fleets: I couldn't just leave you guys with the last chapter ahhhh
also I was SUPER stoked to be able to finally write this chapter. :D
Also I should probably give a warning that this chapter gets a little um... stabby...
I'm trying hard to tone down the violence but some parts need to be disturbing, so there's only so much I can tone down. I think this will be the last of my disclaimers: it's safe to assume from here on out that I'll be including stabby scenes on a possibly regular basis. Just give a shout if it's too much (or too little, cause i can definitely dial it up).
Thanks for sticking it with me so far, I really, really appreciate it :)
Chapter 17: Darkness Returned
In the dim light of the desert temple, the dozens of eyes that belonged to the Nightmare Dethl peered over at Fuu who was staring angrily at the ceiling from where he was pinned down on the floor. They stared intently for a while, and then seemingly made up their mind and backed away, resuming conversation. "That expression, that is anger, is it not? We can no longer read your minds," it mused, and then several of the eyes in the room turned to Shadow Link who was standing by the mirror quietly. "Shadow Link, is that anger?"
"I don't know, Dethl. I think he looks happy," Shadow Link shot sarcastically.
"Truly? This is more difficult than we thought," a tendril tapped the large eye as though it were troubled. It observed Fuu again, reevaluating the diagnosis, and then it asked again, "Are you certain that you are not mistaken, Shadow?"
"Why don't you ask him, Dethl?" Shadow Link replied, annoyance building in his voice.
"Annoyance? We sense impatience. Ah, so you must think our questions… silly, perhaps. Then we must have been right all along." The multitude of eyes peering at Fuu and Sheik backed away and gathered over next to the Dark Mirror. They blinked in sync, giving the illusion of one creature made of many. "We understand that your memories are broken, Vaati, and in a way, it was instigated by us when we left you for dead in that final battle. We will be straight with you; we intended for you to die. However, we hope there are no hard feelings between us, Vaati, because you left us with no choice. Shadow, too."
All this time, Fuu barely made any indication that he was aware of what was going on around him. The corners of his eyes occasionally twitched, like an unpleasant thought had hit him, but other than that he lay completely still, glaring at a single spot in the ceiling over his head. Dethl rambled on, almost as though they were eager to justify themselves.
"You broke the Dark Mirror and hid away the pieces to a place we could not reach. You did not want us or Shadow to have influence in this world. We could not have the same kind of influence without the Dark Mirror restored, and you would not reason with us. You left us with no choice." The eyes blinked slowly again, observing Fuu's reaction. "Still angry, hmm," Dethl mumbled disappointedly. Finally they decided to release their hold on Fuu. The tendrils around Fuu's wrists and ankles loosened slowly, and Dethl waited in anticipation for a new response from the silent Fuu. Dejection could be seen on Dethl's eyes when it seemed like Fuu was going to continue lying there, but then, after a few seconds, Fuu's fingers clenched into a fist. Pleased by some kind of reaction, Dethl said excitedly, "But ah, see, good fortune would have it that you would survive, and the Dark Mirror would be restored as we wished. In fact, you had hidden the shards so well that if you had truly died, then we may not have succeeded in restoring the Mirror. It must truly be the work of fate that you survived, and with no memory of our treachery for this to be allowed to occur. Now the three of us can discuss matters as equals."
Dethl eagerly waited for a reaction. They seemed to hang on to every movement, every response, observing each change in expression with fascination. Finally, Fuu sat up and he rubbed his wrists where the black tendrils had held him before. His was contemplative, when he said slowly, "You're not lying…" He pointedly turned his head away from Sheik who was still helplessly pinned to the floor.
At this Dethl, cackled, and the sound of a crowd laughing rang in the room. "And why would we? We'll even admit that we used you to reach the shards of the Dark Mirror," they exclaimed. The largest eye disappeared into the darkness before it reappeared beside Sheik. Sheik was lifted into the air, and Dethl dangled the Sheikah in front of Fuu, amused. "No, the ones who are truly lying are those who were never on your side to begin with, Vaati. One of them is here."
Sheik twisted one of his arms free from the tendrils' grip, and with a quick motion grabbed a dagger hanging from his waist and cut himself free. "Fuu, don't listen to them they're manipulating you," he shouted, before doubled the number of tendrils trapped him once again.
Dethl scoffed. "And you aren't?" the eyes turned towards Fuu, smug. "You see how twisted they are, Vaati? Look what they did to you. How far you've fallen."
