeletons of different monsters rose to attack Pep, but Pep defended himself and killed them. More skeletons rose from the floor and then generated flesh around their frames. Pep dodged out of the way from their attacks and smote them with the Master Sword. He used a cracked Hylian Shield to defend himself from incoming attacks. After killing the last monster, Pep turned around to Link and ran to him. Pep tried pulling Link out of the grasp of the skeletal arms, but then the skeletal arms pulled Link deeper into the tower of bodies. As Link sunk into the ground, Pep screamed in fear, but Link couldn't hear him. Link could barely see a thing as he was crushed by the bones of the monsters. The bones then started to clear out into a cube shape, making a room where Link could stand up in. The walls were made of bones. The skulls on the wall turned to Link from all corners of the room and started to glow red in their eye sockets. The bones around the room configured themselves into an abomination that Link had never seen before. It was just a jumble of bones made to create an original creature. Link felt behind his back but he didn't feel a sword at all. He tried feeling his back but he couldn't even feel his own back either. He put his hand back into his vision and found out he had his own spine in his hands, covered in blood. His own blood. The abomination rushed at him, and he dodged out of the way. He threw his spine at the creature, causing it to combust instantly.
The bones around the room started to rattle and then they stopped rattling. The room disconnected itself and then the bodies surrounding him started to enter a freefall and he fell as well. He couldn't see any sign of the floor at all. Just an endless abyss, and the dead bodies surrounding him. Then the body of Calamity Ganon appeared beneath him. It was quite large. He landed on it, feeling no pain at all. He looked up and saw Calamity Ganon's face look up at him. "You were the evil that carried out my desires. YOU caused the Calamity in the long run. And now, you must face your own child in combat. HE is what stands in the way between US and our victory." Link looked at his hands. His hands were covered in darkness. He now wielded the Master Sword, but it had a red crossguard, and it radiated evil energy.
He looked up from the sword and Calamity Ganon's body landed in the plain of water with a splash. The ripples died down in seconds, and Calamity Ganon's body disappeared. A lone figure in a green tunic approached Link with the Master Sword in hand, and the cracked Hylian Shield. It was Pep, and for certain, he looked like he was 18 years old. Pep went into a battle stance. "I'm sorry for what I have to do, father." Pep said. "You became the very thing you seeked to destroy, and now I must put an end to your turmoil. Demise sleeps within you now, and the only way for it to be gone, is for me to kill you." A body fell onto the watery surface behind Pep, making a splash. Another body hit the floor. Link looked up and saw the whole sky filled with falling bodies, forming a circle around the area where he and Pep were standing. He looked into his reflection and saw himself with red surging eyes. He was wearing armor now, made of pure Malice. The bodies rained from above and piled up in a circle around him and Pep. Pep circled around Link, readying his weapon. The two of them circled around each other, waiting to strike. The two of them rushed at each other and Link swiped at Pep. Pep feinted his attack and dodged Link's attack. Pep pointed his sword right at Link. The two of them kept the fight going on for a long time. The bodies piled around them until they could only see the sky through the hole that the bodies created.
The two of them waited in anticipation for the next attack. They stared at each other with great intensity. Pep's Master Sword glowed brightly in the reflection of the water, and Link radiated pure darkness from his being. Pep sheathed his sword and his shield. He stood still, without any intention of fighting. Link ran up to Pep, feeling the blood lust overcome him. Then, as if it happened in a split second, Pep pulled out the Master Sword from his sheath and striked at Link's body, causing Link to fall to the floor. Pep threw his shield to the side and jumped into the air with the Master Sword blade first into Link's abdomen. The sword pierced right through Link's torso, and Pep looked down at Link's face. Tears came out of Pep's eyes. "I'm sorry it had to be this way."
Then blackness. Link couldn't see a thing anymore. Was this what death looked like? Then he saw the face of Efiath, the woman on Windfall Island, appear before him. She had a face of pleasure. He blinked and then saw her naked body beneath him. She was moaning loudly, gripping hard onto the bed frame above her head. Link looked to his right and saw Dark Link looking at him.
"This is the moment in which We were rising." Dark Link said. "A mistake We made for our own pleasure. A mistake that would haunt our mind for the next 8 years. You wondered why the Master Sword would sometimes reject you, and this is the moment where I bonded myself into your consciousness. A secret you kept for your selfish desires. Something that the Spirit of a Hero wouldn't possess, yet you kept on being the Hero. This mistake you made will never be undone…" Then the Dark Link disappeared. Link looked down at Efiath. She closed her eyes and moaned.
"Oooh yes!" She said. Link felt a sweet release, and then Efiath disappeared from his vision. He saw blackness once again.
