Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The Legend of Zelda, nor do I think I own anything about it... except the work fan fiction that you are about to read. (If I did own it, Dark Link would have had a bigger role in the game) Yes, I wrote this, using my extensive knowledge of the world of 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' that I gained from spending WAY too much time playing it since... well, longer than I care to admit, I did not copy it from any other fan author, this sprang forth from my own fangirl imagination, and it can indeed be found on Deviant Art, I know that, because that's where it was originally posted BY ME.
Author Note: Not much to say... just had to move the story along in the first bit... I do like the bit with Dark and the Cucco lady... that was fun to write. And the first half, before Link comes back was trying to hint at just who Dark is. There have been a few hints so far, but nothing serious... I'm not fond of the notion that he's some sort of ethereal being... so i want him to have a sense of being something more. Yeah. Then I just had fun with Link later in the chapter.
When Link was gone Dark wandered past the well, glancing up at the large windmill quickly, watching out for more cuccos in his way. He noticed a quiet path that seemed to leave the village. A sign sat amidst overgrown grass, nearly hidden after years of neglect. Dark glanced over at a woman with red hair standing by a fenced in livestock pen. She was nervously glancing at him over her shoulder, watching him carefully. Then again, every villager here had a reason to be wary of warriors clad all in black, Gannondorf had just seen to that. Ignoring the glare from the woman, Dark walked over to the sign, pushing away the grass to read the carved in words. He had a bit of difficulty with the sign, some of the characters were different from what he was used to, but he managed to make out that it said 'Kakariko Graveyard'
"Excellent, just what I was looking for." Dark mumbled under his breath, trying to avoid drawing more attention to himself than he already had. As he was about to start down the small path he suddenly thought better of it, and turned to stare coldly at the woman by the fence. Frightened, she slowly started to put some distance between herself and the dark swordsman, before turning and hurrying away. Admittedly, he thought it would have been fun to start using one of his shadow tricks, to have slowly melted into the shadows like an apparition just to frighten the poor woman. However, Link had been kind and cruel enough to give him a shred of credibility by claiming he was his brother to the woman in the house. Dark wasn't about to ruin his ability to move about as freely as possible for a quick malicious joke.
When the woman was gone he walked down the path to the graveyard. As he emerged from the narrow path, he felt the presence of kindred spirits. The sensation sent a shiver down his spine as he continued under the entranceway and stood amidst the graves. His eyes fixed on a fenced off ledge across the hallowed ground overlooking the small cemetery. There was nothing interesting about the ledge, but the source of the shadow presence lay behind it, set into the earth, hidden from curious eyes. Respectfully, he quietly made his way to the rear of the graveyard, doing his best to avoid the odd lanterns seemingly abandoned on the ground. Or, anyone else would have seen them as mere lanterns left sitting on the ground. Dark could see the forlorn souls that waited for careless individuals to blunder too close. They were terrible to behold, slender figures wrapped in ragged death shrouds, hunched over their lanterns, heads bowed in reverence as they stared at their headstones, contemplating their past lives, and their deaths. It was obvious that these souls wanted to move on, they desired release, but the darkness had a strong grip on them. Gannondorf, the King of Evil, would not allow them to cross over, instead he held them there with his power, angering them enough to attack anyone stupid enough to wanter too close.
Behind what at a glance appeared to be a royal tomb, Dark stood, staring up at the ledge above him, and at the fence blocking it off. There was no question, the presence he felt was that of shadow, he had indeed found the Shadow Temple. For a moment, he thought of going to find Link, to tell him he knew where the temple was, but undoubtedly, Shiek had already told him. A thought entered his mind, perhaps there was someone else summoned from the shadow realm trapped inside the way he had been in the water temple. Or possibly a clue to finding a way home. Without another thought, Dark sunk into the shadows cast by the darkening rain clouds and emerged again on top of the ledge. There was a strange, flat, solid stone dais with unusual markings in the center of the ledge. It was very similar to one he'd seen but not paid much attention to on the island atop the water temple where he'd spoken to Link. However, this time it caught his attention as he wondered what it's significance was.
Quickly realizing he was wasting time, he looked past the stone at a tunnel carved into the rock. The shadow presence he felt was emanating from the tunnel, and Dark was willingly drawn into it. He cautiously scanned the walls of the tunnel as he walked down the somewhat steep grade until he came to a place where it opened up into a large chamber. There was a short brick pillar in the center, encircled by unlit ceremonial torches, and the symbol of the Shiekah people was carved into the far wall. For a moment he was disappointed, having hoped there was more to the temple when he had a thought. As he made his way across the room, ducking between the torches, the presence grew stronger the closer he got to the rear wall with the carving. Dark laid his hand against the cool stone, and suddenly felt a painful, stinging jolt run through his hand and the muscles in his arm instantly tensed before he could pull his hand away. A strange prickling sensation ran up and down his arm for a long while as he rubbed it, realizing it was a light barrier to block off the shadow temple from preventing any shadow beings from entering, or perhaps, more likely from escaping.