Fuu had never looked more enraged than he did now. He said nothing, though his eyes twitched from time to time while he glared at an empty space in front of him, lost in thought. He refused to look at Sheik, and from the way his shoulders shook, he was using every effort he had not to blow up in a rage. The silence was truly the calm before a storm, the tension crackling in the air. However, within that bottled rage were flashes of bewilderment, and his brows dipped uncertainly like he couldn't make sense of the story that was becoming clearer.
Dethl delighted in their own observation. "Ah, the look on your face," the creature slithered behind the mirror and the eyes gathered next to Fuu. "This world truly is different than the nightmare realm, we cannot read your thoughts as easily." One of the eyes, attached to a stalk like some headless snake, approached Fuu and peered at him closely. "That expression must be confusion," Dethl wondered aloud, "perhaps you want to tell us that we are lying, but something stops you. And now, you're wondering if maybe we aren't lying after all."
Fuu's head tilted ever so slightly by Dethl's comments. Then, he exhaled, and then stood up slowly, absentmindedly brushing the sand off of himself. He faced Dethl with that same silent stare, turning their words over in his head. Still hanging upside down helplessly where Dethl held him, Sheik tried to reach out to the former sorcerer.
"Fuu…," Sheik said, his voice beginning to waver now.
Dethl interrupted him, commanding attention once again. "We were on your side, Vaati. You were insistent that the Dark Mirror not be restored, and we had to kill you if we wanted to explore this world. This world is so much more fascinating than the nightmare world, where we are like gods. We know exactly what can and will happen in dreams, but here? Everything is delightfully unpredictable and real. For instance, if we told you that you are Vaati, what would you do? Your reactions have been fascinating so far. And the fear on the Sheikah's face is so intriguing," they added wrapping another tendril around Sheik's neck.
Fuu broke his stare from Dethl, and then turned to Sheik for the first time since they'd been caught by the nightmare. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Sheik flinch, afraid of him.
"Fuu don't…," Sheik pleaded.
A chilling smile, full of cold cynicism, flashed across Fuu's face. "Don't what, Sheik? Afraid of me?" He waited for an answer, his expression becoming colder for every second that Sheik refused to answer. Eventually, he nodded towards Dethl. "Is Dethl lying?" he asked, "Answer me, Sheik."
"I…"
Fuu stormed over to Sheik and roared, "Answer me!"
"Would you honestly trust Dethl more than you trust me?!" Sheik shouted back, his composure breaking in a fit of desperation. He was silenced by a sinister chuckle in his ear, and Dethl interrupted the conversation.
"Ah, a wonderful question, if we can interrupt," the nightmare creature glided in between them, half the eyes looking towards Fuu and the other half looking at Sheik. "Perhaps we can help you answer that question."
Sheik was lifted into the air a few feet higher as the multitude of eyes peered at him contemplatively. There was a ripple of hushed whispers as Dethl spoke to themselves. After a few seconds, their eyes brightened, and with a swift movement the tendrils that held Sheik slammed him into the ground. A dull glow of dark magic flickered along the tendrils and converged on the stunned Sheikah, and then there was a dying flash as Sheik's magic was dispelled.
And there, in the place of the Sheikah warrior, was the princess of Hyrule herself.
Fuu's cold gaze momentarily broke in surprise, and he had to steady himself out of shock. He stared speechless at Princess Zelda. The princess slowly opened her eyes, wincing from being slammed against the ground, and then she, too, fell into stunned silence when she realized what Dethl had done. Fuu stammered at the princess who was looking at him in fear. "Sheik you're…" he began, but he lost his voice. They stared at each other for several long seconds, both afraid of what they saw. Eventually, Fuu's expression hardened into a terrible glare. "I see. I see it all now. Everything makes so much sense," he murmured. He paced the ground for a few steps, and then stopped just in front of the princess. "You must have thought it was hilarious, hmm, watching me go along with all of you like a fool."
Zelda's eyes widened, and then she shook her head fervently. Imploringly. "No, that's not how it was. You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?!" Fuu snapped, shouting now. "That all this time you were lying to me about who I really was?! That you were just using me to get what you wanted?"
"We… didn't have a choice," Zelda said quietly, turning her head in shame.
"Liar!"
"It was either this, or to kill you, Fuu! Would you rather have died?"
"What makes you think I prefer this? I thought my memory loss was an accident, and it turns out that you were behind it!"
"We gave you a second chance, Fuu!"
Zelda regretted her words as soon as she spoke them, and she knew she'd made a mistake when Fuu stopped shouting, an outright malicious expression on his face. She shrunk back, burying her head in her hands while Fuu's voice cut through the air like a sharp knife. "My name," he hissed, "is Vaati. Princess."
