Dark was dragged back to consciousness by pain. Excruciating pain throughout his body.
He screamed.
What a ridiculous creature you turned out to be," said Ganondorf's voice, and the sharp, cutting pain over his skin ceased, letting Dark breathe deeply.
He looked at the towering figure of Ganondorf in front of him, standing tall and more powerful than he had ever been in any of Dark's nightmares.
"I thought you had turned out to be just a hollow shell, but look at you. Running all over Hyrule hand in hand with the hero of time," said Ganondorf.
Dark's eyes swept all around him, looking for an exit. Looking for an escape. They seemed to be in some room in the castle. Burnt marks and scratches and blood, all decorated the walls around them. And on the farther wall, something hung. Something white and yellow and red.
Sheik.
Tied to the wall, his blood dripping down into a black bowl.
Dark felt the beating, heartlike thing in his chest twist painfully. Was this terror? It stabbed hard at him from the inside, almost enough to make him scream again. But he was petrified. Frozen in place, crumpled like a useless doll on the floor. This was who he really was. A poor shadow, as weak as Link was strong. As fearful as Link was courageous.
Something choked him. Inside.
Ganondorf grabbed him by his long black hair, forcing him to look at the Dark King's face.
"How cute. He never looks that scared. If only you could cry. I could keep you as a pet, after I've killed him," said Ganondorf.
After I've killed him.
So Link was alive.
Dark hissed, clawing at Ganondorf's face with his nails that had turned into black claws. Dark blood flowed across Ganondorf's face, and he roared, letting go of him.
Dark could feel his form escaping his control. Tearing at the edges, turning monstrous. He was nothing more than a shadow. But he was the hero's shadow.
Dark looked back into his mindspace, searching for a way to contact link, but as soon as he closed his eyes he met with a wall of green fire roaring at the edges of his mind. It burned with a freezing cold that seemed to ravage everything in its path. Approaching. Purifying.
"Link!" cried Dark, opening his eyes, blocking the green fire from his mind.
Ganondorf punched him in the face, and he fell to the ground, the world spinning around him.
"You have been nothing but an annoyance," he said, kicking him in the stomach.
Dark tried to melt into the grown, lose the physical form that hurt him so much, but something held him in place, confining him to the boundaries of this form.
Ganondorf pulled him up by the hair. "The most annoying and useless of my pets. Don't think you can escape me so easily this time," he said, and a dark shock of electricity ran all over Dark's body, forcing his claws back into fingers, forcing his fangs back into perfect teeth, and shortening his black hair. "I can almost tolerate you when you look like him. I might, in fact, get to enjoy you."
And his touch was hot. Too hot. And he could feel his breath against his face.
Just like last time.
He screamed, trashing to get away from him. But Ganondorf held him in an iron grip. Dark hissed, roared like a beast. He would tear off his own arms if he could.
Not again. Not again. No. No no nononono-
A flash of light blinded the both of them, and the wall crumbled. A wave of energy threw them to the end of the room. Ganondorf let go of Dark, jumping to the side just as a slash of energy cut a jagged hole into the wall.
Oni stood on the pile of debris, leaning on his sword. Bright red blood ran down the side of his face, and his clothes hung torn and dirty over him, but still his very presence radiated an absolute power.
"You…what are you?" asked Ganondorf, looking at the god that stood before him. "Hero?"
Oni lifted his sword again, slashing at him again, and destroying anything in his way. Ganondorf flew away, dodging his attacks, until he was backed into the wall where he kept Sheik.
Oni's steps were firm and strong, but he seemed unfocused. Dark could see it in the slow way he moved. In the way his very body seemed unable to express his rage.
"You are not the hero," said Ganondorf, breathless just from escaping the reach of Oni's sword. "But we will see each other again."
He covered Sheik with his cape, and disappeared along with him in a flash of black flames.
Oni roared, and his power blew through the wall. But they were gone.
A heaviness seemed to lift from Dark's body, and his mind cleared from the sharp terror he had felt.
The green fire was still there, freezing at the back of his mind, but now he could think clearly.
He jumped to his feet and ran up to Oni.
"Good Goddesses, what happened to you?" he asked, tearing a piece of his black tunic to wipe the cold blood at the side of Oni's face.
"Goddesses," grunted Oni.
"What?" asked Dark.
"Goddesses happened to me, and they weren't good."
He seemed even more unfocused than before. Unfocused and distant. Dark couldn't put his finger on it, but for some reason he felt that despite being so close, he was talking to Oni from across a great space.
Oni put a hand to Dark's face, and something seemed to fall off from over Dark. Like some heavy sludge that hung all over him. The remains of Ganondorf's magic controlling his physical form.
"What did you-?" started Dark, when he felt long bangs of dark hair fall over his face.
"You looked weird like that," said Oni.
Dark took a deep breath, and let his head fall on Oni's chest. He was thankful, but he wasn't sure why, and he didn't want to think about it.
"He took Sheik. I don't know what-No, wait. He was like, draining out his blood," said Dark.
"I know. He wants to use Sheik's royal blood to tear the barrier between worlds," said Oni, brushing Dark's hair with his fingers. "It is already open enough for him to go across it, but he intends to destroy it completely to force the timelines to crash. I can feel him now. In the temple of Spirit. It is the weakest part of the barrier, since once Link removed Sheik, it started crumbling from there."
"Shit. We gotta stop him. Let me find a sword," said Dark, pushing himself away from Oni and looking around. "We gotta find Link, and stop him. And what the hell did you mean with that whole Goddesses happened to me thing?"
Oni shook his head. "No, I'm going to stop him. Link is gone. Farore has kidnapped him. And Nayru has possessed Zelda. I have to destroy Ganondorf before they release Din from the core of the world and let her possess him."
"W-what? When did all that happened?!" asked Dark.
Oni turned away from him, shouldering his own huge sword. "During the last hour more or less," he said, walking away.
"Hey, don't you ignore me!" said Dark, hurrying after him. "So we have to kill Ganondorf first?"
"Not kill. Destroy. I have to destroy him completely, so Din cannot inhabit his body. And I will do it. You will stay here."
"Hell no!" said Dark. "Why? Two against one is better. I just need a weapon. He- He just caught me by surprise. I'll fight him now," said Dark, trying to convince himself he wasn't lying.
"I can't have him hurt you any more. It's too dangerous," said Oni.
"Dangerous? Do you also feel the pain when I'm hurt like Link? I thought your super god powers protected you."
Oni sighed, and stopped to look at Dark. "I don't feel any pain. I just don't want you to be hurt or scared anymore. It's dangerous because I'll be worried, and I can't fight like that. I don't know how to fight like that."
"You what?" asked Dark. "What does that even mean? You think I'm weak? Fine, I was maybe a little scared! But I'm fine now. It was just a slip. You think I can't fight? I gave Link a good trashing back in the Temple of Water."
"I know. I know everything. I am a god," said Oni. "But you're weird. Even though I know you can't fight, I worry that he will hurt you."
"Huh, and I'm the weird one? That's your problem, Mr. Divine Being!"
Oni didn't have any irises that could be seen, as his eyes were completely white, but even then Dark could feel him rolling his eyes at him.
"Shadow, I am a god. I can do this on my own. I need you safe and away from Nayru and Farore, because if they capture you, I won't be able to fight them anymore."
"That's why you kept saying that we were weaker if we separated? Because if they capture us both, they'll get you too?"
"No. It's because I think I love you, and I won't want to fight them if they hold you hostage," said Oni, and vanished.
"You…what?" mumbled Dark, realizing all too late that he was alone.