Chapter 23: Facing Doubts

The room was filled with a think mist. Nothing could be seen more than three feet in any direction. Link turned to make sure Faith was still with him. When he saw her he slowly stepped forward. "Stay close, I have no clue what's going to be in here so we need to be careful." He turned again to make sure Faith was still following him. He could see her but not very clearly. The mist seemed to be getting thicker with each step he took. If this kept up he was going to make her hold his arm. That way he would know she was safe.

Faith had stopped for a second. She had a bad feeling about the room and it sent a shiver up her spine. When she looked forward to find Link she found it was hard to see him. She tried to step closer but he seemed to get twice as far with each step she took. She wanted to speak but her voice seemed to be caught in her throat. He was quickly getting out of sight and no matter how fast she went he seemed to be going twice as fast. Tears started to form in her eyes and finally her voice started to work. "LINK!" It came out far louder than she had expected.

Link heard Faith's scream and stopped. It had come from in front of him and he thought she was behind him. He quickly turned to glance backward and found no one was following him. He started to run in the direction of Faith's scream. "Faith, are you okay!" He yelled back. 'This is what I didn't want to happen,' Link thought as he ran.

"Link, where are you?" Faith had thought Link's voice came from behind her. It didn't make sense for him to be there though. He had been in front of her the whole time. Faith tried to turn but started to fall. She didn't hit the ground though. She felt like someone had caught her. She turned her head to see who and was surprised to find who it was.

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Link's thoughts were racing. 'This is all my fault. I should have kept a closer watch on her. Or I should have had her hold my arm so I knew where she was. Damn it, why did this have to happen!' Link's eyes were watching for any sign of movement at all. All he could do to stop himself from starting to panic was run. Running meant he could find her faster. Link saw a figure appear in the mist and hoped that it was Faith and that she was okay. He stopped a few feet away but was pretty sure it was Faith. She was sitting on the ground like she had gotten scared and decided to stop. He put out his hand to help her up. "Are you okay Faith?" However just as he had finished with his question something in the back of his head told him to pull back his hand. Just as Link's hand was out of her reach he saw her sword right where his hand had been. He jumped back a step and pulled out his sword. "Who are you and what have you done with Faith?"

The girl stood up, she was the same height as Faith. Her black hair was the same length as Faith's. The girls face even looked just like Faith's except for her eyes. Her eyes were red, just like Link's reflections eyes had been last time. "What do you mean Link, I am Faith," The girl said. Her voice was almost exactly like Faith's however it was much colder.

"You're her reflection…" Link said. He pulled his shield in front of him knowing that this reflection would probably end up attacking him.

"And some people say you're stupid," the reflection replied. "You're right I am her reflection, however that still makes me her. But if you insist on not calling me Faith at least call me Dark Faith."

"I won't call you by her name at all. If you want to be called Dark then fine but I'm not adding Faith to it!" Link clenched his fist around the sword turning his knuckles white.

"You are so easy to make mad aren't you? I know it's not to scare you into submission though, after all you hold the Trifoce of Courage. But that's why you try to protect those who are afraid. I wonder how scared Zelda was when she died." Dark Faith smirked at Link when she spoke. She wanted to see just how he really felt about all this.

"Don't you dare mention Zelda you wench!" Link shouted. His knuckles grew even whiter as he gripped his sword.

"You couldn't protect her could you Link? And it drives you crazy doesn't it? You know that if you hadn't come to this time she may have lived. You absolutely hate it. You know you could have saved her but didn't."

"Shut up damn it!" Link raised his sword and leaped at Dark Faith in an attempt to make her shut up about Zelda.

"I think I've just found Mr. Hero's weakness," Dark Faith mused silently to herself as she elegantly moved out of Link's way. "What about the others you couldn't save, Rauru, Nabooru, Impa, Darunia, and poor Saria? What about them? You let them down as well by disappearing on them. I don't think the land of Hyrule will forgive its 'great hero' for abandoning them in such a time of need."

"I didn't abandon them!" Link swung again.

"Really, you mean you never wished that you didn't have to be the one to save them all?" Dark Faith asked as she blocked with her sword.

"I wanted to save them! I tried my best to save them!" Link's eyes were filling with tears as he swung his sword again. He didn't want to hear about his friends. He regretted not being able to save them. It broke his heart to hear them talked about by someone like her.

"Was it really you're best? I'm sure deep down you wanted to know what would happen if you weren't there to save them. I'm sure you wanted to just be a normal kid who didn't have to save anyone." Dark Faith found it was getting easier to block and avoid his attacks. He was too distracted to really fight her.

"It doesn't mean I wanted this to happen! I wanted to save them I did…" Link's grip on his sword loosened and the blade started to fall toward the water on the floor.

"Hey! Don't Listen to her! She's just toying with your head Link!" Navi shouted bouncing at Link's ear. However he didn't pay attention, he was lost in his thoughts. All of his doubts he had been keeping inside were rising to the surface with each word from the reflection's mouth.

'They died because I didn't finish what I started. I disappeared before I could defeat Ganondorf and they paid the price. All of my friends paid for my mistake.' The tip of the master sword hit the water as he tears flooded his eyes and spilled over onto his cheeks. It had been a very long time since he last cried. It felt foreign to him to cry but he couldn't stop for some reason. The tears, however, gave him strength to lift the sword off of the floor and back into fighting stance. "They may have died because I wasn't there but I won't let the new sages down. Whether it is Mido or the other sages who I have yet to awaken, I will not let my past mistakes prevent me from helping them. Zelda and the others will not have died in vain. I will defeat you and any one else who tries to stop me. And I will save Hyrule." Link's right hand and his sword shone with the force of the Triforce of Courage as he spoke. He leaped at Dark Faith in attack. His sword sliced her arm. "You won't stop me from getting to Faith and this temple won't stop me from saving Hyrule." Link's eyes shown with a fire of determination as he swung again.

Dark Faith couldn't block his attacks. She could not use her arm that had been hit. The cut on it ran from her elbow to two inches from her wrist. the cut was also deep so the wound was bleeding freely. "I never thought you would be able to hit me."

"You thought wrong on a lot of things didn't you?" Link swung his sword again and hit her across her chest. It didn't cut deep however she was bleeding.

Dark Faith fell to her knees and put her hand to her chest. "Damn you."

"No, damn you. You're the evil one. Now get to your feet, I know that's not all the fight you have in you." Link had his sword ready to go again.

"I can never tell whether you're just lucky or not as dumb as I thought when it comes to what comes out of your mouth." Dark Faith got to her feet and stood before Link.

"I guess you'll never know will you?" Link flung himself at her again. This time Dark Faith dodged his attack. However instead of her hitting him he spun, blocked with his shield and struck her back. With a scream of pain she disappeared into the floor. "Now to find the real Faith," Link said running toward where he had thought he heard her scream come from.

I know, some of you were expecting to get to see Dark Link but he'll be here next chapter. Well now for Reviewer Response Time (passes out plushie Dark Links)!

Lisilgirl: If you meant time for Dark Link sorry! He'll be here next chapter though!

linkmaster2832: Welcome to the reviewer club! Thank you for saying my story is awesome! I'm glad you like it!

Chips dip: Glad you liked it!

Matt: I'll let it slide this time but if you review again for a gaming tip I'm gonna have to delete your review. Glad you like the story though!

Sakume: Actually yeah, I do play the game then write based on it, can't do that for the fire temple though. Hope you liked the chapter!