Chap 12: The Storm before the Hurricane
(A/N) Hello everyone! Last chapter had Link saving Saria AND Dark. What? How? This will deal with just that. It is written from a non-subjective point of view, mainly because I realized my first-person chapter's suck. I feel like they suck do to the unnecessary proliferation of the pronoun "I". Also, sorry this has taken so unbelievably long to put out, inspiration has been a cruel mistress to me. Anyway, here's the new chapter. I hope you like it!
Italics means thoughts or someone is speaking sharply, or it means someone has spoken Hylian. It can also mean a flashback. Bold means an author's note or some sort of text, which I will seldom use. Underlined text implies importance. I am unlikely to remember that. Have fun!
Oh, and I don't own any piece of The Legend of Zelda. I own, literally, more air than Zelda.
Gerudo Prison
"Link?! You're okay! Thank Farore; I thought you were a goner!" Saria said to the red-clad Link just outside her cell.
"Saria, stand back." Saria backed away and Red (as he will be referred to as heretofore) stretched his leg as far out as it would go, extended his sword arm as far out as it would go, and spun as fast as he could. The bars were cut now, but not gone. "I was afraid of that." Red sheathed his sword and grabbed the bars, his silver gauntlets allowing him the strength to bend them with relative ease. Saria let out a slight gasp, almost completely inaudible. Red certainly didn't catch it. Red was far too busy putting all of his focus on his arms, which were still busy prying the bars open.
"Link, when did you get so strong?" Saria asked, shocked at his display of power. Understandably so; she had never seen Link (or any form of Link for that matter) with his gauntlets. She only saw him before he could use them and he never used them after his battle against Ganondorf. The fact that she was shocked is entirely understandable. However, now that she had seen Link (or a form of Link) with such strength, her attraction to him was renewed.
Anyway, Red had the bars pried open within four minutes. Saria stepped out, letting a sigh of relief escape from her. "We have to move, now," Red said. Saria nodded and Red began walking off, drawing his sword in his right hand. Saria knew something was amiss when he did that. Saria still followed, but was now wary of her savior. Whoever this is, it isn't Link.
After a Wallmaster dropped in front of them then receded back to its ceiling, they picked up the pace and were down the hall very quickly. Around then, Saria received a horrible migraine. She dropped to her knees, holding her head, moaning and groaning not unlike an alley cat mid-mating session. "Saria!" Red exclaimed, "Are you okay?" Saria nodded and tried to stand, but quickly found that she lacked the strength to do even that. "Don't move, I gotcha." Red picked Saria up and held her bridal style, continuing with their exodus, only stopping to hide from some horrible monster or kick a door in. Saria would've been able to notice and comment on said events, were it that she was conscious when they happened. The further Saria got from her cell, the worse the migraine got, eventually getting to the point where she was just knocked-out by it. Red was too busy saving her to notice he was hurting her.
They were near the exit when Saria once again regained consciousness. "Where are we? Who are you?" she asked, fully unaware of what had happened earlier. She would've been able to identify the hat Link wore, but he lost it back at Lake Hylia. As far as she knew, she was being relocated to a different cell. Saria rubbed her eyes to clear the fog from them, smiling lightly despite the headache when she saw that she was being carried by Link. "Hey, Link."
"What? Oh, hey Saria. Are you alright?"
"I should be fine. I'm tired. Where are we?"
"We're in a prison constructed by the demigoddess Dimesia. Well, to be accurate, we're 'bout to be outside a prison constructed by demigoddess Dimesia."
"That's good. When will we be home?"
"Soon, hopefully."
"Good. I can't wait to be far from here."
Just then, Saria and Red felt themselves being lifted forcefully off the ground. They were separated from each other, both attempting to reconnect. A wicked laugh could be heard before Dimesia poofed into existence before them, Link and Dark kneeling beside her. "Link?" Saria asked to the one in blue. She then looked right towards Red and forward at Dark. "What the hell?!" she screamed.
"Saria!" Link cried out. He was battered, bruised, slightly burnt, and had some blood trickling down his face from a benign cut on his forehead.
"It's a reunion! Only this one won't last long!" Dimesia exclaimed before conjuring a knife from thin air. The knife hurt Link slightly just looking at it. "You thought you could cheat the rules, save both by making another clone. You were wrong, oh so wrong, and now your fate continues as I said. Choose, Hero. Choose which one lives!" she said before driving the knife into Red's stomach. Both Red and Link cried out in pain. Red quickly disappeared and Link was left with a sore feeling where he was "stabbed".
