"Now that is what I call fun!" the Doctor laughed as they ran away from the house.

"It isn't every day that you get to play ding dong ditch" Alice replied, laughing "and then get caught and come up with some stupid reason why you're there."

"Never done it without physic paper either" the Doctor said

"And the look on Fawn's face when we told her that we were selling flowers!!" Alice said, cracking up with laughter. They stopped running and stood there, doubled over with laughter and trying to catch their breaths.

"Never using that excuse again!" the Doctor said, making a mental note not to.

"Got a good point there," Alice told him, as they started walking again "should we try another house?"

"Well we can't go back to that area of houses," the Doctor said "and that's the only section we haven't done" he paused "anything else we can do?"

"We could go to the hot springs" Alice suggested

"Why not?" the Doctor said, grinning

"Right then, this way" Alice led him down a path to the left. "Ever been to a hot springs before?" she asked after a moment

"'Course I have!!" the Doctor said, looking over his shoulder at something behind him quizzically "have you?" he asked

"Loads of times" Alice replied, glancing over her shoulder to see what the Doctor was looking at. He shook his head and turned around.

"Go there often?" the Doctor asked after a moment, glancing over his shoulder again.

"When I have time, yeah" Alice said.

They proceeded in silence for a bit with the Doctor throwing glances over his shoulder every now and then. "Hmm…" he muttered

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"Nothing!" he said quickly, turning around.

"Then why do you keep looking over your shoulder?" she asked

"It's nothing!!"

"Not going to believe that, now tell me what's wrong."

"You ever get the feeling like you're being followed?" the Doctor whispered "Like there's something behind you, following you, but every time you turn around to see what's there, there isn't anything?"

Alice nodded.

"Because that's the feeling I'm getting right now, like there's something in the shadows, following us. But they just aren't there.

"But then I get to thinking, what if they aren't in the shadows? But what if they are the shadows? Because nothing should be able to stay hidden that well, even if they are really good at it." He turned on the spot and called to thin air "So where are you then? I know you've been listening!!" when he received no response he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the nearest shadow. He flicked it on and after it buzzing for a second the servant boy from the library popped out of the shadow, looking very annoyed.

"Darwin!?" Alice asked, shocked "what are you doing here?"

"I'd like to know the same" the servant boy, who was apparently called Darwin, said "and with him too. First in the library, and now on your way to the hot springs… If you aren't careful, someone might think you two are up to something." He grinned slyly.

"Darwin!!" Alice said, sounding very annoyed "don't even go there!! I've only known him for a day!"

"Why were you following us?" the Doctor asked

"You get to the point quick" the boy said "you young people are so simple minded"

"Don't even go there; I am much older than I look."

"Yeah, and I'm older than you by at least three hundred years"

"Really? What are you then? Obviously you aren't a Hylian, or human, or anything else I might find in Hyrule." The Doctor scowled at Darwin.

Darwin scowled back, but hissed something that Alice couldn't understand. The Doctor obviously could though, because his eyes widened when he heard it. "What did he say?" Alice asked. The Doctor started to reply but Darwin got to it first.

"I the Knight of Darkness, third highest authority in the Council of Shadow from the Darkness of the Abyss. Or I was anyways. I was stripped of my powers and privileges, sent off to redeem myself by doing servant work." He spat on the ground in disgust.

"So why are you here then?" the Doctor asked.

Darwin, or whatever he was, laughed "I've been here for over a hundred years, came here a while back"

"Yeah, I get that, but why here, here? Like right here, right now, following us. And in the form of a servant boy no less, how did you manage that?"

The Knight sighed "even the lowest of the low can manage something as easy as that. Becoming a shadow is a piece of cake. I could hide in his shadow, or I could become his shadow, or I could become him. First two are easier though, third one requires more from the person than from me, but this boy had all that I needed: a darker side in his heart."

"Okay fine" the Doctor said "but why Hyrule? Not in the first place, but why Hyrule now? What are you planning?"

The Knight rolled his eyes "nothing really, just waiting for a good opportunity to come along, and if one didn't show up soon I'm in perfect position to send Hyrule into the Dark ages." He grinned.

"Why haven't you done it then?" Alice asked, and at the same time the Doctor asked "what sort of opportunity?"

The Knight looked at Alice, dismissed her and turned to the Doctor. "You showing up is good enough for me. Actually, it's great. Think how much havoc I could cause if I were you. Enough to get back, that's for certain."

"But that wouldn't work, because you would just be a shadow of me. And you can't do much as a shadow, can you?"

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor" the Knight tsked at him "you think you're so good. But face it, you've got a darker heart, excuse me, hearts, than any other person in Hyrule right now." He turned to Alice "and you think he's so nice don't you? But there is so much he hasn't told you. So much about him that you wouldn't dare believe, because you wouldn't want to."

"I'd run to him quicker than I would to you" Alice replied

"Fine, I get it all" the Doctor said, very annoyed "but one more question: why haven't you done anything? Or does everyone just love telling me their plans before they go on with them, because it just makes it easier for me to stop you."

"I am doing something, right now" the Knight said "haven't you noticed it's darker than usual?"

The Doctor looked around, and noticed that it was indeed darker than it should be. And creatures were crawling out of the darkness, ready to attack.

"That's what I love about Hyrule" the Knight laughed "so many dark creatures."

"Doctor, what do we do?" Alice asked "we can't fight them."

The Doctor looked at her "run!" he said, taking her hand. And they took off running.