Dark would not back down so easily, and he was made more determined to enter when he felt an increasing presence of darkness mingling with the shadows behind the barrier wall. Not deterred by the physical barrier, Dark decided to try traveling through the shadows to get to the other side. Focusing more concentration on his little trick than normal, he slipped into the deep shadows and attempted to pass the barrier, but was quickly rejected and knocked backwards, and back into physical form. His entire body tingled and all his muscles tightened the same way his arm had before, and he waited a moment for it to pass before getting back up.
As he stood staring at the wall, completely at a loss as to how to get through to the temple on the other side, he heard a strange sound. He had no way to describe the sound that drifted down the tunnel from the ledge above the graveyard, but the sounds that followed it were clearly footsteps in the grass, then the dirt floor of the tunnel. Unsure of who it could possibly be coming down to the shadow temple, Dark faded into the shadows the way he had hidden himself from Link before. He silently made his way to the corner to the side of the tunnel, ready to take whoever it was from behind, or make his own escape if necessary.
Much to his relief, it was Link who cautiously entered the strange room. Instead of approaching him, he decided he'd wait to see how long it would take Link to realize he was there. Link did much the same thing Dark had just done, he made his way between the torches, and went to take a closer look at the wall. However, instead of being repelled the way Dark had, Link was able to place his hand on the wall. Dark watched as Link ran his hand across it a little ways, as if looking for some sort of hidden switch, but came up with nothing. As Link turned to look around the rest of the room Dark let himself appear out of the shadows. Link was briefly startled, perhaps reliving the moment he'd seen him in the water temple, and he began to reach for his sword. Dark began to walk through the torches towards Link with his arms down at his sides, chuckling to himself at the look of fear fading from the hero's blue eyes, and Link relaxed a bit and put his hand down.
"Don't scare me like that! It's rude!" Link breathed a sigh of relief as Dark stopped a few feet in front of him.
"Come now, it's funny when you jump like that." Dark smiled almost devilishly, and Link narrowed his eyes at him. "So, how are we supposed to get past this thing?" Dark pondered, changing the subject. Link shook his head at the other, then took a long look around the room.
"It's simple, all of the torches have to be lit." Link said after only a moment of thought, then paused for a moment, assessing the situation, considering there was only one lit torch. "It would take too long to light them one by one, and I can't waste that many arrows." Dark nearly opened his mouth to ask how Link could possibly light all the torches at once, but the vision of a wall of flames spreading out in every direction grew in his mind. It had been the attack Link had used that had been Dark's undoing in their battle in the Water Temple.
Without a word, Link began to make his way to the small circular platform in the center of the torches, and Dark hurried to the opposite side of the room, and retreated back up the tunnel, far out of the reach of the expanding flames. There was a sudden light and the roar of fire as the flames expanded within the room below, and dissipated as they reached the tunnel. As Dark came back into the room of torches, there was the sound of the flickering flames, and a new light in the room. moments later there was a deep rumbling, and the sound of gears that shook the entire structure, and caused dirt and skulltula webs to fall from the ceiling as the great barrier wall slowly began to sink into the ground, revealing a stone passageway leading further into the earth.
"I knew it." Link mumbled as the rumbling stopped, and Dark stood in awe at what had just taken place.
"How did you figure that out so fast?" Dark asked, amazed at Link for solving it so fast.
"Easy, this is the fourth temple I've had to enter, I've seen this kind of puzzle before." Link shrugged it off. Dark stood there dumbfounded, and here he'd thought Link was beyond smart, when in fact he was just experienced.
"You do know I'm coming with you right? There's no way I'm staying here. Not with that presence in the temple!" Dark exclaimed as Link started to continue into the stone passage. Link suddenly stopped and turned to stare at Dark.
"What presence? Do you know something that's in there?" Link questioned eagerly, hoping to get a jump on any enemies waiting for him.
"Nothing I recognize, but there's a strong presence of Shadow here. Maybe someone else from my realm, or something that might help me get back there." Dark admitted, and Link turned to continue into the temple. Dark followed behind the hero, keeping pace with him, but letting him go first, to spring any traps or attacks.
