Disclaimer:
I don't own Zelda. Otherwise, I'd make a lot of
really freaking awesome Zelda games! Yay. Until I
rule the world, however, I'll have to stick to fanfiction.

-

--------Author's Note:
----Yep. I think you can assume what happened at the end of last
story. Well, with Ruto anyway. Garland... yeah. He's in pain. Lots of it.
The parasites still need a name. And the Oracle hasn't been seen since
she vanished. Expect a huge time lapse after this chapter sometime, because
I can - it'll either be after this chapter or after the next, maybe one after that, can't decide quite yet.
Is Garland truly a good guy now, or does he have a secret agenda with his
father's cult? And where is Shadow Link? To those concerned, don't worry, I
still have twists of cruel fate planned ahead. Not so sure about Link staying in the
Domain for three chapters in a row though. Currently debating what the name of a future
young halfbreed should be. Also debating who Shadow Link will romance with...
----I'd like to give a thanks to onewingedbatosai for continuing the good reviews
so soon - hope this story lives up to the first! And a second thanks to Ruthie for
helping me pass my writer's block in this story! And to all who review, as reviews are like
oxygen for a writer. The more you review, the more inclined I am to finish a
story. Added Note: Fixed the name mixup. Can't believe I did that again. Chapter Three will
be under construction as soon as I'm not swamped in schoolwork!

-(WARNING: This story is rated T because of occasional graphic violence, which begins taking
place sometime in this chapter. It is just a story, therefor not as grotesque as actually seeing it
would be, but it probably isn't the best thing for a child to be reading. You can likely assume which
character is finding his psychotic way back into the storyline due to this warning...)

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()Symphony of Apocalypse()
Chapter Two: Hearts of Darkness

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--------As night fell upon the land of Hyrule, everyone was beginning to settle down to rest until
morning came once more. It was a cold, windy night, the skies a cloud-filled pitch black except for one
open patch just big enough for the moon to shine through. A young red haired woman put the last
of her ranch's livestock away for the evening, shivering a bit from the chilly air blowing through the small
ranch in the middle of Hyrule Field. "It shouldn't be getting this cold for another month atleast..." she
said between chattering teeth, wrapping her small brown cloak tighter around herself as she began walking
across the small ranch's grazing lands to the cozy litle house where she and her father lived. As the young
lady drew near to her home, however, she heard an eerie crying off in the field. "What in the world..?" she
muttered, stopping at the door to her house to listen a little more closely, the crying continuing to pierce
the other ambient sounds of the night. "Is... is that a baby?"

------The young woman started walking towards the exit of her ranch, the sound of the crying growing
louder as she quickened her pace. Something was wrong, she could feel it, and although she was but
a humble ranch girl, she was determined to do something about it.

-

------The lady dashed out of her ranch, quickly staring around the huge field surrounding her, trying
to pinpoint the location of the baby. "Get back, vile creature!" she heard someone yelling in the
distance. She quickly pulled out a flute and began playing an odd little song, a horse neighing back in her
ranch somewhere as she looked out in the direction of the cries, spotting four figures through the darkness.

------A brown horse with a white mane and black fur around its lower legs and tail galloped out of the
ranch, the young woman jumping onto the horse as it sprinting by and using its reigns to guide it towards
the source of the screaming baby. "Hurry, Epona!"

-

------Meanwhile, a ways south of the ranch, three people stood glaring at a black clad Hylian, who was
cradling a small bundle wrapped in black in one arm, and a long, ebony blade in the other hand. The people
consisted of a woman with long black hair, a well muscled man who looked ready to rip the hylian to shreds,
and a smaller boy who appeared to be a preteen taking after his mother. "Give us the child." the father
said in a deep voice. "Give her to us now!"
------"Over my dead body!" hissed the dark Hylian icily. "The girl is mine, I'd just like to see you try to
take her from me!" he continued, giving his long black sword a quick spin.
------"Give us back our daughter, you wretched miscreant!" the man yelled again, pulling out a bow.
"I'll kill you if I have to..."
------The dark figure cackled madly at these words. "Kill me?" he laughed. "Go ahead, fire your petty
little--"

------Before he could finish, however, the muscled man swiftly pulled back an arrow and fired it off
before anyone could blink, the long, steel-tipped arrow piercing Shadow Link's left shoulder, making him
nearly drop the little black bundle. He held the little one closer, his cackling ending instantly.
------"Fool..." he said, glaring at the man, his left arm dripping black blood from the arrow. "Do you
care so little of your child, that you would shoot at the madman carrying her?"

