You should probably read this. Alright, so school started (I'm a Junior, yay!) and I'm incredibly busy. I have a bit of the next chapter, and should have it finished by next Saturday, which is my update day if you haven't already noticed. BUT, I'm thinking about switching update days to Mondays instead. That way I'll have more time to think/write and so that we'll all have something nice to start the week off with. Just a thought, we'll see how this week goes and then I'll let you all know with the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Legend of Zelda is NOT mine. Creative plot devices that weren't in the games, however, are. You'll see what I mean when you read this chapter. And, hopefully, you'll like what I did.
Warnings: Violence, mild language, implied YAOI. Weirdness!~
A Wandering Soul Proceeds All Darkness
Chapter – II
Title – Transform the Unknown
Wailing, tiny hands wringing at Darks trousers, the Deku Scrub did as such, "It's me! Link! He turned me into a Deku, it's horrible!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait just a minute here! You're Link? My Link?" When he received a nod, Dark scooped the Deku up by his underarms, pulling him close. "Who did this to you? How?" He gave the scrub, Link, a shake, only just noticing the mans trademark hat upon the scrubs head.
"I don't know! I didn't do anything to provoke him, I just asked him where Epona was, and I admit I might have yelled and thrashed around a little but still, he just freaked out on me. Started shouting about how it hurt and telling someone to shut up… It was really confusing and weird!"
Laughter filled the cavern, cold as ice and malicious as a snake on the prowl. The glowworms overhead shuddered as well, undulating in fear and sending the room into various shades of gloom. Dark and, he winced, Deku Link, looked to the far end of the room where a small figure lay sideways in the open air.
"You should see your faces!" The creature Dark had chased earlier squealed in delight, it's body twirling in the air as it clutched it's stomach against the bubbling, fitful laughter. "You two look so pathetic!"
Dark growled, clutching Link to himself as the creature continued to laugh. The fairies, while they seemed acquainted with it, appeared uneasy as they flitted about. The purple one let a few tense bouts of laughter slip from his own lips, however, just to feel involved. When at last the laughter stopped and the cavern became quiet, the creature did a little twirl and landed firmly on his feet. The eyes on his mask were pointed fixedly on Dark, sending a chill up his spine.
"I hope you like him. Because I won't be turning him back anytime soon." His voice was little more than a whisper, completely serious and calm as can be. Dark stared back at him, wanting to run and hide and sob all at the same time. He decided to do none of the three, and instead set Link down, his hand reaching for the sword upon his back.
"I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter. Now, change Link back before I do something that only you will regret. And while we're at it, tell me where you hid Epona!"
"Epona? Epona…" Head turning this way and that, the paper hat atop its head crinkling, the creature shrugged. "Never heard of an Ee-poe-na." It giggled, put a hand on it's hip, and sighed. "But if you're talking about that big, running thing, I got rid of it. Stupid animal wouldn't do a thing I said!"
"Y-you got rid of her? How could you just get rid of her? She didn't belong to you!" Link growled, but even Dark had to admit it was anything but threatening. "You better be glad I can't use my sword right now, or I'd teach you what happens to thieves who mess with innocent peoples things!"
The creature stared at him, yellow eyes cold, then scoffed from behind the mask. Something in it's demeanor changed, darkened, somehow, and it raised a gnarled hand. "You're in no position to be threatening me. I'm more powerful than you could ever believe, and in that form, there's nothing you could ever do to harm me. Sword or no sword, you're weak." It's words, spoken like venom, made Dark even angrier than he had been before.
"How dare you talk to Link like that!" He looked down at the scrub, then stepped in front of him, shielding him from any and all danger. "I'll make you pay. With your life!" And then he charged, his sword held high in reckless abandon. The blade drained what little light remained in the room and glowed dimly, power charging within its shadowy core. He slashed in a swift, downward stroke, intending to split the creatures creepy mask in two, but his sword collided instead with stone, and Dark was left standing, utterly alone. He straightened quickly, sword at the ready, and found himself looking up at the creature before him.
"Brave, aren't you?" It whispered. "But annoying, too. Rushing headfirst into the fray, even when you're at a complete disadvantage."
"Cocky bastard." Dark growled. But the creature only laughed at him, a deeper, maniacal chuckle unlike the annoyingly playful one from before.
"The scrub was just practice, but for you, I've got something special in mind. You are strange, that I can see just from looking at you. An enigma, most certainly. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Keaton race?" When all he received was a deadly glare, the creature sighed. "Guess you're not as intelligent as I thought. Oh, well. You'll find out soon enough…" It raised it's hands high, and Dark was forced to his knees as the creatures shrill, piercing voice filled the cavern.
