There is a poll on my profile. The only reason I am mentioning this is because it is about what story should be written after this story. I did leave an option available for another story in the Unwanted Love series, although I am not sure as of right now if I have a plot that could be used.
Saria swam after Rue into the large open passageway. She stared around as she followed the zora girl into a large chamber, awed by the temple. A large stone column stood in front of them, its worn walls still etched with intricate designs. The room was at least twice as big as the main entrance for the forest temple, if not bigger. She looked down to see that the floor of the temple was far beneath them.
"Welcome to the zora temple! This is the main chamber. We don't host any of our ceremonies here, but…"
"Hey!" Rue stopped mid-sentence as a shrill voice interrupted her. Rue scowled at the obvious culprit before she noticed that there were two fairies now.
"There are two of them," Rue said, staring at Saria's fairy and Navi in confusion and fascination.
"I said hey! Listen to me! Oh never mind, just follow me now," Navi shouted before flying towards the left side of the large chamber. Without a thought, Saria immediately followed Navi to a small door. With some effort, she managed to pry open the door. Navi continued on, waiting once in a while for Saria to catch up.
"We are not supposed to go this way," Rue stated nervously as she followed behind Saria. Saria glanced back at her and noticed that she was getting a little nervous. Saria frowned at the zora girl's discomfort, but remembered that the girl's discomfort was not as problematic as whatever was going on between Malon, Nabooru, and Link. The two followed the fairy up a hole in the ceiling and into another room with frozen platforms leading downwards to a deep bottomless pit.
"What are those?" Saria asked as she glanced down at the platforms. She felt nervous as she stared down into the pit, even though she knew that she was swimming well above it. Something about the pit below them seemed dangerous.
"The temple can occasionally be drained of some of its water. However, it doesn't happen except in drought. Those are there in case of such a drought so that others can get into the deeper parts of the temple," Rue explained. They continued following the fairy through the room and into the next, Rue falling farther and farther behind as she became more nervous.
"I almost forgot how to get there. Thank goodness this place brought back some memories. It's been…" Navi murmured to herself, ignorant that both Saria and Rue could hear her. Rue glanced at Navi in confusion, but decided it would be better to simply see what the fairy was trying to show them.
"A fairy with a bad memory, that's really pathetic," the second fairy growled at Navi as she rushed forward to catch up to the other fairy.
"I've got a good reason to forget about this place! Hey, here it is!" Navi yelled, stopping in front of the door. Saria's fairy shrieked as it swerved to avoid Navi, mumbling angry words beneath its breath as they waited for Saria and Rue.
"We'll be in trouble, lots of trouble. If the captain or…" Rue stammered, looking at the door and the two fairies nervously before turning around. Her light blue face was dark with worry as she looked around, as if she was expecting her master to appear and scold her.
"We need to see what is behind the door," Saria stated.
"We should go back," Rue said, her voice now more certain as she grabbed Saria's arm. Saria quickly shook off the zora's hand and glared at her. She felt bad immediatly upon seeing that Rue was now scared of being caught.
"After this room, okay? I promise to take the blame if you get in trouble," Saria said soothingly. Rue glanced back towards the way they had come, bit her lip, and grudgingly agreed.
The door opened with both girls working together. The door slid open and the two yelped as suddenly the water sucked them into the room. Just as they entered, the door slammed shut and stopped the sudden current. They tumbled into a pile as the water pushed them deeper into the room and deposited them on the floor.
"What happened?" Rue muttered as she pushed away from Saria and stood up. Saria pushed herself to her feet and looked around the room. The room was completely bare, except for a single dead tree sitting in the center of the room. Saria stared at the tree and felt nervous.
"What is a tree doing in the temple?" Saria muttered as she stepped forward and touched the tree. She ran her hand along the dead tree's trunk and shuddered. Something was very wrong with the tree, besides that it was obviously dead.
"Who cares about a stupid tree. What is this place? There shouldn't be a dry area like this in the temple," Rue muttered. Saria glanced at the floor and thought about commenting on the ankle-deep water, but she then realized what she meant. They were no longer in swimming anymore. That's when she noticed the second thing, she did not have a reflection. She looked over towards Rue, who was wandering away and staring at the seemingly endless horizon and realized that she was also missing a shadow. There was some sort of enchantment in the room.
"Look out!" Saria barely heard the warning before she felt a boot kick her right between the shoulder blades. She yelped as she stumbled foward, nearly slipping in the cold water. She turned and froze as she saw her attacker. She would have mistaken him for Link, if it had been dark in the room. However, the doppleganger had dark silver hair, red eyes, dark skin, and black clothes. It also didn't help that he had a threatening scowl plastered on his face and his gloved hand resting on the hilt of a sword.
"A sage?" the creature hissed. Saria froze in terror, unable to even speak and say yes to the doppleganger's question. The doppelganger grinned as it decided that she was indeed a sage and that it needed to destroy her. He pulled the sword out of its scabbard and stalked towards Saria.
Rue roared in a shrill angry yell as she launched herself at the doppleganger's back. Her legs wrapped around the creature's stomach and she clutched at its head, pulling at its ears and hair in an attempt to distract it. Her plan worked, for the most part. The creature roared in rage and tried pulling her off its back, ignoring as she bit his reaching hands. After a moment, he managed to get a good grip on her arms and pulled the surprised girl up and over his shoulder. Rue squeaked in pain as she was thrown to the floor, a loud crack accompanying the thud of her fall. She howled in pain and curled into a ball in the ankle-deep water, ignorant of the doppelganger towering over her. It hissed angrily and raised its sword, prepared to attack while the girl was still frozen in pain and terror.