"I'm sorry. I was going to tell you-," she began, but the hopeless defeat in her voice indicated that she knew that it was done.
"Tell me?" Fuu, or rather Vaati, scoffed, "You were going to tell me after you'd used me to defeat them." He waved his hand angrily at Dethl and Shadow Link, who were watching the confrontation unfold in silence. Vaati scowled at them, before rounding on Zelda again, his voice just barely above a whisper. "At least they have no illusions about what they've done. But you? You have the nerve to tell me that you did it to give me a second chance? One that I didn't even ask for?" he snorted, "Don't make me laugh."
"You're right. I'm sorry. I…" Zelda hid her face in her hands, her voice becoming muffled against her satin gloves. There was nothing she could say.
"Shadow Link was right about you." Vaati's nose was wrinkled with disdain as he watched the princess, now devoid of any will to fight. He took one last look at Dethl and Shadow, and with a shake of his head, began to walk towards the exit. "I'm done with you," he hissed, "With all of you."
Dethl, who had been observing in intrigued quiet, jumped up and hurried over to stop Vaati. Several black tendrils shot up from the ground, and they merged together to turn into an enormous black claw. "But we are finally reunited, the greatest alliance in the world!" they exclaimed, as the claw scooped Vaati back up from the ground and brought him back over to where everyone was gathered. Vaati's single red eye that wasn't hidden by his bangs slowly swiveled towards Dethl, while the nightmare continued to babble excitedly. "Now that the Dark Mirror is restored, we can match your power. Join us-"
A sudden, overwhelmingly powerful force erupted in the chamber, causing the Dark Mirror to shudder and the others to be thrown against the walls. The darkness that had been in the room suddenly withdrew into a small corner until it was a murky sphere only a fraction of the size it had occupied before. A single, large eye blinked open, and Dethl shrunk back in awe at the thing in front of them.
It was another black sphere of malevolent energy, with three pairs of bat wings that flapped in a slow rhythm. A bloodshot red eye rimmed with gold opened with searing malice, and large claws appeared by its side. The claws flicked dangerously in warning.
"I said I'm done," the eye repeated. When Dethl nodded, another powerful gust swept through the room, and Vaati's Wrath was gone.
It took several, long seconds for everyone to get their bearings together after what had just happened. The dark sphere that was Dethl gradually expanded as time passed, and a few more of their smaller eyes blinked open. They glanced over to Shadow Link, who was pressed against the wall next to it and was craning his neck towards the exit to make sure Vaati had really disappeared. When Shadow noticed them looking at him, Dethl quickly recovered from its initial surprise. "Hmph! Well it's not like we need him," Dethl declared huffily, "he's exhausted his usefulness."
"Haha… yeah," Shadow Link laughed nervously. He didn't want to admit it, but he hadn't expected Fuu to transform into Vaati's Wrath. The… cooler Vaati, huh? he shook the thought away as soon as he'd thought it. Dethl was right: they were done with Vaati. He could worry about him if the sorcerer ever decided to come back. Unlikely.
Shadow ignored the heavy feeling in his chest, and instead tried to focus on what he'd gained. For the first time, he didn't feel the constant tug of the invisible force that tried to pull him away from this world. For the first time, the world felt like it was his; that he wasn't just an unwelcome visitor here. But at the same time…
Shadow Link looked over to where Dethl was, in the middle of wrapping the princess with dozens of its black tendrils. Shadow, too, had been shocked by the reveal of Sheik's true identity, and he couldn't help but pity them a little. He couldn't help but remember the times when the princess had stood up for him time and time again. "Hey Dethl, what are you going to do with her?" Shadow Link asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. He couldn't help but notice that Zelda's head was lolling backwards; was she asleep?
"Sending her to a nightmare, of course," Dethl replied.
"Oh. Not going to crucify her, huh?" Shadow Link just barely hid the relief in his voice. It helped that Dethl seemed too preoccupied to notice anything weird.
Dethl finished securing the princess, and then their eyes swiveled towards Shadow Link. "Shadow, have you ever thought about how people do not fear death?"
Shadow Link frowned at the seemingly random question, figuring that it was one of the nightmare creature's many somewhat eccentric ideas. "I'm pretty sure plenty of people are afraid of death, Dethl."
"They are not," Dethl tutted. "Some fear the unknown of what comes after dying. However, a vast majority fear the pain associated to death. There are several ways to encourage people to fear pain, Shadow. One," Dethl lifted the unconscious princess towards him, "is to show someone the suffering of another that they hold dear. Perhaps their princess. Did you see how effective crucifying the false princess was in creating fear?"