However, as the corridor made a sharp turn, Dark glimpsed a large gap that Link did not seem to notice. Dark sprinted a few steps to catch up and grabbed Link's arm, shifting his weight backwards suddenly, pulling him back roughly just as his foot stepped over the ledge to find nothing but air and darkness. Link was thrown off balance by his misstep, and the tug from Dark, in his confusion, he turned and grabbed on to Dark. Link fell forward, and caused Dark to loose balance as well. Dark went backwards and hit the cold flagstones hard. He let out a small cry of surprise as Link landed on top of him, nearly knocking the wind out of him. The two were too shocked to move for a moment, but Dark soon regained his composure, and looked at the young blonde who was turning red in the face as he hurriedly clambered up to his knees.
"You should really watch where you're going." Dark snickered, amused that the roles had been reversed. He wanted to lay still for a moment, to bask in the moment, especially after his embarrassment with the cuccos. Unfortunately the shield that was slung across his back was very uncomfortable, so he quickly sat up, once again coming face to face with Link. He stared into the other's bright blue eyes for a moment, catching a slight hint of fear in their depths. "And that hurt, you know!" Dark scolded, referring to the fall Link had inadvertently caused.
"Thanks for breaking my fall." Link replied quietly, almost guiltily, as he averted his gaze in embarrassment, and shifted so he was sitting on his feet, ready to stand up. The corner of Dark's lips raised a bit in a small smile at Link's behavior, but then he put a hand on Link's shoulder, as if to lift the hero's spirits. Much to the other's surprise, Dark pushed his hand into Link's shoulder and sent the blonde backwards, causing him to loose his already precarious balance. There was a small thud as Link ended up on his rear, and Dark chuckled slightly as he stood up and offered his hand to Link.
The blonde man did not take Dark's hand, but climbed to his feet on his own, then coldly turned his back on him. Dark nearly pouted as he watched Link pull out an unusual tool. It seemed to have three parts to it, a grip with a trigger, a blue casing, and a large arrow shaped hook. Link aimed it carefully, then used the trigger and the hook shot out, trailing a chain. There was the sound of metal sinking into the wood of a target on the other side of the gap, and Link reversed the trigger. The chain quickly retracted, pulling him across the gap. As Link began to climb up, Dark moved back away from the edge, and around the corner.
He knew he couldn't travel through shadows on walls, and there was no way he could make the jump. The presence he felt inside the temple was too significant to just walk away, so he was about to make a gamble he was hoping he wouldn't regret. Slowly taking a few deep breaths, Dark began to run alongside the wall on his left hand side, then angled towards the spot the edge of the floor met the left wall. Dark started to fade into the shadows as he reached the wall, which he easily ran up. His diminished weight in shadow form combined with his momentum was just enough to get him nearly to the other side. As he started to loose height on the wall he came out of shadow form and kicked off the wall in time to grab onto the ledge. Dark let out an 'oof' as his body slammed into the stone side of the pit, but he held on tight. Much to his luck, Link had turned around as he stood up, just in time to see Dark's stunt and near fall, and quickly hurried to help Dark up by taking his hand. Doing most of the work himself, but letting Link be his lifeline, Dark carefully pulled himself up, and out of his precarious position. Slightly shaken from the close call, Dark took the time to get away from the edge before he stood up, feeling a slight vertigo even from the distance of about five feet.
Link did not give the chasm a second thought, and began to continue down the corridor without Dark. When Dark realized he was being left behind, he hurried to catch up to the blonde. Just as he got close, Link slowed his steps, and began to look around as if confused, then stopped in his tracks completely. Dark didn't see anything wrong, and continued walking, not about to let Link slow him down from reaching his goal of locating the presence of shadow.
"Wait! But that's..." Link started, then his voice petered off in shock, "a wall..." Dark turned around to ask Link what in the world he was talking about, and saw Link standing there completely dumbfounded, staring off into the empty space directly in front of him. It seemed as though Link could not see him standing there. Dark took a few steps back towards Link, and it was as though Link had seen him appear suddenly.
"What are you talking about? A wall?" Dark questioned, but Link stood there, the confused look still on his face.
"Can you pass through walls with that shadow trick thing of yours?" Link asked, in all seriousness.
"No, I can only move through shadows, and usually only on the ground." Dark replied, giving Link a questioning look.
"Are you sure? There's a wall behind you, I just saw you walk through it like it wasn't there." Link explained, and Dark began to wonder if Link had lost his mind.
"There's no wall there, you must be seeing things." Dark scoffed, then started laughing as he turned around and continued into the temple. Link lunged forward to grab hold of Dark's wrist, then let out a gasp. Dark ignored Link as the hero stumbled forward another step, then stopped in his tracks, shuddering as though he'd seen something. Suddenly curious as to what was actually going on, Dark stopped and turned his head a bit to watch Link out of the corner of his eye. After a moment of shock, Link took a few hurried steps forward, turning to look back at the same time, so surprised that he tripped over his own feet and fell backwards.