It was nauseating, to say the least. Darks stomach did cartwheels as he clawed at his ears, trying to block out the horrible scream. His throat tightened, working against him and choking off his air supply. A horrible dread filled him as his skin began to tighten, and Dark feared for his life itself. Vaguely he could hear Link calling his name, and only then was he able to push back at the magic enfolding him. It was too late, however, as he found himself splitting at the seams, his body and soul separating.
His first thought was how very cold it was, and how little he felt. Like all his emotions had suddenly been discarded, and this cold, empty shell was all he had left. The room darkened around him, and an eerie howl alerted him to a presence from behind. Turning, he found before him a fox-like figure, it's three tails thrashing wildly. Feral, angry, it charged him, taking hold of his throat and clawing at the place where his heart lay.
'Oh, shit! This is how it's going to end? My throat being torn out by a stupid fox?'
He clenched his ruby eyes against the pain, his hands groping at any vulnerable place it could find on the animal. Eyes, throat, belly, he scratched and kicked against this creature, trying to throw it off.
'Struggle, struggle, all you want. You can never win, I'm stronger than you. You're weak!'
Teeth at his throat, the letting of blood, and suddenly the world blossomed around him, pain and emotion filling him as his soul quivered, adjusting to his body. Dark panted, heart pounding fast in his throat, and he slumped to the floor in exhaustion. What had that been? What had happened?
"Ah, this body certainly suits you better than your old one."
'What?'
He started at once, his body coiling uselessly as he tried to stand. But his legs wouldn't respond… not correctly, at least.
"Oh, Din, of Goddess, what have you done to me?"
He was yellow, for Din's sake! Yellow! His body was that of some sort of canine, sleek and yellow as it ended in three pointed tails, each topped at the end with a splash of jet black fur. He rolled in a futile effort to raise, and then settled for looking down at his small, padded feet. Four, four legs. Dark wobbled as he tried to stand, each leg attempting to balance the same amount of weight. It worked for a few seconds, but the feeling of triumph soon left him as he realized just what had happened to him. He collapsed again.
"You bastard! I'll kill you! I'll tear your head off and make your fairies eat it!"
Link, now at his side, small and scrub-like and shuddering in anger, stared up at the villain as well. "We'll both kill you, just you wait. Face it, we'll hunt you down no matter what, and you know it. So just turn us back and we'll let you off easy."
"Easy as in a brutal beating." Dark growled. Literally.
"That's quite alright." The creature giggled, the air of danger leaving it once again as it began to hover from the room. "I'm happy with how this turned out. You two should be as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some important business to attend to. Plenty more pockets to be pilfered, if you know what I mean! See you soon!" The wall slid away from behind him, and the creature disappeared from sight, the purple fairy, Tael, following close behind.
"Yeah! See 'ya soon, suckers!" It's tittering laughter echoed down the hall until both were out of sight. Leaving only the golden fairy behind as she fluttered over to them.
"This is your own fault. You should've just let the horse go, then none of this would've happened. But oh, well. Better luck next time!"
She waved jauntily and flew away, anxious to rejoin her companions. She didn't want Skullkid to be alone with Tael for too long…
The wall was smooth before her. Closed. Separating her from her brother and the world beyond.
"Better luck next time to you too." Link said smugly.
The fairy spluttered angrily. "Hey! Skullkid! You can't just leave without me! Tael! Open the door!" She paused, waiting for a reply, and when she received none she faltered, her golden light dimming. Link almost felt sorry for her, but he quashed the feeling as he helped Dark onto his feet.
"This is wrong. This is so very wrong." Dark howled, his ears and tails drooping. He missed his body already, and he still wasn't ever sure just what he looked like in whole! But Link was at his side, caressing his muzzle, and Dark was just grateful that they were finally together again.
'And at least I'm not the one who was turned into a silly scrub…'
"Um… excuse me?" The two turned, their pupils dilating in the sudden light the golden fairy emitted. She hung in the air almost timidly, but her wings were tense, and Dark could feel the anger she was stowing away. At the hateful, glaring looks she received, the fairy sighed exasperatedly and crept closer. "Look, I know you're both angry, and I know what happened here was wrong. I would've helped if I could, but I'm not quite up to Skullkid's caliber. Still, my little brother is with him right now, and I'm worried. So please," Her tone was strained, despairing but held back with pride. "Will you help me? You two can open the door, and then I'll try to convince Skullkid to turn you back, okay?"
"Oh please, like we can believe anything you have to say." Dark grumbled. "For all we know, you'll lead us right into a another trap."
"But you have to help me! I'm a poor defenseless little girl, you jerk! Don't you have any sympathy?"
"Not really. And besides, we're not obligated to help anyone. Especially thieving and conniving fairies like you." Dark, looking completely unconcerned, pawed at his sword until it was in reach. He fumbled awkwardly for a moment, then discovered that it would be easier just to carry the sword with one of his three tails. While he did so, Link, being the Hero he was, couldn't help himself from sympathizing.
