EDIT: COMPLETELY FORGOT I DIDN'T UPDATE THIS BEEN SITTING ON THIS SINCE LIKE NOVEMBER OMG! 0o0

Ok, the legend is up. Life is hard, with personal statements and unis and stuff hence why I'm so quiet nowadays. But I have such a migraine right now that the intricacies of photosynthesis make about as much sense as Fi at the moment. So this was born instead, I apologise in advance. Do R&R please.

Chapter 37

The Fallen

The oni was thrown one way, then another, rolling across the ground as attacks swooped down left right and centre. It couldn't see for the blood in its eyes and wounds on its face, it couldn't hear for the roar of the wind as the shadows attacked, and that horrible keening melody of their inverted spirit songs.

Defeat the Dark.

It couldn't give up. It must defeat the Dark, and these shadows were a part of it.

But it couldn't even land a blow, every second was filled with an attack hitting home. Just as quickly as its wounds healed they were inflicted. The oni would attack if it could. But there was no chance.

It might be immortal, but it was still very much vulnerable to attack.

It tried once again to stand, but the Dark-Epona reared up and brought her full weight down on its back. The oni's shattered spine healed almost instantly, but the force still left it sprawled on the floor. Then a dark-goron dropped a rock on its head for good measure.

While it tried to stand, Dark-Epona's whip wrapped around its muzzle, clamping it tight. Dark-Ciara dropped onto its back, burying her katana between its shoulder blades. Another Dark-twili used its magic to entangle its paws so that the oni fell on its side hard.

It was well and truly trapped.

Then something came out of the shadows, a tiger with turquoise markings like a twili. It tore Dark-Ciara off the oni's back with ease.

"After all these years, you still need my help Link." Tenebam said with a smirk.

Then he shifted into the shape of robust human similar in size to Bo with wide bat-like wings, and brought an axe down on the neck of a boar.

"Come now Tenebam, you give Link too much credit." A female voice called.

A giant fish fell from the sky and crushed a dark-bear that tried to attack the oni. Then the fish turned into a squid-like creature and its tail unfurled into two legs. Holding a spear, it resumed its fight.

"Hey, Cheretdah what are you doing here? This is no place for a fish!"

Faron's tail wrapped around a dark-zora and threw it aside, injecting poison into it as it went.

"Pah, go and find a banana little monkey! We fish can handle ourselves!" Lanayru said between mouthfuls of shadows. "Ah, it's been so long since my teeth had a good clean."

"Don't be such a barbarian Ryu!"

Another hylian, female this time, wielding a club as big as she was began laying waste to the shadows around her. In a shimmer of mist, she turned into a goat and charged a dark-goron off the edge of the island.

"Aren't you supposed to resting Ordona? Lady Farore only just finished piecing you back together."

A strange furry creature with a long snout caught a blade on its bow, preventing it from hitting Ordona. Pushing the dark-hylian away, it grabbed an arrow and buried it in the shadow's chest. Then, under a veil of mist, it turned into an eagle and flew back to the edge of the island where it could safely snipe any shadows.

"Come on Link."

Phaira knelt beside the oni, smiling softly. Only she wasn't a shimmering spirit anymore. Her hands were warm and solid as they disentangled the whip on its muzzle. Her glowing mist felt real as it chased away the magic which wrapped around its legs. Helping the wolf to its feet, she turned into a hind and led it away from the island that had now become a battleground. Shadows mobbed them left, right and centre, pursuing the oni with tireless ferocity and several times Link was knocked back down as Phaira was swept away in the chaos. But every time the oni fell, another of its saviours would fight their way towards it and get it to his feet. They never let it stay down, and it didn't take long for Phaira to finally lead it to a shimmering turquoise bridge.

Every time a weapon pierced a shadow's heart, age-old mist was injected into the core and reverted the process. Black slowly turned to grey as the phantoms dissipated.

The oni turned to join the fray as the last of its wounds healed.

"Oh no you don't. The only thing holding you together is magic. Nayru's law or not, you are going back to the palace."

The hind lowered her antlers, herding the oni over the bridge. Shimmering mist, the colour of the northern lights welled up over the bridge's end, cutting it off from the battle.

The oni fought back, though its efforts weren't committed, lest it hurt its saviours.

