Sorceress: (Sucking on Link's hat) …I must…I need…Dark Link…
Link: Here. (Hands Sorceress review pages)
Sorceress: Oh, goody. 24 reviews! YEEEEESSSS!
Link: Sorceress doesn't own Zelda. And I don't know her.
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Termina Fever
Ch 7: The Last Stand for Salvation
"We've been looking for hours. Where is it?" Dark Link asked, looking defeated and tired; he looked like he could drop dead and there were bags under his eyes.
Ruto shrugged. "Who knows?"
"Maybe we should go to Clock Town? The townsfolk might know something." Saria suggested.
"Sure," Dark Link sighed. "Whatever you want." He began to walk towards Clock Town, Saria and Ruto waiting a while to follow.
"What happened to him? Shouldn't he have protested and walked off defiantly in the direction of some irrelevant location?" Ruto hissed.
Saria resumed walking, eyes on the ground. "I have no idea. I mean, I know he's changing, but so much, so fast-one day!"
Ruto copied Saria. "You mean he can change? I thought he was entirely incorrigible. Tell me how."
Saria, retelling the events up at Snowpeak, caught up to Dark Link. "Really, Dark Link, are you alright?"
Dark Link whirled around. "I'm fine, okay? Shut up."
Saria took a step back. Why are his eyes so bright? So glassy? So…distant?
Ruto passed her, muttering, "And…he's back. Hallelujah. Praise Nayru!"
Dark Link pointed to the Clock Tower. "We'll go there. There has to be something more than just appearance."
Saria and Ruto followed uncertainly.
o~o0o~o
"There it is!" Ruto exclaimed. "A teeny little tunnel. How did we not notice this before?"
"I'll go first," Saria stated solemnly, crouching down and squirming through it, emerging on the other side quickly; it was not a long passageway.
"Ugh…small tunnels. I hate these." Dark Link appeared next to Saria and Ruto, complaining irritably and wiping sweat off his brow, face nearly ashen.
"Shall we get going?" Saria asked briskly, in an attempt to keep Dark Link from questioning the desire to continue the journey.
Actually, now that Saria thought of it, walking across the field the party had just entered, the quest for Termina Fever's cure was drawing to a close. One more ingredient and they could return to Hyrule, and thus, to their normal lives.
Did Dark Link have a life? Did he do things for the sake of doing them, or was he purely interested in what he needed to survive? Was he ever lonely? Link, on one of the rare trips he'd made to see Saria, had mentioned a shadow standing beside an old dead tree that didn't actually exist. How sad and alone Saria would feel if she had to wait for eons, forgotten, just to serve a single purpose? No wonder Dark Link didn't like Ganondorf. In a way, Ganondorf had committed an act of torture.
"So we just cross the bridge?" Ruto asked, bringing Saria back to reality.
"It looks kind of rickety…" Dark Link seemed wary. "But I'll go first." Stepping cautiously, he managed to make it halfway across the bridge before an overwhelming wave of nausea overtook him and he staggered to the side rope, clinging to the edge and overlooking the deep abyss below him. Sucking in a huge lungful of air, he shut his eyes and retched out something foul-tasting, the worst thing he'd ever tasted. It disappeared over the side of the bridge never to be seen again.
"D-Dark Link!" Saria cried, rushing towards him as he continued to dry heave.
That's when the bridge collapsed.
Thinking extraordinarily fast for someone who had just finished emptying the contents of his stomach, Dark Link took out his hookshot and pointed it at the wall, catching Saria as he sped towards solid earth.
Once they had reached their destination, Saria wrapped her arms around Dark Link and struggled for a better hanging-on-for-dear-life position. She froze.
"You're so hot," she murmured.
"Uh…thanks, I guess," Dark Link replied hoarsely.
"No…not that kind…you…" Saria gave a small start. "You didn't get Termina Fever, did you?"
