Title: Dark Link

Ch: 3

Written By: Emerald Padparadscha

Zelda gasped, her eyes going wide as well. She knew as much as Link who Dark Link was. As Sheik, she had been able to infiltrate the Water Temple far enough to where she had gone all the way up to the third floor of it. She had dared to venture into the locked room where Dark Link resided. She had nearly been killed by the shadowy form of Link before she had finally found a way to escape. Dark Link had guarded the Long Shot, and without the Long Shot it was impossible to get to the boss of the Water Temple, Morpha. Impossible.

"You...killed him, didn't you?" She asked.

Link took a deep breath, clearing his thoughts as to what had happened that day in the past. "When I struck the final blow, he cried out in pain. I barely had a last glimpse at his glowing red eyes before he sank back into the water of the floor. Then, the entire room changed. I supposed it was an illusion conjured up by Ganondorf and, since Dark Link didn't reappear, I supposed, too, that I had killed him."

"Maybe he didn't die." She said. "Only injured."

Yes. That had to be it, Link decided. Only injured. That would explain why Dark Link didn't disintegrate before his eyes as all his other enemies that he had defeated had done. But, a question plagued him.

"Why didn't he kill me?" He asked Zelda, mentally hoping that she had some sort of answer. "He...hesitated. We heard him drop his sword. He would have been able to kill both me and you easily. Why did he...?"

Zelda smiled. This was no the time to smile, but a smile formed on her face all the same. She placed her hand on Link's, and Link looked at her, questioning. She said, "Maybe that's your purpose here. To find out why."

Link nodded once slowly, looking out the window once again. Maybe that was his purpose for being here. Dark Link had returned for some reason, and Link had returned for a reason as well. Maybe his reason was to rid Hyrule of Dark Link. Yet, why did he feel, then, it to be something more than that? Perhaps it was something more. He'd find out. He'd leave in the morning. He didn't know if Dark Link could travel in the daylight or not. He was sure he would find out.

The Water Temple would be his first ground to search. He needed to find out how Dark Link had survived in the first place.

The day traveled slowly along, but whether it was day or night, Dark Link did not care. The sunlight nor the moonlight affected him this day. He had returned to the Water Temple, not finding it any different than it had been the last time he had been there. The Sages liked to change nothing, he figured. The water had all drained out, but he fixed that. Soon, once again the Water Temple was filled with water to the third floor, and he was able to reach the doorway that led to 'his' room.

The moment he stepped inside the large, barren room, the illusion that he had known before very well appeared. He walked over to the tree in the center of the room and stood under it, just as he had waited when Link had first appeared to him. He touched the tree with one hand. It felt real. It was there. He kneeled down and ran his hand through the water. It was there as well. If it felt real, then was it real? He placed his hand on the shadowy fabric of his tunic. He could feel it just as well as he could the other things in the room. Did that mean he was real?

Yet the other things in the room...the water, the tree, and even the sky, was all an illusion. He knew he could not be an illusion, for he could leave this room and still be him as he was now. Was puzzled him was that he had never thought about this before. During Ganondorf's rule, he hadn't cared about what happened to him. He only cared about one thing. To kill Link. Now, he found himself thinking about so much more. So much more...

He heard the familiar sound of a door opening and, once again, the all too familiar sound of metal bars closing over the only two doors of the room. The way the person walked, the way he sloshed the water with his boots, sounded familiar as well. Link. Dark Link knew it. He hadn't expected him to come here, but he wouldn't fight him. No, not until he found out what he needed to, and he wasn't finding anything out by kneeling here with his hand in the water.

Link approached the figure kneeling in the water. This wasn't how he had expected to find Dark Link, not that he had expected to find him at all. He drew the Gilded Sword from its sheath and held it down at his side, ready to use it if necessary. He was surprised when Dark Link spoke. Dark Link's voice...save for only slightly deeper, it sounded just like him!

"Sheath your sword! I won't fight." Dark Link said, now looking down at his reflection in the water. He showed no surprise when he heard the smooth sliding sound of the Gilded Sword being replaced in its sheath.