"We'll help you, but only if you promise to make Skullkid turn us back."
In a flare of golden light, the fairy bounced gleefully in the air. "Of course! No problem at all, alri-"
"No way!" Dark barked, his tails lashing. "We're not helping her. Besides, it's obvious she can't make that guy do anything he doesn't want to do. Link, stop being so gullible." He glared at the wilting fairy. "And you, get outta here. We can manage on our own, thank you very much."
Standing clumsily on his feet, Dark managed to guide his new body into an easy lope. "C'mon, Link, we're leaving! I'm ready to kick some 'Skullkid' butt!"
Dark, already adapting to his new figure, was able to easily shoulder open the door. He was loping out of sight, paws fumbling ever now and again, and before Link knew it he was gone. He turned to the fairy, knowing in his heart what he had to do.
"So you're coming along right?"
"Seriously?" She breathed, wary or trickery.
"Yes. You can hide in my cap for now, and you can tell me where we need to go."
"But what if that Keaton guy finds out? He'll kill me!"
"Nah, he won't hurt you." Link collected his sword, his body jerky and awkward. It was like he'd been transformed into a small, bulky child. He flinched at how familiar that sounded. "Darks not angry with you in particular, really. He's mad at... Skullkid, was it?"
"Yeah. Skullkid…" The fairy sighed, her color dimming. Link turned away from her to give her a sense of privacy.
"We should get going. Dark is pretty fast when he wants to be." He took two clumsy steps forward, unable to balance himself with the easy swing of his arms since they were hanging onto his sword. But he managed, and after a few walk cycles he'd gotten the hang of it. He turned and looked pointedly at the golden fairy with somber eyes. "You coming?"
She hesitated only a moment more, then sighed and crawled beneath the thin fabric of Links forest green cap.
Just as it had earlier, the tunnel he was in burst into color, pressing up against him and the walls of the cavern. It was different though, brighter, I supposed. But whether or not it was because of his new eyes or the colors themselves, Dark couldn't tell.
His eyes were weird though. Everything seemed a lot more... vivid. It wasn't half bad, truthfully.
But he could have done without the tails. They were awkward and heavy and slowed him down as he ran. They were good at holding things though, seeing as how his sword had yet to make any sign of slipping from him. So, all in all... this new body wasn't so bad.
Link probably didn't think much of his own though.
Dark cackled to himself, dodging a rift in the rocky floor. It was cold beneath the pads of his feet, but bearable. He was, after all, covered in a cozy, fluffy fur coat. Not at all like the cold wood body Link was trapped within.
'Poor Link...' A twinge of guilt nipped at his heart, but he quashed it. He was still angry after all. At Skullkid, at the fairies, at himself for running away from Link. But that didn't mean the blond hadn't done anything to garner his fury as well! 'He was the one that ran off and fell down a hole, after all! He should have waited for me, I could have caught him before he slipped...'
Dark knew that didn't count for a thing at all, though. Epona would have still been missing, even if they hadn't fallen.
And Link would'nt have been able to take the loss of yet another friend.
Growling to himself, Dark realized that he'd been the one to start all of this trouble. He'd been the one that failed to kill Skullkid the first time they'd met. If he'd just done that...
'Link and I would still be riding through the forest without a care in the world.'
Dark stopped, sighed, then plopped down. He would wait for Link. Because at least when they were together, even the most terrible times could be bearable.
And this was, in two words, a dreadful situation.
And somehow he knew it could only get worse from here.
Link knew, shortly after the tunnel of swirling colors ended, that Dark was waiting for him. He took a deep breath of air, felt the fairy on his head huddle deeper into his hat, and then stepped into a pool of light that shone from the glowworms overhead.
"You waited for me?"
"Yeah. I felt a little bad about running off. So... I waited."
"All this rock cooled you off, huh?"
"Suppose so."
Dark rose from his curled position on the floor, his fur glowing in the moonlight. It was, Link noticed, a pale gray. He'd seen the Keaton masks at the Bizarre in Market Town, and they had always been gold. Weird.
"There's some light a little ways father. I think that means we're almost to the end of this stupid tunnel."
Link nodded, waddled a little ways, then looked back to make sure Dark was following. His ruby red eyes were sad and weary, accented by guilt.
"It'll be alright." He amended. "We'll find Skullkid, knock him around a bit, and then he'll turn us back. Easy as that. He just caught us off guard, is all. That's the only reason he was able to get away. So just... just... don't worry about it."
"I'm not worried." Dark scoffed. But even as he said it the both of them knew he was lying.
