Where boredom comes, laziness follows. And Link was definitely in one of those situations. He sat, quite lazily in the castle library, reading up on the history of Hyrule until his peace-and-quiet suddenly shattered.
"LINK?! WHERE ARE YOU?" A younger male voice bellowed. Raiquen burst into the room, causing papers to fly everywhere. Link looked up at the fuming boy.
"Raiquen? What--"
"Who do you THINK you are?" Link opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off. "Why would you take my most treasured keepsake and throw it around like a rag-doll?" Raiquen now held up his father's cape, his most treasure possession, all dirty with soot and grime. Link blinked and put his book carefully on the table then stood up calmly. As much as he didn't like that cape, he knew what it meant to the boy.
"Raiquen, you know I would never do such a thing. Why would you assume it was me?
Raiquen was still glaring. "Because I saw you walk out of my room! I called out your name, then you ran here." He folded the cape quickly around his hands while Link furrowed his brow.
"But I've been in here for hours, how could I have just ran suddenly here?"
"I don't know, but I saw you run here. Don't touch the cape again, got it?" Raiquen turned away from him and stormed away from the library. Link reached out to stop him, but felt a chill race down his spine. He shivered and shook his head. He wasn't sure what it was, but something has been going amiss lately, and it always involved him. Just the other day he was yelled at for 'stuffing oranges in the Royal pillow', and he knows he didn't do anything like that. He sat back in his chair and propped his head on his fist.
"I almost wish he didn't have that cape though..." He mumbled to himself as he looked at the mess of parchment on the floor. With a grudge, he stood up to clean up the mess.
Aidyn's little head poked around the corner of the door. "Daddy?" He looked up and felt happy again at seeing her as she came walking slowly towards him.
"Hey there, Aidyn. It's late, shouldn't you be in bed?" She fiddled with her fingers.
"Are you still mad at me?" This threw him completely off guard.
"What? Why would I be mad at you?" He picked her up as she looked down.
"I didn't mean to run into you in the market, and I know you told me never to go there alone. I didn't listen to you. Is that why you yelled at me?" Link was now beginning to grow angry at himself for not knowing what was going on.
"In the market..? No, no sweetie. I'm not mad, and I never was. I'm sorry if you've been upset." By who knows what, he thought.
Aidyn seemed comforted by his soft voice and sighed as he picked her up and carried her to her room. Link had questions buzzing around in his head, but he kept quiet as he put her to bed. "Goodnight Aidyn," he said as he stood in the doorway, "Sleep tight."
"Goodnight, Daddy.'Love you..." She trailed off to sleep as he shut the door with a smile. However, he was still puzzled as to why trouble seemed to be dogging him as of late, and he was soon frowning as he walked the corridor. At least Lear will be in a good mood, he thought, because I've done nothing today to cause her to be upset.
He pushed the door open to his room and looked inside. The only light he could see was a faint glow from the candle on the nightstand.
"Lear? Are you sleeping?" The only answer he received was a sniffle from his wife, and he rushed to her form, sitting on the floor with her head against the sheets.
"...Lear? What is it? What's wrong?"
"Link...I just don't understand...why are you being so distant? Y-you've never been like this before..." Link caressed her cheek and looked at her in sheer confusion. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was at loss for words. What is going on around here, and why didn't he know about it? He looked at the ground for a moment, then back to her.
"Lear, I'm sorry. Really, I am. I...I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to put it right." She nodded at stood up to walk away, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry that I've hurt you." He whispered and kissed her on the forehead. She hugged him back and shook with a slight sob before she quieted and walked to bed. Link made a vow for the following morning that he would figure out what was going on and set it right.
Two shadows lurked in the castle courtyard. One cloaked by shadows, and the other basked in the moonlight.
"Finally...tonight we shall collect what we've needed for our task..." Vaati laughed darkly.
"Which is...?"
"You'll know what they're for, in time." Vaati turned to Dark Link with a glare. "If you don't drop that bloody orange, I swear to you, 'Link', that you will regret it." he hissed. The shadow twitched as his eyes flared red. But they turned an icy blue once again as he spoke with a note of sarcasm.
"I stole it, doesn't that make you proud?" Vaati scoffed and started walking towards the castle.