How could he forget that crucifixion in the middle of castle town? "Sure," Shadow shrugged. He couldn't help but notice that Dethl was, during this time, inching uncomfortably close to him. He'd always thought that the nightmare creature was a little more than creepy, but now that it existed beyond the dreamscape and into physical reality, the creepiness was more pronounced.
"Two," Dethl continued, and their pupil less eyes stared intensely at Shadow Link. Shadow was forced to stare back uncomfortably before it suddenly turned towards the Dark Mirror and tapped it two times. Before Shadow Link could stop them, the Dark Mirror flashed, and there was a small 'pop' as two people appeared out of thin air.
Shadow Link, whose hand had been outstretched to stop Dethl, lowered it slowly in horror. Standing in front of him with equal expressions of shock were two more identical copies of him. No. No, to call them copies were absurd. The two new Shadow Links were just as real as he was.
Before Shadow Link could wrap his head around the fact that there were more than one of him, Dethl's tendrils darted forward like a snake. The Shadow Link closest to him suddenly shrieked in pain when Dethl stabbed him violently through the eye, and then came back around to stab him again through the back. Dethl then casually tossed the skewered Shadow Link towards the first Shadow Link's feet, and he backed away in horror as he watched himself reaching out to him, not injured enough to mercifully go into unconsciousness.
Shadow Link drew his sword and pointed it at Dethl, and he could barely hear anything aside from the blood pounding in his ears.
"Two," Dethl repeated, their eyes watching intently, savoring every detail of Shadow Link's horrified expression, "Make them feel pain. Slow pain. Do not hurt them too quickly, so that they remain conscious. So that their body does not shut down and numb the pain. Make them suffer and make sure they live, so that they continue to wonder what kind of pain they will have to endure next."
Dethl raised a tendril, ready to strike the injured Shadow Link again, but a sword mercifully ended the tortured one's short life. The original Shadow's hands shook on the hilt of his sword, which he'd brought down on his copy's neck. Shadow staggered backwards, sick to his stomach by what he'd done, and he snarled at Dethl. "What the fuck are you doing, Dethl?" He didn't want his voice to tremble like it did.
"Ah! You see how our first method is working on you, now? You wonder if the same fate will befall you, and that… THAT creates such beautiful fear. Perhaps you are now wondering which one of the remaining two Shadow Links will leave this room alive? Because you see, we do not want unnecessary death. Death only ends the nightmare prematurely."
Just then, the second summoned Shadow Link dashed forward, sword drawn, in an effort to strike Dethl down. Dethl was faster, however, and the remaining Shadow had to turn away, unable to look at the mutilation. He could turn away, but he couldn't drown out the screams, mixed with the gurgles and horrific cracks that seemed to go on for eternity.
The black blob-like creature oozed towards the remaining Shadow Link, forcing him to look at it. "Fear is the most basic of all emotions. It can be so intense that the feeling traumatizes its victim." Suddenly, Dethl brought up a bloodied skull up to Shadow Link's face. When Shadow slapped it away, startled, Dethl cackled gleefully for a while before it continued, "However, why is it that one can often be traumatized in this world, but not in a nightmare? We can conjure the greatest nightmares in dreams, and yet our victims seem to forget them too quickly. They're dismissive of it as soon as they wake. Is the fear in this 'real' world even more intense, or perhaps our world was too forgettable?"
"I've heard this all before, Dethl, you've rambled about it thousands of times and I'm getting tired of it," Shadow Link said, trying his best to regain his composure. He tried not to think about how the skull had been… fresh. "And why… why the fuck did you summon more of… of me?"
"Hm?" Dethl blinked, and then tapped on the Dark Mirror again, summoning another Shadow Link. "Why not? This is the new power granted to the both of us by the restored mirror. We are more than real now, Shadow. We are infinite."
"Just... AUGH stop that!"
"It was a good demonstration, no?"
"The fuck it was! I'm leav-" Shadow Link froze. He slowly looked down at his chest only to see a pointed tendril sticking out of it, "-ing…?"
Dethl watched, the eyes emotionless and cold, as Shadow Link convulsed and dropped to the ground twitching. Then, it turned to face the newest Shadow as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "You're not going anywhere, minion."
The remaining Shadow turned from the still-dying Shadow Link on the ground, to Dethl, and then back to the other Shadow again. He still had all of the same memories as the so-called "original" Shadow Link, but in terms of the time he'd spent in actual existence, it had been a minute at most. This is so fucked up. He glanced at Princess Zelda, still blissfully unconscious throughout this entire ordeal. I fucked up.