"No; what gave you that impression?" Dark Link tried to act casual, but he was shaking with chills, even if Saria couldn't feel them, his head ached, and everything was a blurry picture.
He wanted to go lie down and take some red potion. If he could hold it down long enough to block out the pain; he felt as though he would puke if someone so much as mentioned eating.
"You didn't want to eat anything today or last night." Speak of the demons. Dark Link swallowed hard.
Saria continued. "You have a fever, you just choked up something unspeakable, you've been complaining about your head hurting, and…and…" She shot him an anguished look. "And…oh, Dark Link, you're just not you anymore."
Dark Link began to reel in the chains. "So? That could describe almost any-" here, a heavy coughing fit interrupted him. "…illness," he finished.
Saria didn't press it, but she knew that Dark Link was wrong.
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"Think this is the Sacred Tree Bark?" Dark Link asked, walking towards a huge tree standing guard over a small clearing. Stopping abruptly, he turned to the entrance and gasped. "Oh…my…divine…Nayru. That is a big Stalfos."
"And I don't think it wants to help us…" Ruto put in, staring in horror at the skeleton lumbering around and giving displeased roars.
"Watch out!" Saria shrieked, diving away from the Stalfos's rapidly swinging sword.
Dark Link brought out a bomb and hurled it at the Stalfos; it was a weak toss but it got the monster's attention. Ruto took the opportunity to use some of the special moves Mikau had taught her, giving the Stalfos a quick zap of electricity. The Stalfos changed course again, in the process it gave Dark Link a nasty cut across the chest. Saria charged at the beast. Swinging her sword in a wide arc-Link would have been proud-she succeeded in breaking off a couple of the Stalfos's bones.
As the fight progressed and Dark Link did less and less and less fighting and more and more coughing, he withdrew to catch his breath. Funny, but he was leaning up against the Sacred Tree. Deceptively calm, he withdrew his sword and began to scrape the bark off of the tree.
"Dark Link!" Saria called; Dark Link turned around. "We're going to use our powers as Sages to defeat the Stalfos. You have to distract it." In between dodging the blows the Stalfos was making, she managed to shoot him a meaningful look. "I know you're weak," she encouraged. "But just hold the Stalfos off; Ruto and I can handle the rest." Clasping hands with Ruto, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Dark Link stood up shakily, grabbed his hookshot, and aimed it at the Stalfos. The beast lurched around, roaring, and made for Dark Link, who executed a roll.
The odds of Dark Link's victory were growing more unlikely by the minute; Dark Link felt sick and dizzy.
"You have to hurry!" He shouted. "I can't hold out any more! Help me!"
Saria nodded at Ruto and they both stuck their hands out; energy seemed to be radiating from their very cores. The Stalfos paused mid-strike, completely paralyzed.
"Stab it-now!" Saria called out.
Summoning the last reserves of his energy, Dark Link bunched his muscles and thrust his sword through the Stalfos's middle.
A brilliant, blinding, white light issued from the beast, and it exploded, bones scattered everywhere. Saria and Ruto were forced to shield their eyes.
From the wreckage, out stumbled Dark Link, bark clutched in his hand. He grinned triumphantly, bleeding in several places, and flushed with fever.
Then he collapsed.
o~o0o~o
Dark Link: Why did it have to be me? WHY ME?
Sorceress: Dark Link, you're back! (Hugs Dark Link)
Dark Link: Ack…choking…help…
Link: It is 2:30 in the morning right now. I don't know how Sorceress does it.
Sorceress: I have my ways…read the reviewers, Link.
Link: TUV Angel, cookie…LinkLuver3, six cookies 'cause you reviewed six times…deadaleta, cookie…msfcatlover…cookie, and PSI Objection, cookie.
Sorceress: That's right! You are all awesome, and it…oh wait. That speech is for the last chapter.
Dark Link: Yeah. And because we forgot last time, please review.
Sorceress: COOOOOKIES!