"Calm down. You can leave the pride to us. Just like you did so long ago."

Those words struck a chord deep inside the oni. It…he remembered. He remembered darkness, and a pride. He had a pride to protect. But he hadn't been alone. Even if, at the end, it was just him and the Dark, he'd never been alone. Seven generals had stood by his side. Each of them gave their lives to protect his beloved land. He hadn't had to be a hero alone.

So what about now?

Phaira herded him back to the palace, with the eagle leading the way. Nayru's law pulsed within him, but it was fainter now. As if, it understood that the cavalry was here.

Midna was waiting for them. As soon as the oni was herded down into the central courtyard, she was on his back hugging his thick mane.

"Link! Never, ever, ever do that again!" She growled angrily, hugging his fur. "You stupid, stupid mutt!"

It was the closest Midna would come to saying she cared.

Phaira watched, as the oni tried to turn his head to look at the imp, the emotions ghosting his face. He hadn't changed completely, they could still change him back.

"You should come Link. There's a few people who want to see you."

The oni looked at Phaira, as if trying to work out why this silly little doe was ordering him about.

"It involves Epona." The eagle called from above, swooping low to speak to the wolf.

That definitely got his attention.

"Listen to them Link. They're good people…animal…things" Midna trialled off as she lost her train of thought "you know what I mean. Farore sent them to help."

The oni watched the eagle shriek as he banked hard and flew towards the lost woods. He looked, familiar somehow. Besides, the goddess had sent them to help. The oni must obey the goddess, so by extension, perhaps he should obey these greys.

With a dip of his huge head, oni followed Phaira towards the palace.

They heard Epona before they found her.

"Please miss, you shouldn't be standing." The clerics whispered.

"Get back into bed miss."

"You're not well!"

"You're making our lives very difficult miss."

They spoke in soothing tones, hoping to calm the spooked animal. They obviously didn't realise she could understand their every word.

"Get off of me! I need to get to Link!" The mare's whinnies were loud and clear as they echoed through the halls. "What do you think you're doing with that bridle?! OI! Get off!"

It was fortunate they couldn't understand her for all the obscenities she was shrieking.

The oni's ears pricked forward, picking up on the distress calls of the mare.

"On the bright side, at least she's not a loftwing." Phaira muttered.

"Link?"

The oni froze for a moment, muscles tensed.

"Don't you dare!" Midna warned, her fingers twining around his fur. "Don't…"

Link leapt forward as if fired from a catapult. Phaira narrowly missed getting trampled as he shot past in a blur of white.

"LINK!" Phaira shouted after him.

The mare was in the corridor, trying to rear up, with a bridle half-hanging off her face. Clerics clung to her neck, trying to get her back into the room. The oni registered the mare's agitation and the clerics that clustered around her. Deeming them a threat, he roared and leapt at them. The clerics remembered the oni and hurriedly let go, scrambling over each other to get away. The oni placed himself between Epona and the clerics, snarling viciously.

"Link! Stop that!" Midna screeched from his back.

The oni snarled at the clerics, milliseconds from pouncing on them and tearing them apart.

"Link?"

Epona's ears flicked forwards, looking at the huge wolf in front of her. "Link is that you?"

The wolf stopped snarling for a moment, glancing back at Epona.

Midna shooed the clerics away, and they scarpered. Link snarled as they ran.

"Link" Epona took a step forward, sniffing him tentatively.

The wolf turned around fully, looking at her. Even though his eyes were block white, in his face there was relief, in the way he tilted his head there was joy.

"It is you."

Epona took a few more steps forward. But as her hoof touched the floor, her whole leg wobbled and she would've fallen if Link had not stretched his head out forward to catch her.

"It seems I overdone it a little bit."

"HEY!"

Phaira skidded to a stop.

"You shouldn't run off like that."

She noticed Epona.

"Oh right, we should get you inside."

Between the two of them, they were able to get Epona back inside. The mare lay down on the low wide mattress. Midna had done her best to make sure she wasn't put in the stables with the Sklepnils, the clerics would probably scold her for it now, given Epona's tantrum.

