I wrote this during finals week. Why is it that I get so many more ideas when I should NOT be writing them? So, this chapter contains another slightly disturbing scene, this one as a flashback. A lot of the flashbacks in the next few chapters will be set around Four Swords Adventure, mostly using events from the manga. This whole thing with the Dark Mirror was a consequence of me wondering "so, if Sheik was there, why couldn't he stop Dark Link?" Well, here's my reason, along with some light-hearted fun to keep this from having too much angst.
Every cleansing of the Hero's soul shifted the darkest of his emotions to his shadow, to Dark Link. It was strange, really, how the spirit of the Hero and Link were joined; one and yet not, the Hero always Link, though Link was not always the Hero. Even when he slept, the spirit of the Hero protected Link, kept him pure. Lifetimes of darkness seen and felt by the vessel was bound up in the soul of the Hero until his awakening, and then, like a rancid chamber pot from a high castle window, it was all dumped on Dark Link's head.
Anger, pride, lust, envy, desire, greed, jealousy, distrust, resentment. . .every single bit of it.
It was enough to drive even a normal man insane.
And so, when the Evil in the Dark Realm began to whisper into his ears and play on those emotions, Dark Link listened. When it murmured to him that Sheik loved Zelda and Link more than he loved him, Dark Link didn't question it, because he knew of one Link that Sheik loved more, one Zelda who had been very dear to him, a pair that he, Dark Link, especially hated. When the Evil promised that it could secure the Sheikah for him, keep him from that wretched girl and her blasted Hero (who, having faced and resealed Guufuu once already, was already awake), Dark Link didn't doubt it. When it told him what he had to do, Dark Link agreed to it without a second thought.
It was the best, and worst, decision of his life.
He found Sheik where he usually in times like those, standing near the leaking barrier of Ganondorf's prison, using his magic to attempt to reseal the cracks that came with his stirring power. Dark Link approached Sheik silently, but the Sheikah still sensed him. There was no startling a Sheikah.
He cackled. He couldn't help it. The slim little Sheikah, so much power packed into such a small form. It was that power the Evil wanted, and Dark Link didn't mind letting him have it, so long as Sheik remained his.
He relished in Sheik's puzzled expression as those bloody eyes took in his young teen body, always a gangly, awkward age Dark Link had never cared for. Stupid Hero. But the annoyance of it was only a minor price to pay.
"What are you doing, Dark Link? You hate that form." Sheik's confusion, beginning to tint with the stirrings of fear (not that anyone else would be able to tell), was delicious, Dark Link thought, a grin spreading. He couldn't wait to rip off that cowl and taste it.
Patience was never a virtue of his. An insane grin spread over his face as he closed in on the wary but willing Sheik, tearing the cowl from his face and pressing their lips together hungrily. Sheik's arms snaked around Dark Link's shoulders as he started to respond. His senses stirred, and Sheik stiffiened before abruptly pulling back, their proximity allowing him to see the blackness of the borrowed magic surrounding Dark Link. He possessed not only the power of the Hero, but the taint of Evil that wasn't his. Sheik had been pouring his own strength into the barrier for weeks; he didn't stand a chance. His hand went for his Deku nut pouch, but Dark Link grabbed his wrist in a bruising grip, tossing the pouch away before pressing their bodies closer.
Sheik writhed like a captured snake to try to break Dark Link's grip (and normally he would have been able to, but circumstances were hardly normal just then), but Dark Link only laughed, seizing his other wrist and throwing Sheik to the ground. He kept him there with one knee pressed to his back and his hands pinned above his head. Sheik attempted to twist under him and Dark Link dug his knee in hard enough to break a Hylian's ribs, his unnatural (even for him) strength keeping the otherwise slippery Sheikah down.
Dark Link relished the feeling of power, taking a sadistic sort of pleasure from Sheik's continued struggles. He leaned in close, dark aura flaring as he hissed, "you will never see your stupid princess or your useless Hero ever again. I will destroy them both, and you will be mine and mine alone." Sheik was his obsession, and Dark Link wouldn't deny it.
He would, however, say it was the Sheikah's own damn fault for binding him to the Hero of Time for that Hero's Shade nonsense, however long ago that had been.