------The arrow in the dark one's shoulder turned as black as his tunic, disintegrating into a pile of
ashes at his feet, the black wound slowly closing itself as the mildly psychotic hylian smirked at the
three shocked people before him. "You'll die for your insolence." he said as he suddenly dashed
towards the trio. The older ones stepped back, but the preteen wasn't quite so quick as the darker
one's sword vanished, his now free hand grabbing the boy by the neck and jerking him off his
feet, dangling him into the air. He glared at the boy, beginning to tighten his grip, the young boy
gasping for air as his asophogus was slowly being crushed...

------"Leave those people alone!" yelled a fiery redheaded woman, leaping off her horse as it
dashed by, the long-haired lady kicking the dark Hylian in the back, causing the monsterous
one to fall to his knees. "Who dares attack Sh--" he started to say as he turned around to face
the rancher, but as soon as he did, the young woman kicked him between the legs, stunning him
instantly. The dark one fell to the ground in agony, the young woman taking the baby away from him
and walking towards the other two, who had odd grins on their faces, the dark one releasing his
grip on the preteen out of weakness, who kicked him in the gut with a laugh before joining his
family.
------"Here you go, safe and sound."
------"Thank you so much." the woman said, taking the child and beginning to walk off with
the father.
------"Wait, don't you need a place to stay?" the ranch girl asked, but the three people took
off running all of a sudden. "You shouldn't keep the baby in the cold so long!" she yelled,
before she noticed a long black chain fly by her, wrapping around the preteen boy's ankle and
tripping him, quickly retracting & dragging him back to the dark-clad Hylian.

------"Where are they going?" the dark Hylian hissed at the boy, jerking him up by his short
black hair to meet him face to face. "Tell me where they're going!"
------"None of your business!" the boy yelled at the dark one. "They'll come back and teach
you a lesson you won't forget!"
------"And if they don't, we will!" the ranch woman said as Epona walked back to her, the woman
softly stroking the horse's fur. She glared at the black-clad one. "Put the boy down."
------"Those pathetic excuses for humanoids won't be returning for you, wretched mortal." the
dark Hylian growled. "And as such, the only value you hold for me is the ecstasy of your dying
screams." he continued, holding his right arm out as he held the boy's hair up with his left, the long,
shadowy blade reforming in his right hand.
------"Let him go now!" the young woman threatened. The dark one turned and cruelly smirked at
the woman as he slowly slid his blade into the preteen's belly, piercing clean through him, slowly slicing
the blade up into the boy's chest, the young man screaming in agony as crimson poured from him. The
young woman gasped, staring in horror at the sight before her, her eyes brimming with tears from a
combination of sorrow and rage. "How could you...?" she muttered.

------"Would you happen to recall the cult worshippers rumored to be skulking around Hyrule?" Shadow
Link said, looking at the woman with a cold stare, giving her a look as if she were an idiot as the boy
breathed his last, gurgling breath.
------"What does that have to do with anything!"
------"The mark on their wrist, the flaming eye! Look at his wrist, you imbecile!" the dark one said,
jerking the corpse's arm up to show a faintly glowing green scar on the boy's wrist. "Those you helped
escape were also members of the very same cult! Thanks to you, I'm no closer to acquiring any
answers than the moment I was born!" he yelled angrily, slamming the corpse into the ground and
severing its head to vent stress, his eyes not leaving the chocolate brown eyes of the ranch girl for
a moment as he glared at her.
------"Well... how was I supposed to know?" she protested, jumping on her horse. "You stand there
looking all monsterous and talking like a psychopath, what was I supposed to do?"
------"Keep your nose out of others' business, that's what." the dark one said coldly. "If you wish to
rectify your mistakes, you'll assist me in retrieving the child. Now. You called me a monster.. you
have no idea what they are capable of."
------"How do you know for sure?"
------"Do we have time to discuss this?"

