Title: Dark Link

Ch: 10

Written By: Emerald Padparadscha

That night only a short matter of time after he closed his eyes in sleep, a vision came to Dark Link in his dreams. Crystalline fractals and beautiful blue colors danced across the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room in which he stood. It was a small room, one he could not remember ever seeing before. He felt like he was surrounded by water, yet even as he reached out to prove this theory he grasped nothing but air.

"Dark Link…"

The voice seemed to resound in his head fifty times over. Looking around, he could not see from where it came.

"The Sage of the Water Temple, Ruto, is my protector now, but even she cannot control my magic…" The voice spoke.

He knew then that this was not a dream of normal caliber. He continued to gaze at the walls, turning his vision upward to the ceiling, then to the floor. The voice had seemed to come from everywhere the last time it had spoken to him. There was recognition with it somewhere inside him, deep inside his being. He knew who was speaking, and he knew to listen carefully to the words.

"Morpha is too young to do what is needed." The voice echoed for a moment before steadying itself to speak a few moments later. "Until Morpha grows…"

The voice started to fade, and Dark Link missed what words had come after at the end of the sentence. Even straining to hear could not help him to know what was said.

He spoke to the voice, "You're fading. I didn't hear you."

"Don't hear. Don't see." The voice came back. It wasn't as strong as it had been previously, but it was strong enough to be heard. "Understand. The magic needs to be controlled and tempered. Ruto is the Sage. You be the Guardian…"

"Guardian?"

"Guardian…" The voice echoed. "When Morpha needs help, help it… Teach it…"

Dark Link sat up straight in the cot, his eyes wide and his mind awake and alert. The voice had faded from his mind, yet the words had not. They echoed over and over, repeating themselves. Morpha was young, yes, but so young it could not control the magic of the Water Temple as it had in the past? It controlled the magic by bottling the excess that was created within itself. Morpha was directly linked with the temple. Morpha had to have been young before, and the Water Temple survived. It was calling for help now.

He contained some of the magic inside of him. It was possible that Ganondorf had used some of the excess magic contained inside Morpha to create him. That would tie him and Morpha, and the temple, together, bound by both fate and magic. That would explain how the Water Temple had managed to come to him in his dreams. Sliding out of bed, he walked out the door and ventured downstairs, leaving the ranch house for the stables. Epoch was there, awake. The horse was still used to the night that it refused to sleep too much during the day. It never suffered physically or mentally from its sleeping habits, which was all too well. Without bothering with a saddle, Dark Link led Epoch out of the stable and mounted him bareback, riding off at a run toward the Water Temple.

If there was time enough, he would return in the morning before Malon awoke…

When he entered the temple, a loud mental screaming pierced him, one unlike he had never heard of, or imagined, before. As fast as his legs could carry him he sprinted toward Morpha's chamber.

Morpha thrashed about with a small tentacle of water near the middle of the pool where it resided, the mental cry coming from its own mind. It glowed red, becoming redder with every second that passed. Dark Link leapt to the middle platform over the pool, reaching down into the water and grasping hold of the molecular Morpha. He leapt down into the water and held the young Morpha tightly to his body, refusing to let the squirming object away. A blue glow faintly enveloped his body as he concentrated, surrounding both himself and the young creature. Morpha's mental screams started to die down. Its body began to turn from the blood red color it bore to a lighter tone of blue. Slowly, eventually, it began to return to its normal colors of blue and red.

Calm. Finally.

Dark Link released the now calmed Morpha and grasped hold of the platform, keeping himself afloat. Never before could he remember being as tired as he was this night. Most of his energy had been taken out of him and delivered into Morpha so the youngling could have extra strength to take on its adult task. Morpha pulsated in the water next to him, as if it was looking up at him, or possibly giving him thanks. He turned his stare toward it. Actually, it looked only like it was wondering what he was doing floating in its own personal pool with it.

He pulled himself onto the platform and lay on his back, closing his eyes and letting sleep overcome him. He would not be back by morning for Malon, but Malon would have to wait. She would understand.

Malon was surprised to find she was waking up alone. Even more so was she when she found herself and her father the only two on the entire ranch. Dark Link was nowhere to be found. As she went about her morning chores, she kept a close watch on the entrance gate. For the duration of the entire morning hours, Dark Link never entered.

It wasn't until that evening that Dark Link appeared, riding in on Epoch. Talon was taking his afternoon nap inside the house, and Malon was brushing one of the buckskin horses that resided on the ranch. When she heard the sound of the black stallion's heavy hooves, she turned around, a visage of happiness thrown across her face.

"Where…?" She started to get out, but didn't finish.

Dark Link dismounted from Epoch and looked her way. "It's a story I don't fully understand myself."

Later that night while the two of them put the horses up in the stable, he told her the entire story of what he knew of it. Malon listened intently.

When he was finished, she spoke, "Morpha is young. Hylian legend says that Morpha was created, appearing as a giant water snake suddenly and attacking all unworthy who entered into the Water Temple. I don't believe Morpha has ever been young as this before."

"This means I will be moving into the Water Temple until Morpha grows of age. I suppose I have found my new house." Dark Link said as he folded his arms across his chest.