Dethl had never been so frightening before, but then again, Dethl had never infiltrated his dreams before except that one time when Shadow had taken a stupid dare. Dethl was the same as Shadow, in that they were both Dark World creatures, and when the nightmare had first brought up the idea to restore the Dark Mirror, Shadow had instantly bought the idea. They'd work together until the mirror was restored, and then they'd go do whatever the fuck they wanted.
If Shadow had known that Dethl would be this nuts… he would've thought twice about this whole thing.
"I didn't restore the Dark Mirror just so I would have to be ordered around by some other guy," Shadow Link gave one last attempt to hold his ground.
Dethl, however, completely ignored him and instead picked up a small stick from the ground. They waved it in the air, and while staring at Shadow Link, asked wonderingly, "Do you want to know how frightening a simple stick like this can be?"
Maybe Vaati had had a good reason to keep the Mirror broken after all…
fleets: you know, I don't think I've ever written a truly scary villain before, and my hope is that Dethl will take that empty spot this time. Considering torture is their theme, expect stuff like that in future chapters.
Also I decided not to have Fuu/Vaati regain his memories just yet. I already used that idea in the Avilux series, so it would have been a little boring for me if I went the same route. He doesn't remember anything, but he did figure out what had happened to him and he's piiiissed.
the idea to include multiple Shadow Links is a small nod to the fact that you encounter hundreds of him in the FS/FSA games :)
And aaahhhh I would really like to say thank you so, so much for your comments and support! It means a lot and I'm always excited to read your responses ;w;
fanakatsuki: Hmmm, she's still in trouble! D: things don't really look all that good for her, huh
Vesperupus: Yeeep Dark Mirror! Maybe a little cliche'd but I love its concept. With so much going on in this chapter I couldn't quite get to Shadow's identity struggles this time, but yeah I do look forward to addressing that! :)
Ai Star: Kind of, not really! He doesn't remember, still, but he did figure out what had happened. Not good either way lol. Vaati's off being antisocial now I bet :P
SubZeroChimera: Maybe 2 shits and 2 fans.
AquilaMage: Yup! It was the one that lets him turn into his final form! And not quite! He doesn't remember anything, but he knows what Hyrule did to him sooo he's pretty mad. And yikes the 'limitations' are going to make things worse actually. More on that coming up next... D:
Lunamew: I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT like, a few days ago when I was writing about Shadow Link. His color scheme is pretty much Ravio?? I kind of want to figure out a way to incorporate that somehow.
I was trying to imagine Vaati's theme and Megalovania and I think it could actually work and be something epic (at least for the first bit). Dang, I really want to listen to that now.
Cattycheeno: Yay I got approved :D I was reaaaally excited to get to this scene, finally. Things had been a little too peaceful before XD
Everfreesparkle: I have two reasons for using male pronouns. The first is that I write in third person limited across multiple characters, in that it's in third person but I only reveal what a certain focal character knows about the scene (in contrast to third person omniscient, where the reader knows everything, not just what a certain character can know). Therefore, it would be extremely confusing if I kept switching from male to female pronouns and back again (I think this can only work if I write in third person limited, ONLY from Zelda/Sheik's point of view).
Second reason: I strongly believe that your biological gender does not necessarily have to match the gender you identify with. Therefore, someone can be biologically female and prefer male pronouns. I'm not going to elaborate on whether or not Sheik "grew a dong" (entirely possible because hey, magic right?), That's really not the heart of the issue. In this story (I'm going to make no claims whatsoever about Sheik in OoT or Hyrule Warriors, just for this story here), Sheik is a male persona that is used by Zelda for a whole number of reasons, including but not exclusive to: protecting her identity from threats like Vaati, a new identity for herself that she can escape to when she doesn't feel like being 'Zelda the princess,' another way to express herself in situations where being 'Sheik' is more comfortable than being 'Zelda.' Because the persona itself is a male character, Sheik has a male pronoun preference.
Lexik: Game over indeed!
Flufux: Hmmm I'd say things are pretty bad. Awful, really hahaha. I'm glad I'm not the protagonist in any of my own stories.
Right on! Before, Dethl could only really be seen with the Lens of Truth (or the occasional weird shadow movement that suggests they were around), but now they look kind of like Vaati in terms of blobbiness and blackness. I was actually really struggling to describe them haha (I can see it in my head but my words elude me). For most of the chapter I guess they're kind of like an amorphous black blob with any number of eyes and the occasional tentacle thing that's grabby and stabby.
I'm going to try my best to make Dethl a real nightmare villain. I didn't really write them like that in Rend, so it'll be a fun change :)