-

------The young woman stood in silence for a moment, before sighing and hopping onto Epona. "Get
on. Quickly." she said, wiping away her tears.
------"Glad to see you have atleast some sense about you." the dark one said, leaping into the air and
landing behind the young woman gracefully as Epona started galloping towards the cult members
who took the child.

-

------"You look just like someone I once knew..." the young ranch girl said as they rode Epona across
Hyrule field in the bleac moonlight. "Who are you?"
------The dark one sat there in awkward silence for a while. No one had ever asked him his name
before, he was always just referred to as some kind of creature or... "Shadow." he finally replied.
"Just call me Shadow. And you are?"
------"Malon." she answered.
------"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Shadow said. "Tell me, do you make a hobby
out of aiding the forces of darkness?"
------"Hey, I told you that was an honest mistake." Malon said irritably. "Besides, with Epona
we'll catch up to them in no time. Why do you care so much about the girl, anyway?" she asked,
turning to look at Shadow. "You don't seem like the kind of guy who'd care about anyone..."
------"They were about to slaughter the child, no doubt for some sort of ritual." Shadow Link said.
"Look, I'm not heartless. My heart's just very..."
------"Misunderstood?" Malon suggested.
------"I prefer Dark, thank you very much." he replied with a short cackle. "I saw a certain innocent
darkness in the child's eyes, if that makes any sense to you."
------"Innocent darkness?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow.
------"Yeah. Twisted, yet still one of the good guys... It's as if she were my daughter." he said with a
proud grin, before suddenly glaring out at the field. "There they are."

-

------Malon turned forward to see the two figures rushing through the dark field. "Alright, I'll bring
Epona closer to them, there's no way they'll outrun a horse, and when we're in range-" she began to
explain, before realizing Shadow had already leapt off the horse and landed on the brawny man,
quickly wrapping him in a shadowy chain. The woman lie dead on the ground with a long, shadowy sword
stuck through her as she fell on her back, the child somehow unharmed on the ground beside her.
"You idiot!" Malon yelled, hopping off of Epona as the horse came to a halt, rushing over to pick up
the young bundled up girl.
------"My baby!" Shadow Link said, rushing towards Malon.
------"You should have thought about your 'baby' before you let her fall like that!" Malon reprimanded,
standing up & cradling the baby in her arms.
------"I'm sorry, I'll never drop you again!" Shadow Link said, jerking his sword out of the dying woman's
chest, hugging the crimson-washed ebony blade. Malon sighed, narrowing her eyes at the shadowy one.
------"I thought you liked this kid." she said, pulling back the cloak around the baby a little bit to try to
see her face.
------"I do. Overwhelmingly glad she's alright!" Shadow Link said with a grin. "A man just has to
keep his priorities in order."
------"Right." Malon said, rolling her eyes.
------"Speaking of which..." the dark Hylian said, walking back to the tied up, squirming man, stepping on
the man's chest with his left foot, leaning on it slightly. The shadow glared down at the man, his crimson
eyes seeming to glow in the darkness as he held his blade to the man's neck. "Now, be a good little sack
of flesh and tell me where the Oracle is."
------"Bite me!" the man yelled, before grunting in pain as Shadow Link leaned onto his left knee, effectively
putting his full body weight on top of the man. He smirked sadistically, flashing a set of vicious looking
fangs. "Be careful what you wish for."
------The man stared emotionlessly at the cruel shadowy Hylian above him, whose smirk faded into a
scowl as he began stomping the man's chest harder, the cult member growling in pain.
------"Tell me where the cowardly creature is hiding, or I'll be forced to spill your blood in front of
this nice young lady over here. And, as you can see," Shadow Link chuckled, lightly running the tip of
his blade along the lips of the man to rub a taste of his comrade's blood upon them, "that is something
of which I have no remorse for doing."