Sheik snarled, catching him in the back of the head with a forceful kick no Hylian could have managed. Dark Link pitched forward with a grunt, his grip loosening just enough to allow Sheik to twist one hand free and catch Dark Link in the face with his elbow, knocking him off Sheik and onto his back. Sheik rolled away from him and to his feet, pulling a spare Deku nut from his wrappings. "Dummes huhn! What has gotten into you? What do you think you're doing, Dark Link? Have you forgotten already what Ganondorf did to you-"
Dark Link lunged, catching him by the throat and hurling him against the side of the holy barrier, forcing him to drop the Deku nut harmlessly some feet away from them. Dark Link held him there with one iron-hard hand against his neck, careful not to touch the barrier himself lest it flare and burn him. "I know very well what Lord Ganondorf is about to do for me." He cackled, "He's going to give me the power to destroy that bastard Link and that bloody princess, and he's going to make you help me do it."
He didn't give Sheik time to answer, free palm raised to the sky as he shouted out a curse of darkness, black lightning shooting from the cracks in the barrier to engulf Sheik. Sheik tried to fight the spell with his own shadow magic, and perhaps were he not so exhausted he would have succeeded.
The Evil's power overwhelmed him and he screamed, his body convulsing, bending in ways even a Sheikah shouldn't when Dark Link released his grasp. The dark energy lifted him, surrounding him in a solid sizzling cocoon, his cries intensifying as his body stretched, his form blurring. The energy flared, and then contracted in a flash of nothingness, leaving behind a tall, ornate black mirror.
Dark Link chuckled as he placed a hand on it, giving a pleased sigh when he felt the Dark Mirror's power wash over him. Peering into its depths, his unhinged grin only widened at the sight he beheld.
Sheik, his body battered and bruised, hung suspended in the void of the mirror, arms spread to either side and his head slumped forward in unconsciousness, loose blond locks hiding his face. A dark aura surrounded him, his power being pulled from him as quickly as he could replace it, siphoned off to the barrier, to Dark Link, and to the weakening seal on the Four Sword.
Sheik was tired again. It seemed he was always tired lately. Each day he made his way to the center of the Dark World to strengthen the bonds on Ganondorf's seal, a draining process. Even with his efforts, however, he knew the seal wouldn't last much longer. When he reached this point, it never did.
But little Link and Dark Link didn't need to worry about it yet, so he didn't tell them. He did, however, start training little Link. The boy had never so much as held a sword in Hyrule (not that he would remember if he did), but he learned fast.
"You're getting better Link. Keep practicing your stances. I want to see you complete every one perfectly twenty times before dinner." Said Sheik as he laid his wooden sword aside and settled himself on a log to rest. They never did get around to building that house Dark Link mentioned. They had no need for it, really, and Link didn't mind sleeping on a bedroll outside.
"Yes Master Sheik." Answered the boy seriously, formal as he always was when training. He'd read in one of his books that students ought to address their trainers as such, and he'd done it ever since.
"Bah. Enough of this stances nonsense! You're good enough for some real training!" Announced Dark Link haughtily, grabbing up Sheik's discarded sword. He took a fighting stance across from Link, sword raised.
He yelped in protest when shadows rose up around him, surrounding him completely. Sheik watched with a bland look and Link with a grin as Dark Link's deep voice cracked in the middle of his yell and raised an octave or so. When the shadows pulled back (Dark Link could swear the bloody things were laughing at him!) he'd been forced into the guise of a boy small for his age of seven-nearly-eight.
Screaming in frustration Dark Link railed at the sky, shaking his fist at it comically while he ranted. "How the hell is he supposed to learn to fight against someone bigger than him if I'm not allowed to keep an older form when I'm fighting him! This is not fair! I'm the only one who can teach him! Sheik's too short!-gah!" Dark Link ducked as a dagger sailed overhead to embed itself in one of the twisted trees of the Dark World.
"I am not short." Bit out the irate Sheikah, bloody eyes narrowed.
Link (only Dark Link called him Vio, he later learned, as only he could call Dark Link Shadow) laughed, well used to the pair's behavior by now. "Quit messing around Shadow! Sheik won't let me have my book back until dinner, and I can't have dinner until I'm done training!"
Grumbling, Dark Link retrieved his sword. "Alright, alright. Spar with me, then dinner time." Without another moment's warning Dark Link leaped at him, sword raised. Link blocked, the pair parted and Link moved in for a horizontal slice, which Dark Link blocked with swing of his own, quickly overpowering his partner. Link jumped back out of the way and lunged while Dark Link's momentum still carried him forward. Dark Link recovered and nimbly dodged, grabbing Link's arm and pulling him off balance, causing him to fall flat on his face. Dark Link bopped him on the head lightly.