One hour earlier, Link
"Link?" Dark asked, refusing to believe that he was being saved.
"Yeah, it's me. You're gonna be fine, Dark."
"You and I have different definitions of that word, Link! In case you haven't noticed, my fucking leg's broken!" At that moment, Link felt like his leg had been broken as well.
"Dammit! Why'd you say that?!" Link exclaimed, "You know I hurt when my clones hurt."
"Good. You need some pain, you pansy."
"I don't HAVE to save you. I really don't need you."
"Oh, come on, Link. It's just a joke. Come on, get me out of here."
"Are you sure a pansy such as myself is worthy of saving you?"
"Let me out or I'll kill you myself once I get out on my own."
"Easy, killer. Step back. You might want to take cover." Link set a bomb down in front of the cell, lit it and ran away. Dark flipped his bed over and dropped behind it. The bomb exploded a few seconds later, throwing bits of metal here and there, one particular sharpened strip right next to Dark's head. "Din!" he yelled. "Come on!" Link said from beside the rubble, waving at Dark. "Where have I seen that from?" Dark asked himself. He shook the thought and limped after Link, who was walking away.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have a demigoddess to kill?" Dark asked Link.
"Yeah, I do. I just realized I needed help doing it. You happened to be the most capable fighter I know." Link responded.
"Don't flatter me, Hero. I'm only good because you're good."
"You could literally just take the damn compliment. You're good because you're good. Not because I'm good, not because Stan was good, because you're good. Get some self-confidence, dammit!" Dark was speechless. He couldn't understand why Link was being so kind to him even though he was always so rude to him. "Thank you, Link." Dark said with a grin. Link nodded and handed Dark a short sword. They were now at the stairway, the one that pissed Link off so deeply. Link gritted his teeth at the memory, but quickly let it go and ascended the stairway.
A Wallmaster had just landed right next to Link, its claw cutting his forehead slightly. "Ow!" he exclaimed before slicing the Walllmaster to pieces. "Dark, come on! We're nearly there!" Link shouted out. "Give me a minute, dammit! My leg's broken, remember?" Dark had shouted from thirty feet away. "Slowpoke," Link said under his breath. Dark caught up quickly and they exited the prison, something Dark was beyond ecstatic about. Link sprinted for the hole keeping them in and was lifted from the abyss that was the prison. Dark followed and was too out of the prison. The fresh air made him feel amazing, but the light hurt his eyes. There wasn't much for him to see, anyway. Moblins surrounded them in every direction. "Shit," Link whispered. "Infiernum mantelon!" Link shouted, making a sword ablaze appear in his hand. Dark drew his short sword and took a fighting stance. The two Links would not go down without one hell of a fight.
The moblins charged and Dark dropped, allowing Link to let an electric wave fly out. The first line was fried, the second paralyzed, the third shocked. Link ran and jumped on a first-line corpse, using his momentum to plunge his sword through two moblins and scratch another, setting it on fire. It began flailing and hitting other moblins, making them gang up on it, beating it down then stomping it to death. Link and Dark used the distraction to kill the moblins who didn't join the gang. When the gang turned their attention, almost simultaneously, from the charred and beaten corpse their eyes, also almost simultaneously, widened at the sight of their pack-mates dead on the ground while the dynamic duo still stood, battered despite their demeanor (one of strength and indifference), the blue one burnt on his arm where his sword accidently touched him. They charged and were too cut down by the expert swordsmen.
A distant growling was heard by the two and they turned to find seven of the monsters that chased Saria long ago charging at them. They dropped into a defensive position and the dogs, as they will be referred to as heretofore, continued charging. When they were ten feet from the dogs, something horrendous happened. The dogs, mid charge, exploded, throwing the two back. This barrage went on until the last dog was dead. The two slowly arose. Dark was the first up, spouting insult after insult. Link was unsteady on his feet. A distant, wicked laugh sounded out. Then Dimesia was on them, grabbing both by the throat, making them go limp due to her tentacles manipulating their neocortex's(the part of your brain that lets you move). "You see how easily I got you? You have no chance of winning this. Now, I believe one of your clones has just broken that green bitch out of her prison. You wanna watch her die? Come on, let's go watch her die!" Dimesia said before teleporting to the Gerudo prison.
Gerudo Prison
"Saria!" Link cried out. He was battered, bruised, slightly burnt, and had some blood trickling down his face from a benign cut on his forehead.