------Malon shuddered a bit as she watched the madman work, trying to comfort the crying child in
her arms as the man coughed from the taste of the blood, glaring at the dark figure above him.
------"Nothing you could do could ever be worse than what the Oracle would do to me should
I tell you anything!" the man yelled, though his voice was a bit more broken now.
------"Nothing? Honestly, I'm insulted..." the shadow said, smacking the man with the flat of his
large ebony blade. "Would this Oracle of yours slice you and, mostly, your 'family' piece by piece
and forcefully feed them to you raw?"
------"You wouldn't dare--" the man started to say, before growling loudly once more as Shadow Link
swiftly jerked his blade down, slicing off one of the man's toes and sending it flying into the air. Shadow
caught the severed big toe, holding it by a fractured bone and dangling it in front of the man's mouth.
------"Tell me what I need to know, or I will teach you the meaning of the word Fear..." the Shadow
said icily. "This was merely a spur of the moment idea of tormenting your mortal mind. Given time, I'm
sure I can invent far, far worse tortures..."

------Malon started walking towards the ranch, determined to get the baby away from this derranged
man as he interrogated his victim. The man gulped, beginning to sweat as he gazed up in sudden horror
at his captor. Apparently he thought Shadow Link was bluffing.
------"She... She's in the ruins... outside of Gerudo Valley..." the man slowly responded, in too much
pain to care if he died now or not.
------"Gerudo Valley, hm... I should have known." Shadow Link cackled a bit. "That fool Garland must
still be involved..."
------"Yes... Garland will take Ganondorf's place when he fails..." the man continued. "Which... apparently
we can agree... he will..."
------"Yes, we are in agreeance there." the dark one said with a smirk.
------"Oh... and that girl's taken the child away... hope you didn't intend to adopt her or something." the
man said with a laugh.
------"Wha...?" Shadow Link stuttered, looking around, and seeing Malon riding away with the little
girl, much to his dismay, his victim continuing to laugh. The Shadow growled, turning to glare at the
man before quickly slitting his throat in one swift swipe of his black blade, then took off running towards
the Lon Lon Ranch. "Wretched horse woman..."

-

------As the shadow ran away, the spray of blood from the man's neck slowly subsiding, an unearthly
chill befell the area where Shadow Link's last victim lie as a figure in a long, flowing black gown slowly
descended from the skies to land beside his corpse, swishing her long, fiery red hair back behind her,
her emerald eyes shining through the darkness. "Fool..." she said, glaring at the man's corpse. "I warned
you what happens to those who defy me. Death is no escape." she continued scorning the man as her
eyes began shining brightly as a small twister of wind surrounded the man's body. The corpse slowly lifted
into the air, a faint green glow surrounding it. "Per vox of oraculum, ego recro vos in eternus patentia!" she
said, her voice distorted as the man's corpse burst into green flames, eerie screams filling the air as his body
was burned to the bone. The woman smirked cruelly, holding her right hand up to snap her fingers, causing
the flames to fade away instantly, leaving a smoking skeleton to fall onto the ground.

------"Awaken." she said coldly, as green flaming eyes burst to life within the skeleton's skull. It instantly
began crying out in agony.
------"Oracle...! I b.. Beg you... spare me...!" it cried, writhing on the ground in pain. The woman continued
to cruelly smirk at the creature, before turning to walk towards the forests.
------"You were warned, fool. This is your punishment, a century of pain, perhaps more if you continue
to misbehave." she said, before she faded away into the darkness of the night, leaving the man to suffer.