Malon was a little visibly saddened by this turn of events. She had wanted him to stay, but inside she knew that he couldn't keep as a secret from her father forever. "I guess…"

Dark Link could hear the disappointment in her voice. He allowed himself a small smile as he poured Epoch's night feed into the horse's stall trough. "Is the thought that I will leave you going through your head?"

"Leave me?" Malon's eyes went a bit wider. She hadn't expected that from him. "I don't think-"

"It's what you thought." He turned his gaze upon her.

She adverted his eyes from his and sighed. She patted a nearby horse's muzzle lightly. "I guess at first I did."

Dark Link hung the feed bucket by its handle on the front of the stall door before walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Her back was to his chest, her body pressed lightly up against his. Malon could not only feel the normal warmth of his body, but she was sure she could feel the tingling sensation she always received when she touched him. It felt wonderful to her. However, it also took her by surprise. Being used to Dark Link as someone who wanted to hold her was not what she was.

"Then don't think." He said to her. "If I leave you, then I don't deserve the gift I've been given."

She snuggled herself into his arms, which he moved from her waist to envelope her. For the next couple of seconds that passed the two just enjoyed each other's company, listening to each other's breathing. In Malon's case, she listened to the steady, unfaltering rhythm of his heart beat. Now, her thoughts changed. She didn't know why she had thought what she had. There was this feeling inside her that told her Dark Link would never leave…

Suddenly, the doorknob of the main door of the stable began to turn, the creaking of the wood giving as it started to open filling the ears of the two inside. Dark Link released his hold on Malon. When Malon turned around to tell him to hide, she realized there was no need. Dark Link was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere that she could see, at any rate. The door opened up fully, Talon making his appearance. Malon quickly grabbed up an empty feed bucket before Talon could suspect anything otherwise.

"Hello, Dad!" Malon smiled cheerfully. "I thought you were going to sleep?"

Talon smiled back. "I remembered something. I got a letter from Ingo. Seems he caught a cold or something on vacation. I was going to put up a flyer for an extra hand around here until Ingo comes back."

"You want me to put up a few flyers around the castle?" Malon asked.

"I wanted to see if you had any friends who would be good at the job." He replied. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Wanted to ask you first."

Malon smiled. Her dad was always asking her opinion on things before he made any decisions of that such. It had been that way ever since she had been a child. It wasn't anything knew, and she was used to it. Still, this time was different. A thought ran across her mind. She did have someone that she could introduce to the job, someone that already knew most of the workings on the farm. It made her laugh inside to think that this was her little secret. There weren't many secrets that someone like her could keep.

"I think I might have one friend who'd like the job." Malon nodded, holding the feed bucket to her chest with her arms hugged around it. "I'll ask him."

Talon smiled. "Ok, honey! I'll put up flyers in Marketplace tmorrow. Goodnight!"

With that said, Talon turned and walked out of the door, shutting the door behind him. He had not shut the door his entire visit. The door creaked slowly to. Malon walked to the door and cracked it open just a bit, watching to make sure her dad had entered the house before she closed the door again. Giving the stable a quick scan and not seeing Dark Link anywhere in sight, she shook her head and smiled. He was good at hiding when he needed to. He might as well still be a shadow as far as he appeared about.

"He's gone." She said, a smile still on her face. She gazed around again. "Where are you?"

"Up here."

Malon looked upward. In the rafters of the stable stood Dark Link, his gaze down upon her. In just one leap he had covered the distance to the rafters, hiding up there so that he would not have been seen. His hiding place had worked well enough, he supposed, since he had not been discovered. He jumped down to the floor, landing lightly with his knees bending slightly as he landed. He straightened up and looked at Malon expectantly, having heard everything that she had been speaking about with Talon.

"I take it you are supposing me?" He asked her.

"I was thinking along those lines." She nodded to him. "Would you take the job?"

Dark Link only hesitated a second before he nodded an affirmative. "It's much better than hiding all the time."

"I still don't know how Dad would react if he knew you were my boyfriend, so let's still keep that a secret." Malon said as she walked to the door. She looked at the doorknob for a moment before turning her gaze back unto Dark Link's own. Her smile faded as she asked, "You are sleeping tonight at the Water Temple?"

Dark Link nodded.

"When will I –"

"In the morning." He answered. He didn't need to hear the question in the full. He knew what she had been going to ask. "At the latest, the afternoon."

She allowed herself a smile. "Ok, then. In the morning…" She then added. "Or afternoon." She walked over to him, reaching up and giving him a light kiss on the cheek. She then moved over to the door, saying before she left out it, "Goodnight."

Dark Link watched her go. His mind whirled with many thoughts. The word boyfriend made him think. Somewhere in his mind, he could feel that he wanted much more to become of it than of him to just be her boyfriend. He didn't necessarily believe in marriages. They were just ties that bound two people by the Royal Family's decree. Yet, he knew, the only word that he could come up with to fully describe what he felt was he wanted to be with her always. If marriage was how it was done, then he would want that. Now if he could only know that marriage was what she wanted.

He would wait. Time was something he had plenty of. He would wait and see.