"What will make me proud is if you steal what I tell you to steal. Quit wasting your time stealing from peasants and let's work on stealing something worth our time." Dark Link dropped the orange and followed him into the entrance of the castle, darkened by the night. He sighed and relaxed in the velvet coolness and almost felt cheerful, if he had been able to feel such a thing.
"I don't understand why you don't let me handle the job. I have a thorough knowledge of all of his swordsmanship, and I'm confident that I could easily defeat him in a duel."
Vaati lowered his voice. "Knowledge you may have...but it doesn't save you from the light. The only thing you can do right now is make his life miserable, just as I ordered in the first place." Dark Link grumbled and continued to follow his master. They crept in silence until Vaati stopped dead in his tracks at an oak door. The shadow would've questioned him, but only watched as he unlocked the door with his magic.
"Go in that room and fetch the cape from the chest. Don't wake the boy." Dark Link reduced himself to a meer shadow and slunk into the room. He knew exactly where the cape was, as he had used it to arouse anger in the boy earlier that day. It would be his pleasure to steal it in interest to see his reaction the following day!
Backing out of the door with his prize, he looked around for Vaati. He was already in the next corridor and waving impatiently at the shadow to follow him. Dark Link rolled his eyes. "It's going to be a long night..." He said to himself as he ran after Vaati. He looked in the rooms as they passed them, and did a double-take as he skidded to a stop in front of the Royal Library.
"Ohohoho! Treasured knowledge, hm? Well, let's see how they get along with none at all." With a snap of his fingers, the ancient books that had resided in Hyrule's library over the years disappeared. The histories, stories, songs, scripture, all vanished. "And best of all," he said with a sneer, "the legends." The books containing the legends of the Hero of Time disappeared just as the other volumes had. They were not completely destroyed. Dark Link knew where they were hidden.
"Ah...something's missing here..." Dark Link mused. He grinned wide as he snapped his fingers. "Let's see how they'll fair...I'm not certain it's possible to read oranges." he laughed as he finally made his way to the end of the hallway. His master picked up the pace as he grew closer to what he desired most. Dark power.
"Master, we have what we need. Why do we distract ourselves?" Vaati shushed him as he unlocked the door. "She will be an added prize..." His boots made no sound as he strode into the bedroom.
"...Begonia Dragmire...shadow wielder…and widow..." Vaati mumbled as he looked at the sleeping form. She had a look of content on her features and she smiled.
"Master...?"
"Ssh! She's dreaming..." Vaati's hand hovered over her forehead and he closed his eyes.
He watched her dream unfold, pulling her past memories into her mind. He watched as she walked down a hallway, pushing open a large oak door. He heard organ music and the soft boom of the large door closing behind her. She walked to the other end of the room where she wrapped her arms around the thick neck of the organist, and he turned to her… Vaati opened his eyes and looked to his creation.
"Take the woman. She's coming with us." Dark Link looked at him like he was mad.
"Why do we need her? Master, she would only cause problems." he huffed. Vaati smirked.
"Fine. Then I will take her dreams instead."
He let his hand hover over her forehead and collect the dream as it floated up to his outstretched fingers, like soft smoke from a dead fire. Dark Link had no idea why Vaati would be so interested in this woman all of a sudden, but he didn't like standing around doing nothing.
"C'mon, let's get out of here. I've had enough of this." Vaati hesitated for a second, then quickly and quietly strolled out the door with Dark Link following behind.
"What was that about? I thought we were after Link, not some lady with nostalgic dreams!"
"Silence," Vaati whispered, "We'll need her later, but her dreams will have to do for now. I suppose it's time we left; we've collected enough for one night." Dark Link felt an anger rise up in him.
He decided against questioning his master further, even though he wanted to know the reasoning behind his actions. They escaped through the night, successfully pursuing their task without detection, and the shadow watched his master fade away into the dark field of Hyrule. All that was left to do was to wait for the dreaded dawn.
(Author's Notes)
Sorry for such a long hiatus! I feel terrible for neglecting this story. Clairictures and I haven't had as many opportunities to write this story, but I will continue it on my own if I must.
If you check my profile, you can find the link to my DeviantArt page where I have posted some artwork pertaining to this trilogy. Please take a look, and please review!