-

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--------Elsewhere in Hyrule, deep within the confines of a dark ruin with black walls, lit only by the
frequently placed green torches, a man in a long black cloak sat in solitude on a stone bench, staring
at the ground with a deep sigh, his hood pulled back to reveal his orange hair. His eyes seemed to
reflect a faint purple glow in the relative darkness of the room, the only sound around him being the
crackling of a single torch behind him and the torches lighting the hallway to his left.
------"I can't believe she'd do this to me..." he muttered with a scowl. "After everything I sacrificed
for that witch... she throws me aside like garbage becaue of just a few little mistakes..."

------The ex-gerudo king slammed his fist into the bench, a small purple flare exploding from the impact
and causing a quite noticable crator in the surface of it. "I should have just kept my reign as the king
of thieves... I should have never gotten crossed up with taking over Hyrule beside an insane queen..." he
continued, regretting many mistakes he'd made in life thus far. "She's created a monster out of me..."

------Ganondorf held his right fist up, clenching it in rage as the same arm burst into violet flames. "If
it weren't for that stupid blonde boy, none of this would have ever happened... I'd rule the world with
an iron fist now, with the Oracle by my side... If I had the Tri-Force now, it'd be her bowing to my
power, begging for mercy..."
------"Dangerous words to speak in the Oracle's home." a voice interrupted his rant, a man in a black
hood & cloak identical to Ganondorf's walking into the small, poorly lit room, his face enshrouded in
shadows. Ganondorf glared at the man, standing up to face him, finding himself atleast four inches
taller.
------"You'd be wise not to meddle in my affairs, boy." Ganondorf advised.
------"I wouldn't dream of it, my liege. I am one of the last who believe you are the true ruler of
Hyrule." the man said. "I merely came to relay orders from the Oracle."
------"Why doesn't she tell me in person?" Ganondorf muttered.
------"She's too busy, and I happened to be nearby when she required a messenger." the other cloaked
man said. "Your son, Garland, is in the Zoran hospital."
------"You mean he..."
------"Yes." the man interrupted. "And you are to retrieve him for the Oracle immediately."
------"Degraded to mere grunt work..." Ganondorf said with a sigh, standing up and beginning to walk
out of the room and down a long, dark hallway. "When will the humiliation end...?"
------"No time soon, apparently." the follower said. "But look at the bright side, you finally get
to see your son again."
------"Not something I look forward to..." Ganondorf muttered icily as he strode away.

-

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-

------Malon carefully placed the young baby girl in her bed back at the Lon Lon Ranch, the only thing
illuminating the room being a small candle. The baby was sleeping soundly at last, and Malon was
exhausted. She took her cloak off and set it on a wooden chair nearby, the only sound in the small room
being her father's snoring upstairs, and her footsteps on the hardwood floors. She sighed, looking
forward to a good night's sleep, but as she was about to head to bed, she saw something move in the
shadows in the corner of the room, reflecting from a mirror on the opposite wall near the bed.
------"Who's there?" Malon said softly, staring into the mirror and watching the corner's reflection
like a hawk. A pair of red eyes flashed open from the darkness, the bright glow emitting from them
fading as a dark figure stepped out of the shadows. "... Shadow..."
------"You have something that belongs to me." the dark Hylian said flatly. "I would very much
like her back."
------"Keep your voice down!" Malon whispered. "I just got her to sleep!"
------"Which should have been my job." hissed the dark one. "I found the kid, I saved the kid, all you
did was get in my way."
------"If I'm not mistaken, I helped you get the kid back." Malon argued.
------"And I would not have required your assistance had you not given them the child in the
first place, idiot." Shadow Link said coldly, jerking out his long, shadowy blade. "Now give me my
kid. I would so hate to kill an innocent meddler now that I'm playing the hero."
------"Some hero you are... You're nothing but a monster." Malon said, glaring at the dark Hylian.
"How do I know she'll be safe once I give her to you? You didn't even care about her safety when
you hurled your sword at that other woman - you could have hit her!"
------"Please, my aim isn't that poor." Shadow Link said, offended.
------"Perhaps not, but she could have jerked the child in the way to try to protect herself. Did
you ever think about that?" Malon said a little louder. "And the way she fell, if she'd landed on her
head she could have been dead!"
------"Yes, well, she isn't, isn't she!" hissed the shadow once more. "The important thing is, I've
kept her safe this far, and I'm going to continue keeping her safe!"
------"She doesn't need to grow up with the sole influence of a heartless monster." Malon said.
"Atleast if I raise her, she'll turn out alright."
------"I'm not a monster!"
------"No, you just slaughtered three people in cold blood tonight, and thoroughly enjoyed the
sounds of them dying. I saw it in your face." she said, looking disgusted with her last words. "You
don't even have a job, you can't provide for her either..."