"It's a reunion! Only this one won't last far too long!" Dimesia exclaimed before conjuring a knife from thin air. The knife hurt Link slightly just looking at it. "You thought you could cheat the rules, save both by making another clone. You were wrong, oh so wrong, and now your fate continues as I said. Choose, Hero. Choose which one lives!" she said before driving the knife into Red's stomach. Both Red and Link cried out in pain. Red quickly disappeared and Link was left with a sore feeling where he was "stabbed". "You have thirty seconds to choose, Hero. Time ticks on, regardless of your indecisiveness. Pick soon, or they both die."
Link sat there, motionless, no expression on his face, nothing happening on his exterior. But within himself, a battle raged on. The fighters: the advantages of saving Saria and saving Dark. He had made several tough decisions in his life, which color to wear today, what to do with Saria, should he feed Fado now or later, but this was definitely the toughest one he'd made yet. At ten to death, he was still minus an answer. At five he panicked. At three he answered.
His answer was so quiet he almost couldn't even hear it.
"What was that, Link? I couldn't hear you. Could you hear him, Saria?" Dimesia said. Saria had a look of shock, sadness, and horror on her face. She knew exactly what Link said.
"I-I said I choose… I choose…" Link began crying, but quickly stopped it, "I choose Dark." Dark Link's long, technically Hylian ears perked up when he heard this, not out of happiness, but out of shock. He looked at Link, stared hard at him, tried to comprehend why he chose him. He couldn't come up with anything.
"Is this your final choice, Link?" Dimesia asked, clearly trying to get him to make the wrong decision, if it can even be called that. Neither decision was truly wrong, but one was more correct. It was a morally gray decision. Link could do nothing but nod, for he lacked the strength to speak and watch Dimesia as she moved to Saria, who was staring at Link with the same look on her face. Eventually, it changed to one of stoic acceptance. Saria had amazing mental strength, and as Dimesia neared, she gradually lost fear for her.
"Link?" Saria called out. His gaze snapped to her. "It's okay. I want you to know that I… I wish we could have more time together. But this is how it must happen if Hyrule can continue to exist. Please, Link, be strong. Show me that you made the right decision."
Link couldn't hold it any longer. He refused to even make an awkward attempt at not crying. He began crying, sobbing, bawling, his heavy sobs making his whole body shake. Dark tried to think of something to comfort him but couldn't think of anything. Dimesia moved in front of Saria and brought the knife back. Saria closed her eyes and smiled. She smiled, despite her end being so near, despite her killer floating just before her, she smiled. Link looked on through his blurry vision at the two. And Dimesia threw her arm forward, plunging the knife deep into Saria's stomach. Saria stopped floating and fell fourteen feet to the ground. "NOOO!" Link screamed as he sprinted towards Saria. He kneeled next to Saria, who was quickly losing blood and was nearly unconscious. "Saria… I'm sorry. I failed you. I failed you. I failed you…" Saria took Link's hand in hers and smiled at him, some blood streaming from her mouth.
"Link, you haven't failed yet. There's… there's still time left. You can still succeed." Link knew what she meant, but at the same time, didn't.
"I'll get her Saria. Don't you doubt it." Link reached into his bag for something he never thought he'd give to Saria. Saria's eyes widened immediately when she saw what it was. "Saria, will you do me the honor of making me the happiest man to ever exist?" he said while holding an emerald-encrusted ring.
"Yes," Saria said weakly while smiling. Link placed the ring on Saria's finger and kissed her, not minding the coppery taste of Saria's blood. When Link pulled away from Saria he could see that she was still, her eyes closed. She looked peaceful. "Saria? Saria, are you there? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no… Saria!" Link once again refused to not cry. "Saria…" he said weakly.
"For some reason, I doubt now more than ever that you'll be able to beat me. But you're welcome to try!"
"Fuck you!" Dark shouted while he chucked a rock the size of his fist at her. Dimesia teleported away and the two swordsmen were left alone. But, for the first time, they felt truly alone. And they were terrified.
These are manly tears! For some background on this whole fic, I drew a picture of Link, slightly wounded, holding Saria who had bled out. It was entitled "I'm Sorry". This is basically that scene, with some major changes. If you want to know what was changed, PM me. Please review, it lets me know whether or not I suck. It also lets me know if I rule, which I'd love to hear about. Until then, if there are no questions, I'm out. Peace.