"B- But... t-there's a wall there!" Link cried out in shock, shaking his head, trying to get a grip on what had actually happened. Dark turned to face Link, then it occurred to him that perhaps Link really did see a wall there, and had just unwittingly passed through it trying to stop him from leaving without him. Suddenly it dawned on him, it was an illusion! It was a challenge to be overcome in the temple, and had been meant to make people turn around and leave, seeking another entrance, only to come up empty-handed.
"It's not there Link, it's just an illusion. I can't even see it." Dark announced in a firm voice, bringing Link back to the moment. Link shook his head, trying to shake off what must have been an odd experience at the very least, having walked through what he thought was a wall.
"An illusion?" Link asked, more to himself than to Dark. "An illusion." He whispered, thinking something to himself. Dark stood quietly and watched Link as he stood back up and slowly approached the spot where the illusionary wall must have been. Cautiously Link raised his hand, and tried to touch the illusionary wall, and shuddered slightly, seemingly at the moment his hand passed through it. Dark didn't want to waste any more time on the illusion, and began to look around the room they were in.
In the center there was a strange statue of a hideous looking bird surrounded by a number of posts. One of the posts had a skull sitting atop it, and Dark figured that must have been the trick to it, and that perhaps the skull was hidden to any normal person. Past the statue and posts there was another gap that spanned the entire far side of the room. On the other side of the gap there was a disturbing stone statue of a toad-like monster's head protruding from the wall. On the far wall there was a plaque with an inscription Dark could not read from there, and on either side of the other corner, were two carvings that resembled the statue.
"This is what Hylans think shadows are like? You people are twisted to even come up with such ideas." Dark remarked with a shudder, a cold chill passing over him. He rubbed his arms to chase away the chill as he looked around the room one more time before looking back at Link. The young blonde man had a strange purple looking glass in his hand, the shape of which looked identical to the crest of the Shiekah which had been on the stone barrier, and had been worn by Shiek. Dark was curious what it's power was, and quickly snuck up behind Link, and looked through the glass over Link's shoulder.
The glass reveled the illusion to Dark, who was of the shadows himself, but must have revealed the truth to Link, who was of the light. Through the glass Dark could clearly see the wall that had startled Link so badly. Link quickly put the glass away, then turned his face to Dark, who had put his hands on the hero's arms, and rested his chin on Link's right shoulder too peer into the looking glass as well. Dark saw Link's movement, and felt the other's sunny blonde hair brush his cheek, then felt it mingle with his own midnight black hair. Slightly turning to Link, their eyes met, and he could hear Link breathing in the silence. Without a word Link stepped away from Dark and looked around the room himself. Dark watched the hero as he moved over to the statue, his fairy partner that had been kind enough to give him the edge in their battle earlier showed herself for the first time since Link had asked her not to help in their battle. The fairy Link had earlier called Navi flew over to an inscription on the wall, glowing a bright green. Link noticed her and went over to look at an inscription on the wall.
"Which one is the real skull?" Link asked, looking around at the posts. So that was it, the illusion wasn't hiding the one skull, it was causing Link to see a skull atop each post. "You can see through the illusions, which is the real skull?"
"Can't you use your little looking glass thing?" Dark asked unenthusiastically, leaning against the real wall with his arms folded in front of his chest.
"It takes magic to activate it. I don't know what else is in this temple, and I might need all the magic I have later on." Link explained, his eyes begging Dark to cooperate. With a heavy sigh Dark left his spot on the wall and went to lean on the post with the skull sitting on top of it. Link smiled and nodded before pushing on part of the statue, causing it to turn. He turned the statue of the bird until it was looking at the post on which Dark was leaning, and suddenly there was another deep rumbling, and the mouth of the strange statue on the wall across the gap began to move, revealing a door nestled in what would be the creature's throat. Dark shuddered at the imagery of having to walk down into the gullet of a monster to go deeper into the temple.
Author Note: Didn't I tell you the chapters would get longer? Still not quite what I've been reading in the other stories here... but I find what stopping places I can. Yay for sad puppy face Link!!!! That was fun to write! Reviews are nice, I know I forgot to ask for them the last few chapters, but I'm doing disclaimers and notes for 7 chapters all at once, because that's what I uploaded all at once... and this being Chapter 6, I'm getting close to the last of what I've written for this, so I'm gonna ask for reviews now. I want to know what you think of the story so far, let me know if you like it, and maybe I might find my way back to being able to continue writing this...