The wolf lay curled up behind her, now that he was larger than her, she could lean on him as she rested. He may have been heartless, but the real Link deep down inside wasn't going to let Epona get hurt. And maybe there was a part of the hero's spirit too, which remembered the mare as his lifelong companion, reincarnated once again. In the same way it had remembered Zelda, the incarnation of the goddess he had pledged to serve.

"Now what?" Midna asked, lounging on the oni's shoulders.

"We're just waiting for a few more people."

As if on cue, there was a scream outside as courtiers darted for cover. A blur of white sprinted through the corridors, and while considerably smaller, it was close enough to the oni to elicit mass panic in the palace. The eagle shrieked and flew into the room, alighting on Phaira's antlers.

"Did you stop on the way for tea or something?" Phaira joked as Silver skidded round the corner and subsequently crashed into the door frame.

"EPONA!"

Barely even phased, she leapt at Epona and huddled up next to her, her tail wagging. The oni growled warningly, but did not attack. It recognised this one too. From a long, long time ago.

"Good to see you too Silver. The plan was a success…sort of…" The mare may have been joking, but there was a sad edge to her voice.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Midna huffed.

"Midna!"

Silver put her front paws on Epona's belly, peering up at the imp.

"Hey, weren't you like normal a second ago? What'd you do this time?"

"What do you mean?!" Midna growled. "It's thanks to you lot I'm stuck as an imp again!"

"I missed you too." Silver's tail was wagging so hard, Epona was in real danger of being brained.

At this point, Zelda arrived, putting a hand on the doorframe as she doubled over, panting hard.

"What….did….I…say…about…running off?" She wheezed.

"Hello!" Zant chirped, seemingly materialising next to the princess.

"Oh Din!" Zelda cursed, leaping away from the man.

The oni's growls were starting to grow in intensity as the room became more and more crowded.

Zelda glared at Midna.

"Why is he still around? Link told me he exploded."

"He did, sort of. Look that doesn't matter. He's harmless now."

"The imp is right." Eldin told them, ignoring the angry look Midna threw at him. "You must destroy the darkness inside the fierce deity."

"How?" Zelda asked, edging away from Zant as he stared awestruck up at her.

"By using the mist. The darkness lurks inside his mind. And that is where the three of you shall go." Phaira explained.

"You said three." Silver asked, pawing the ground uncertainly. "One of us can't go?"

The two generals looked over at Epona, who lay with her head bowed.

"They're talking about me. I would only poison him further."

"But, you know him better than anyone. He trusts you." Midna exclaimed.

"Perhaps, but you two have fought with him, bled with him, lived with him and almost died with him." Epona raised her head to look both wolfos and imp in the eye. "You have just as much chance as finding him as I or Zelda do."

Silver nodded. This was her pack, and Link was her uncle…it was strange to think of him as that…she may not have known him as long but he was the closest family she had and besides, she had found him once before hadn't she.

Midna however, wasn't as sure. Her head was bent, her fiery hair covering her face.

"I'm also the one who used him for my own ends and abandoned him when I was finished." She said quietly.

"That's not true Midna. Maybe at first, but not anymore. He's always trusted you, and even when you first brought him to me, he trusted you completely."

Midna turned her head away.

"Its true, I can see these things." Zelda assured her. "And even if he may not have liked it, he understood why you left. He doesn't think you've abandoned him. I mean, look at him."

The oni had been listening to this exchange, and the little sliver of Link that remained urged the oni to trust this imp. She may not be a reincarnation or resurrected spirit, but she embodied something Link had always had: a guide. She wasn't familiar to the oni, but the oni trusted her all the same. In just that same way he had trusted the little fairy when he had fought Majora all those centuries ago.

The oni turned around, craning his neck to look up at the imp. Midna lifted her face a little, and saw not an oni looking back at her, but Link. She saw past the block white eyes and vibrant markings to the wolf that she had rescued from Zant's dungeons.

"You really trust me?"

The oni licked her hand.

Midna's face softened into a smile, and she scratched the oni's chin.

"Then I'm coming."

I know this is short, but I've finally filed in all my application and now I'm waiting for an interview. Fingers crossed. So this is a good place to stop and lets me cut straight to the chase. Thanks for putting up with me. And wish me luck for tomorrow: snow, 80mph winds and lows of -2C and I'm camping in a forest. Wish I was a grey right about now.