"You came to kill me earlier." Link said, knowing his words to be the truth, then asked. "Why didn't you? You didn't even raise your sword against me."

Dark Link clenched his fist, closing his eyes, and beyond that, closing his mind tot he innate urge to sink his sword deep within Link's flesh. Ganondorf had created that objective well. He did not want Link to be here, that to be sure. It was hard for him to control the urge with Link being this close. One the urge was momentarily fought off, he relaxed the tension in his hand, loosening it.

"You..." Dark Link opened his eyes. "You have a sense of purpose, do you not? A sense of...being?"

Link wasn't sure if he understood. "Nobody knows what their purpose is."

"You know who you are. You know that you are the Hero of Time." Dark Link said. "You were born with a destiny. I was created with only one purpose, and it was given to me."

Link thought for a moment, venturing through his thoughts for an answer to this half-riddle Dark Link was speaking in. This was about purpose, and, though Dark Link had heard him and Zelda speaking, that could not have possibly changed Dark Link's state of mind. Link didn't understand.

Dark Link stood up abruptly, casting his hard gaze on link, and Link could see that he was enraged. "Don't pretend you don't understand! Understand this, Link. Ganondorf made me to be your shadow. To make me powerful he infused a small amount of the Water Temple's magic in me. That's the reason I live. The Water Temple heals it's own."

Link listened on, doing his best to comprehend everything fully. Everything needed to be understood.

"I am your shadow. I contain all of your past memories, thoughts, and feelings you had during the time before you fought me the first time. Even your irrefutable need for a purpose. I have but one purpose, and after that purpose, what then?"

Dark Link turned away, his hands clasped into tightened fists yet again. Why had he told one he considered his enemy, he did not know, and yet he had. Strange. He did feel as if a thousand pounds had been removed from him. He felt...better? Was better the true word for the situation? It seemed to fit good enough. It fit it very well. If only he hadn't turned and looked at him. If only...

Looking at Link had forced upward the urge to destroy him. He tried to bury the feeling once again.

It was now that Link understood. He understood all too well the need of purpose. Even when he believed himself to be a Kokiri he had known he was waiting for his destiny. If it was true Dark Link had his feelings, then he could still only imagine what the possibility of fulfilling his one and only purpose would contain. To not have a destiny or a reason to continue, and yet continuing all the same... It was too horrible for Link to want to imagine. It would be his ultimate reason for death.

"Your only purpose is to kill me." Link sighed. "I won't allow that to happen."

"I refuse to die." Dark Link replied. "Seems we are both at a loss."

"You stay in the Water Temple, then. If you leave..."

Dark Link looked toward Link again, the red glow of his eyes brightening to a blood red intensity. Link held back to not flinch under the cold, forceful glare seeming to say 'You dare?' and 'You expect me to stay?' at the same instant. Dark Link was a dangerous being, Link knew, and far more dangerous when crossed the wrong way. Killing was not his fear. Dying was not his fear, either. If there was a fear, then it would surely be what he had just revealed.

Link nodded. "I won't make you stay, but if you begin trouble I will come after you."

The red-eyed shadow showed nothing, not phased by the words. Let Link come after him. He would find nothing, and he would see nothing. Dark Link would do as he pleased, no words of otherwise moving his direction or thoughts. After all, how does one command, or control, his own shadow? How does one catch his own shadow? It couldn't be done.

The metallic clack of locks coming undone sounded, and the iron gates covering the doors slid back out of sight. Link looked at the now unlocked door behind him, then switched his gaze back over to his shadowy double, who appeared annoyed now by his intrusion.

"Go." Dark Link said slowly. "Leave."

Link did as he had been told, however hesitant he was to turn his back on his evil version. Dark Link watched the Hylian leave, his eyes narrowing by degrees. When the door closed, he unsheathed the Dark Master Sword and, with a yell filled with more anger than he thought he knew possible, plunged the sword's blade deep into the tree. The illusion around him faded, leaving the room bare and him alone.

Alone.

He shouldn't even be alone! The feeling of being alone wasn't his. He wasn't...alive. Living things had blood, skin, a heart...

A heart...