"One." he announced with a grin. Link scowled and rolled to his feet, retaliating with an upward slice, but Dark Link back flipped away. Link didn't let up, following him with a jump attack. Again, Dark Link easily blocked him.
"Come on Vio, you gotta do better than that!" He taunted, pushing forward with enough force to knock Link flat on his back. His next blow aimed at the boy's chest; hitting the dirt instead and sending a cloud of dust into the air.
Link used the momentary cover to attempt the jump attack again, leaping towards his shadow with a loud "Hyaa!" Dark Link twisted out of the way and smacked Link's behind with the wooden sword, earning a shriek of protest.
"Hey!" Link glared as he rubbed his bottom gingerly.
"Two." Replied Dark Link smugly. "Next time you want to try a sneak attack, you might want to avoid announcing it to the world."
Sheik sighed as he watched them, little Link trying his hardest to land a hit, and Dark Link only playing with him. Three hits decided the winner of their little matches, and Link had yet to land a single hit in nearly a year of training, though he never stopped trying. Only natural, of course, given Dark Link's level of experience, but they didn't have much time. . .
Link parried Dark Link's blow and swung with one of his own, aiming for Dark Link's midsection. Dark Link jumped and flipped in mid-air, nimbly landing on Link's blade and waving cheekily at him. Link squeaked in surprise and dropped his sword, jumping backwards. Dark Link gave a startled yell at having his perch dropped out from under him, and,landed flat on his butt in the dirt.
"Oof!" He grunted, glaring as Sheik started to snicker and Link clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing outright. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."
"Serves you right." Sheik grinned behind his cowl as Link attempted to sneak up on Dark Link (without the yell this time) while he was distracted. Dark Link, however, was having none of that and shifted back to his normal adult form before grabbing Link and pulling him into his lap.
"Three!" He cowed triumphantly, tickling Link mercilessly.
Link laughed and squirmed to get free. "I give! I give! Sheik, help!"
Sheik plucked Link from Dark Link's grasp, setting him back on his feet. "Alright, dinner time. I brought you some of that stew you like."
Link cheered at the prospect of food and took off back to camp as Dark Link stood and brushed himself off. "I never will understand why light dwellers need to eat as often as they do." He commented.
Sheik rolled his eyes. Neither of them needed to eat, so neither could cook. Sheik usually made trips to the light realm to fetch food for Link. "You like to eat as much as he does." He said dryly.
"Well yes, but I don't have to." Said Dark Link, rolling his eyes. He shot the Sheikah a wicked grin, "And I prefer to drink, anyway." Sheik merely arched an eyebrow, unamused.
"So you don't want any stew?"
"I didn't say that!"
After dinner the three of them rested around the fire as they usually did before Link went to bed. Link lay on his stomach with his nose buried in a book, Dark Link sat polishing his black sword, and Sheik leaned against him, half-asleep. Sleep was, again, something the Dark Realm dweller's didn't usually need unless they exhausted their magic. And, Sheik thought dryly, his magic was nearly always exhausted as he poured every ounce he had into giving Link as much time as possible before Ganondorf broke free.
"Sheik?" Link's voice broke Sheik from his thoughts as sapphire eyes, lightly flecked with purple, stared through him with a contemplative look.
"Yes, Link?" He asked.
Link stood with his book and moved to sit by Sheik, placing the book in Sheik's lap. Their hands brushed for a moment, and Sheik couldn't help but notice the differences between them. Sheik's skin had never lost the tan of his Sheikah guise; when they first brought Link to the Dark Realm, he'd been an outside boy, often hard at work on his uncle's (the very thought of the man made Sheik scowl) farm. His skin had been as sun-kissed as Sheik's appeared to be. But now he was as pale as Dark Link, or any other dweller of the Dark Realm. Sheik had deemed it too dangerous to take him back to Hyrule, and so, Link could not remember ever seeing the sun anywhere but in his books.
It was sad, really.
Link tapped a finger against a drawing of the Triforce, over a page telling one of its legends. "If touched by one with an evil heart, the Triforce will shatter, each piece resting with one who best embodies that piece's qualities; Courage, Wisdom, or Power."
Sheik nodded. "That is the tale passed down by my people, yes. Courage is held by the ancient Hero, Wisdom by the Princess, and Power by the evil that shattered the sacred Relic."