--------Shadow Link stood there in silence for a short while. "... so, if I get a job, you'll surrender
the child?" he said, wondering to himself why he wasn't just slitting her throat. Was he losing the
inhumanity he loved so much...?
------"No, I won't do that until you learn a thing or two about kids. But a job around normal people
would help show me you aren't a monster." Malon said. Shadow Link scowled.
------"You don't think I, master of shadows, can get a job, do you?" he said.
------"... I didn't say that."
------"But you were thinking it!" Shadow Link continued with a smirk. "Oh, I'll show you. I'll go to
Hyrule, get a job, and make enough money to buy this ranch if I have to!"
------"I didn't say--"
------"I'll see you when I'm filthy rich!" Shadow Link cackled, dashing out of the ranch. "You'll be
sorry you weren't more polite then!"

------Malon sighed as the young baby started crying, awoken from Shadow Link's yelling. "He's
impossible... If I never see him again, it'll be too soon..."

-

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-

------Ruto sighed, lying down on the small bed in her own private room in the Zora Domain, her
hands behind her head as she stared at the crystal ceiling. Link took a seat in a small red chair
beside the bed.
------"I can't believe it... we're going to have a kid soon." Ruto said quietly. "... I knew I felt kind of
odd, but... I would have never imagined."
------"Well, it was bound to happen eventually." Link said. "I still can't believe I'm going to be a
father soon. Hopefully he won't be put through as much danger as I have."
------"Hopefully. But then, you would've never found me if not for the dangerous life you lead." Ruto
said with a grin. "Regardless, she'll have two very protective parents."
------"How do you know he'll be a she?" Link said with a smirk.
------"I just do." Ruto said, sticking her tongue out at him. "And by the time she's born, we'll have
cleared out all of those spider things..."
------"You mean I will have. You're not doing anything that could put you or our baby in danger." Link
said.
------"What! I don't even have a big belly yet, you most certainly are not going to fight a bunch of
deadly parasites by yourself!" Ruto exclaimed.
------"I don't want my wife and my kid getting themselves killed." Link said. "I can look after myself
fine enough, but I want you to stay here and stay safe."

------Ruto glared at him stubbornly for a few moments, before sighing and reaching under her mattress,
taking out a small rod much like her fiery one, but with a green orb. "Take this with you, atleast."
------"What is it?" Link asked, taking the green rod from the Zoran princess.
------"It's like the Fire Rod, but with lightning instead of fire." Ruto said. "So long as you're touching it
while it's activated, it'll make an electrical field around your body to keep the parasites off. Your
swords should be able to do the rest."
------"Thanks." Link said with a grin, leaning in to kiss Ruto softly. "I'll be back before you know it."
he continued, before Ruto wrapped her arms around him.
------"Atleast stay with me until I fall asleep..." Ruto requested. "There's plenty of time to get rid of
those ... things..."
------"... I suppose your right." said Link, climbing into the bed beside his wife. "After you fall asleep,
I'll go kill the parasites and be back before you know I'm gone."

-

-

------"You'd better enjoy your rest, boy." Ganondorf muttered with a scowl as he stomped through
the river leading to Zora's domain, his long black cloak nearly making him invisible. "As much
trouble as you're putting me through, you're not getting away without punishment..."

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End Chapter