It wasn't exactly an... abrupt end. It was just that, one second they were walking over rock and gravel, and the next they were sloshing through waist deep water and silt. The glowworms overhead watched in calm repose as Dark yelped in surprise, because the water didn't just flow right past him, it pulled at his fur and seemed to grip him. As if it too were a living thing. But before he could feel and real danger, the water had calmed and gone back to flowing peacefully past. He'd looked at Link, attempted to raise a non-existant eyebrow and failed, and then moved right along.
Link though, being terribly short and awfully buoyant in his new wooden body, was unable to reach the bottom of the river. He stood on the shallow bank in the darkness, the only light in the cavern coming from the glowworms and a few cracks in the wall that light seemed to seep through. It was odd, but he didn't think much of it as he tried to keep pace with Dark.
The continued through the river without much trouble, though it was very tiring for Link to carry his heavy sword in his arms and trudge through water at the same time. He thought vaguely of temples and zoras but didn't dwell, because, well, all of that was in the past. That adventure had ended long ago, never to be touched upon again. Link sighed, staring at his waterlogged tunic. It was a mystery how it even fit him anymore.
The light began to dim, the glowworms wriggling away from them. The cracks in the tunnel became fewer and fewer until there were none, and Dark edged closer to Link just in case something decided to attack them.
The air around them began to change to something fresher, cleaner, and Link breathed it in deeply. He could hear something now, a steady thunk thunk thunk that kept going and going.
"What's that noise?" He asked as it began to grow louder.
"Search me." Dark replied, equally perplexed.
The continued walking, ears strained for the slightest noise. Darks eyes, adjusting to the darkness, could just barely make out what must have been an arched column of stone. They passed beneath it, and the floor and the river alike disappeared from beneath them.
Dark was too annoyed to be frightened.
"I'm so sick of all this falling and unknown shit!" He shouted to no one in particular, although he could hear a gruff noise of agreement from Link as he too plummeted. All the blond wanted was to get back into the sun, to breath in the scent of trees and forest once again. He'd only left home this morning, and already he was missing it.
'One day, it's only been one day. I'm so tired...'
Dark hit the ground first, and Link was thankful to have such a soft body to land on. From the quick exhalation of air from the man, fox, creature, beneath him though, Link figured Dark wasn't nearly as amused.
"I think you broke one of my ribs." Dark groaned, heaving Link off of him so he could gingerly nose at the bruised area. Link looked, deemed it fine and said, "You're such a big baby sometimes."
"Not."
"Are too."
They both sighed, sated smiles on their faces. Just like home.
Link went to retrieve the sword he'd dropped, his feet sloshing in the water beneath him. It was a steady trickle, nothing he couldn't handle. Dark was already on the move, his feet padding through the water, carrying him away. Link followed, and in a matter of minutes the water began to rise. And a few minutes after that, the first sign of civilization they'd seen since dawn appeared before them.
It was a molded, ratty plank of wood, but still a sign.
"We're close to something, that's for sure." Link said.
The continued on, watching as beam after beam began to appear overhead. Light filtered in from behind them, lighting the water they were sloshing through. Link thought he saw a tiny group of fish darting about in the water, but before he could take a closer look the tiny shadows had already disappeared.
Thunk thunk thunk, the noise from earlier picked up again, almost, but not quite, overhead. Overlapping it was the sound of chatter, of life, and Dark turned to look at Link.
"I think we're in some sort of well. You know, like the one in Kakiriko."
"Maybe. Just keep going, there's gotta be stairs or something around here."
Dark turned to do just that, and ran head first into a pillar of wood standing upright in the water. Growling in humiliation, his fur flamed red as Link said smugly, "Smooth Dark, real smooth."
Beside them appeared a dock of sorts, and Dark leaped up onto it in one easy motion. He turned to help Link, who was struggling to even reach the dock with his hands, and found that his tails were becoming quite handy. All he had to do was reach out and snag Link around his tiny middle, then lift. Keatons, it seemed, kept most of their strength stored in their tails.
As the scrub settled on the dock, his hands hefting the sword he held higher, Links somber eyes turned serious.
"We're being watched."
As calmly as possible, Dark puffed out his chest, tails grasping the Master swords shadow. Link stuck close to him, trying to appear as neutral as possible. But since he was a deku scrub, it was impossible to appear much more than a sad, washed out looking forest creature. Dark applauded him for trying though.
A set of stairs unfolded before them, leading up into a darkness that made Darks fur crawl. But he led the way up, regardless. Link struggled behind him, but he made it up. And as they stood side by side in what appeared to be a large, empty room, a red pair of eyes opened within the shadows.
"You've finally arrived."
Sooo? You like, Y/N?
Also I'm sure there's mistakes in there somewhere, OTL. I'll get them on my massive EDIT later on. And remember, my profile has everything you need to know about the next update and all that good stuff. See you guys next week!
Reviews Are Love!~