8.
So what had Dark Link been doing with his days since the completion of his dastardly plan (well, Ganon's dastardly plan, but nobody need know that)? The answer should be obvious! Sleeping, reading (not Restoree – somehow, Ruto still had that book, frozen in the ice somewhere), and generally relaxing like he had always done before the nightmare that was Ruto descended upon him.
According to the great King of Evil himself, Link had already awoken, but it should be a good while before he reached the Water Temple, so Dark Link wasn't bothered.
Anyway, it was on one of these days of sleeping when he was ferociously awakened by the most terrible of noises, which the only way to describe it was:
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhh!"
"What was that?" he asked nobody in particular and, of course, received no response.
He knew that the Water Temple could be pretty scary, but to scream like that would require a shock far worse... Like if he were to see Ruto again. He laughed it off – the only way to see Ruto now would be to stare deep into the ice! It wasn't like anybody was stupid enough to free her... Or were they? An involuntary shudder ran through him.
- - -
"What are you doing here?" the boy-in-the-green-tunic-aka-the-Hero-of-Time-aka-Link-who-was-wielding-the-legendary-blade-of-evil's-bane-aka-the-Master-Sword exclaimed with horror – by which he definitely meant 'surprise' – after the initial scream-inducing shock of seeing the extremely-aggravating-and-let's-not-forget-to-mention-delusional-Princess-of-the-Zoras-aka-Ruto-the-daughter-of-the-huge-gelatinous-blob-aka-the-King-of-the-Zoras, though he hastily attempted to cover up his complete and utter disgust – and of course he meant 'surprise' this time as well.
"Oh... you... If I'm right... Link?! You're Link, aren't you? It's me, your fiancée, Ruto! Princess of the Zoras! I never forgot the vows we made to each other seven years ago! You're a terrible man to have kept me waiting for these seven long years! (A lot more unnecessarily annoying ranting...)," she squealed, only pausing for a breath at the end. She really could rant, Link remembered. Luckily, he had the sense not to have listened to one word of it.
"I want to save them all!" she continued. "(Even more unnecessarily annoying ranting...) Follow me, quickly!"
With that, to Link's surprise, she floated off. Curiously, she seemed to be reading a book while she swam, though Link could not see what it was. After a few moments of complete stillness (even Navi-aka-the-point-out-the-obvious-fairy-guardian seemed to be stunned into silence) in order to digest what had just happened, Link swam up after her, only to find that she had disappeared.
- - -
Dark Link's eyes widened in surprise at how quickly his green counterpart had managed to navigate the Water Temple in order to get to the room Dark Link resided in. He drew his sword in anticipation, waiting. Soon bars would fall down across the exits; they would be trapped together. He was confident who would win.
A certain calm descended upon the large arena as he waited for the supposed Hero to discover his presence. The palm tree rested at his back, and soft sand lay under his feet. Any second now.
Without warning, the door behind him creaked open, before slamming shut. Almost immediately afterwards, the bars crashed down, trapping them in.
Dark Link nervously looked to see who had just entered.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!"
Startled, Link (the Link clad in green) turned around.
"Could you please not screech? I'm getting near the end of Restoree!"
Yes, Dark Link, Link and Princess Ruto were trapped in a room together.
A/N You may think of this as a Christmas present for everybody who reads/has read and/or reviews/has reviewed! Unfortunately, I had no Christmassy paper to wrap it with...
Crazymark.