Then, as if it were an echo, he heard a feminine voice amidst the darkness. "Link." There was a pause. "Link." Another pause. "Father." Link found himself sitting on the grass field, just outside of Kakariko Village. Hyrule Castle was in the distance, completely fine. The field was peaceful. He looked to his left and saw a 21 year old woman with purple hair and a purple tunic sitting in the grass next to him.
"H-Hilda?" Link said.
The purple haired woman nodded. "Yes father. It is I, Hilda."
Link looked at Hyrule Castle in the distance and then back to Hilda. "What's happening?"
"A lot is happening." She put her hand onto his shoulder.
"How are you… Hilda?" Link said. "What I just saw, it felt so real."
"Don't fear father." Hilda said. She looked behind herself and she saw Zelda walking up to them with two horses following her. "What you just saw will never happen now."
"Really?" Link said.
"Yes. You can trust me. You feel conflicted right now because of the mistakes you made in the past. What you have done in the past can't be undone, but you have to face your fears and overcome your previous failures. You need to make the best of what you've done."
"But the Master Sword…" Link looked at his hand and saw the Master Sword materialize in his hand. "I'm not worthy of it. I have many regrets. I've done many horrible things." Link started crying. Hilda scooted up to Link and put her arm around his shoulders.
"You have done horrible things, but all of them can be redeemed. Your anxiety is making yourself believe that you are much worse than you really are. That woman you bedded with on Windfall Island. There are many things you can do to redeem yourself with her." She started petting Link's hair. Hyrule Field stopped moving, the wind stopped, and the light movement of the grassy fields came to a halt. "You can overcome yourself if you believe in yourself." Hilda looked at Link and then she disappeared from his vision.
He saw blackness once more. He blinked again and found himself in the plain with the wet reflection on the floor once again, with only the wilted dead tree in sight. He looked down and saw the reflection of Dark Link looking up at him. He walked past the dead tree and then looked into his reflection again. He saw nothing but himself in his own green tunic looking up at him. He turned around and looked at the dead tree. Dark Link stood next to the dead tree, with it's sword drawn. Link looked at Dark Link with a calm expression on his face. Link didn't draw his sword, and he stood still watching it. Dark Link slowly approached Link with it's sword drawn. Link stood completely still as his Dark self approached with a gradual increase in speed. Dark Link came up close enough to Link and then prepared to attack. In a split second, Link reached behind his back and pulled the Master Sword out of his sheath and then in one fell swoop, he striked Dark Link causing it to fall on the floor. Then Link jumped into the sky with the Master Sword pointed down at Dark Link's body and then he plunged it deep into Dark Link's abdomen.
"NOOOOO!" Dark Link exclaimed. "We were supposed to go hand in hand! You would use my power to exemplify your wrong doings! Your mistakes that you made will never go away!"
"You might be right about mistakes never going away, but if there's one thing I know for certain, I can learn from them." Link said as he plunged the Master Sword deeper into Dark Link's being. "And that's something that you would never understand."
Dark Link reached his arm out to the sky. "This… can't… be happening…" Dark Link's arm fell to the floor limp. Link got up, with the Master Sword still inside of his dark persona's body. Link looked up at the dead tree. Magically, the dead tree started to bloom with flowers, and it corrected it's wilted state. The tree stood proudly in the vast empty plain of reflection. The tree's reflection was of itself. Link looked behind himself and then he saw his former Champion friends. Mipha, Revali, Daruk, and Urbosa all smiled at Link. They made way for three people that came into his vision. It was Zelda, 21 year old Hilda, and little boy Pep. Zelda and Hilda held both of Pep's hands. They let go of his hands and allowed him to walk forward towards Link. Pep slowly walked up to Link, and Link kneeled down. Link brought both of his arms out for Pep. Pep ran forward and hugged Link. Link hugged Pep. Both of them closed their eyes. Link opened his eyes and then he saw the citizens of Hyrule looking at the two of them, all smiling and clapping.
Link closed his eyes once again and then opened them. He was still huggin Pep, but they were on the boat, surrounded by the Monster Squad and the other crew members.
Zhago pulled out the Eye of Truth and examined Link with it. Link didn't change at all, nor did he have a shadow form inside of him anymore. It was just him and Pep. Dark Link was no more.
Link and Pep finished their embrace. Link looked around at everyone in the room. "Well that was quite the unfortunate event. Let's get ourselves settled down now. We're approaching Windfall Island tomorrow morning, so we should rest up right now."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Poump said, with bags under his eyes. The rest of the crewmembers got into their sleeping cabins. Link and Pep went into their sleeping cabin as well and then they fell asleep for the rest of the night.