"Stop!" Saria howled. To her surprise, the doppelganger did indeed freeze. He turned and glared at Saria, ignoring Rue's pained gasps and sobs.
"You are not the sage of this goddess-damned temple. That very sage does not even know of my existence," he stated quietly. Saria bit her lip. The doppelganger sounded calm, amused even. He obviously did not see a threat in either of them and only stopped to see why she was there.
"I...we need your help," Saria stammered. She flinched as the doppelganger burst into laughter,
"A sage, needing my help? How foolish. How did you learn of my existence?" it hissed, a smile crossing its face as it managed to stop laughing.
"I can't explain what has happened, but you have to help. If you don't come with me, then…" Saria started. She then realized she had no idea how to get the doppelganger to follow her, let alone agree to her demand.
"Then what, little sage?" it asked, the smile not leaving its dark face.
"Then I will do this," Saria stated. Before she even realized what she was doing, she dug out the Forest Medallion and gestured towards the doppelganger. To her surprise, a bolt of wild bright green magic burst out and leapt at the shadow man, zigzagging as it arced towards him. The doppelganger realized what it was and tried to dodge the attack only to have it strike him in the chest. He was knocked off his feet,
"Light-forsaken brat," it howled, struggling back to its feet with its sword arcing high above his head in preparation to attack.
"I'll do it again! Don't stand up!" Saria squeaked, hoping she could do it again if the doppelganger decided to ignore her. The doppelganger scowled angrily, but slowly dropped his sword until it was loose at his side. However, he did not return it to its' sheath.
"Why are you here? To torment me? How pathetic," it hissed.
"I...need you to help me find Link..." she stammered.
"Me. Find the goddess-damn hero? You are the stupidest sage I have ever met. If I find him, I'd kill that damn bastard,"
"Of course. We need him dead," Saria stammered before she even knew what she was saying. She was appalled with herself, why would she want her best friend dead?
"You want the hero dead? A sage of the goddessses?" the doppelganger asked, his anger replaced with curiosity.
"He's not who he used to be. Something happened after he met with the princess and he just...I don't know how to describe it. He isn't the same anymore," Saria fibbed. She had no idea what she was doing, but she hoped it would work. The doppelganger stared at her for a moment and smiled to himself, a dark malicious smile that made Saria shiver just at the sight of it.
"How fitting, spiraling into madness after being forced to save a country that likely didn't care," He murmered, amused at the very idea of Link going crazy.
"Can you help us?"
"If it means I can kill that bastard, then I will help. Just be warned, if this is some clever trick..." the doppelganger stated before running his fingers along the sharpened edge of his sword threateningly. Saria knew what he meant by it.
"I understand," she stammered. The dark smile came back to the doppelgangers lips and he put the sword away.
"You must put a spell or something on me so I can leave the temple, though,"
"Why?"
"I am made from shadow. The sage for this temple truly is as ignorant as they come. Not only does she not know of a shadow being in her temple, but she neglects to tell a child sage about shadow creatures as well?" Saria flushed as he both insulted her and Ruto, but remembered that she still needed his help. She sighed before she focused on what she needed to do next.
Half an hour later, the three left the temple and reappeared beneath the large tree above the temple via shadow magic. The doppleganger, which she learned was named Dark Link, had decided to bring them out of the temple instead of trusting Saria's sage magic. Rue remained quiet when Saria had cast the spell on Dark Link and refused to let Saria touch her. However, upon spotting Malon and her master on the opposite shore, her muteness came to a startling halt.
"Master Quon!" Rue howled. Saria heard Dark Link mutter about crybabies under his breath and glared at him. He simply ignored her and looked up at the sky, as if it was something he had never seen before. The two on the other shore jumped at the shriek and Quon immediatly dove into the water and swam over. He quickly scrambled on shore and focused on Rue, who was still clutching her injured arm. He knelt before her and gently took her arm, frowning as she yelped in pain.
"What happened? What have you done?" Quon growled, glaring at Saria. He completely ignored Dark Link entirely. Malon, who had to run around the house and across the bridges, stopped short and stared at Dark Link in shock. The doppelganger noticed and glared at her. After a moment, he grew bored of staring at Malon and looked back up at the sky.
"It's…a demonic shadow! It's evil! Kill it!" Rue howled. Quon glanced between his sobbing apprentice and Dark Link and frowned.
"Rue? Are you okay?" Saria asked quietly.
"Leave me alone. You brought it out here," Rue sobbed. Saria stared at her before bleakly realizing that the zora girl was blaming her for her broken arm. The older zora turned away from them and carried his sobbing apprentice back towards the shore. He dove beneath the surface and the two vanished.
"I assume you are the other person the sage child mentioned?" Dark Link stated, staring at Malon. He was more staring at Malon's hair, having never seen red hair like it except on Ganondorf's own head.
"I am. We should be going, if we are to reach our destination," Malon replied, glancing at Saria questioningly. Saria shrugged, hoping that Malon wouldn't ask about anything until later and out of earshot of the doppleganger. Luckily, she understood and simply began walking away. Dark Link quickly followed Malon, leaving Saria to catch up to them.
"Um, Dark Link?" Saria asked timidly.
"What?" Dark Link snapped.
"What does damn mean?" she asked. He glanced back at her in confusion, looked at Malon to see if she had heard, and grinned when he had noticed that she had payed no attention to Saria's question.