But Link still looked troubled. "But you told me that I hold the Triforce of Courage, right?" Said Link, examining the golden triangle on the back of his hand.
"Course you do." Dark Link grinned at him. "I'm only shadow-bound to the one who does, after all."
Sheik glared. "That is not true and you know it. You're shadow-bound to the Hero. There is a difference."
Dark Link waved him off. "Yeah, yeah."
"But. . .how could I be the bravest, when I was only a baby? I can't have done anything brave then, right? What if there were someone braver than me? Would the Triforce of Courage leave me-" Sheik's hand on his stopped him gently.
"Link, that won't happen. The Triforce chose you for a reason. You are the bravest, this I know." Sheik reassured him. "Listen to me, the bravest man is not the one who goes into battle knowing he will win, but the one who knows he may very well lose, and still chooses to fight."
Still, Link seemed troubled. "But how does the Triforce know that?"
Sheik only smiled. "You are the chosen of Farore. She is careful with her choices, Link. Do not doubt her. The Goddesses know what they are doing."
Rather than soothing him, however, Link only looked more downtrodden. "And here I thought I was on to something. . ." He grumbled.
"And what would that be?" Asked Sheik.
"Well, you told me that Ganondorf," he motioned to the swirling cloud of Evil overhead, "is so difficult to keep sealed because he's so powerful. But, does he have the Triforce of Power because he is the most powerful, or does having it make him the most powerful? What if, someday, there were someone more powerful than he is? I know that nobody could be as powerful as a Triforce holder, but what if there were someone without the Triforce more powerful than Ganondorf was when he didn't have it? Would the Triforce leave him, then? If it went to this other person, that person would be more powerful than Ganondorf is now. But if only I can be bravest, then only he can be most powerful, right?"
Dark Link and Sheik glanced at each other. Clearly, this had never occurred to either of them. "Nobody has ever been so powerful on their own, Link, so I'm afraid I do not know the answer." Said Sheik finally. "But remember this; power is something different than Courage or Wisdom. Power can be gained and lost. Courage is part of who you are, and that will never change."
Sheik reached into the lesser shadows, pulling forth the ancient golden lyre he'd had for centuries. He plucked a few strings, moving into a swift and moody, but familiar tune. Link and Dark Link both perked at hearing it, Link swaying to the beat.
"Pum pum pu pu pumpum! Pum pum pu pu pumpum! Come on Shadow, sing!" Link urged.
"Pum pum pu pu-"
"No! The other part!" Link protested.
"I am not singing the high part-" Dark Link responded with crossed arms and a scowl.
"Ah, but Dark Link, your voice is so very lovely." Said Sheik slyly, fingers dancing over the lyre. As expected, Dark Link flushed and stammered.
"I-I am not lovely!" He protested. Link cracked up laughing and Dark Link pouted (though he would later deny ever doing so), but in the end the blonds won out, and Dark Link's melodious tenor blended with Sheik's lyre and Link's beat perfectly.
But as they moved from the dramatic if broody Dark World Theme, as Dark Link had once called it, to the brighter Overworld Theme ("I did NOT just hit the high note! You're hearing things!") Sheik couldn't help but feel that something was missing from their music.
And he had a feeling he knew exactly what.
Haha. Dark Link sings. Any guesses as to what's missing in their music? And what Dark Link will think of it?
So, has that ever occurred to anyone? What if there were a wizard more powerful than Ganondorf?
As always, I love to hear your thoughts (or story ideas. Any little Zelda thing you've been wondering about? I can probably come up with something interesting for it!)
And thank you to the Chapter Five reviewers darkwolflink1 (Threesome? I don't know about that. But we'll see. And if you thought they had relationship issues before, hello Dark Mirror! lol. Link was just shy of seven before this, although Dark Link thought he was younger at first. Now he's almost eight.), Sergeant Dreamer (I haven't played it either. I read the manga. Red and Blue are so fun together! Red is so cute! And yeah, there probably will be a full version eventually, once I figure out exactly how many lemons are going to end up in this thing.), and Kick-Aft (What did Sheik go to do? Hmm...lol. I've dropped a couple hints, but it might be clearer in a chapter or two).
Just so you all know, this story has been completely overtaking any ideas I had for my other fic. I'll get that thing finished eventually, but Dark Link is very demanding when his ideas make themselves known.