A/N: Please review. It makes me happy :)

Chapter 6: Battle at the Temple of Time

Link:

"Princess, I really don't think this is a good idea."

I tried to hide my impatience. While it is true that I was not too thrilled with Zelda leaving the castle before I knew what kind of threat Hyrule faced, I also knew that she was the only one who could open the Door of Time without the gems. So having the Captain of the Royal Guard constantly questioning my ability to protect her when we had not even left the city…

Well, it was down right irritating.

If only he knew what I was capable of.

"I'll be fine," Zelda told him for what felt like the thousandth time, "I have Link and Impa to protect me."

The captain gave me an appraising look (again) and then said, "I'll be waiting outside, your Highness."

Zelda nodded, then turned to Malon, "Will you be joining us too, Malon?"

Malon just nodded numbly. She was still in shock over meeting the Princess of Hyrule so suddenly.

Malon had been waiting for me when we had come out of the castle. I can still remember the look on her face when she saw me, Impa, several royal guards, and the princess on top of a white horse (the captain insisted that Zelda could not walk all the way to the Temple of Time). I really wished I could have had my Pictograph Box.

"Shall we go?" Impa asked.

The guards positioned themselves outside the temple doors to give us some privacy, and Zelda, Impa, Malon, and I walked into the temple.

It looked just like it did all those years ago. White and gray were the prominent colors. There was red carpet at the entrance and in front of the alter. The warp platform was located not too far from the entrance (for some strange reason, it had not worked ever since I put the Master Sword back for the last time). The main difference now though was that the Door of Time had been resealed.

"I don't understand," Malon said, "Why are we here?"

Before I could think of some way to gently tell Malon about what was going on, Impa beat me to the punch and said, "We are here to retrieve the Master Sword."

"What! The Master Sword!" Malon exclaimed.

Zelda nodded her head absently, "Yes, the Master Sword does in fact exist. And Link is the one who will be wielding it."

Malon looked at me skeptically before turning back to Zelda, "Link. Wield the Master Sword. Are you sure?"

Thanks Malon, your confidence in me is overwhelming…

"Don't worry," Zelda said with a small smile, "I think Link is more than capable of wielding the sword."

We made it to the alter where I had placed the jewels in the alternate timeline. We looked up at the massive stone door in awe. Well, at least three of us did…

"So, where is the sword supposed to be hidden?" Malon asked. I had forgotten that she did not know most of the stuff that we knew.

Impa gestured to the door in front of us, "It is behind that door."

"Behind that wall?" she asked disbelievingly. Impa just nodded, and Malon shrugged and said, "If you say so…"

Zelda glanced at us, "I don't know how long this is going to take. If you would please…"

Zelda motioned for us to move back, and we obliged. She turned once again to face the Door of Time and raised her hands above her head. A ball of light formed in-between her hands, steadily growing bigger.

I was watching this when Malon suddenly grabbed my arm, leaned in, and whispered in my ear, "You never told me that the Princess of Hyrule could use magic!"

I smiled sheepishly, "Well, it never actually came up."

She glared at me, "Is there anything else I should know."

I hesitated. I was not sure of the wisdom of telling her everything that I knew of the alternate timeline. If anything, she was probably better off not knowing…

But she was my friend, and I hated lying to her. For better or worse, I was going to have to reveal what I knew.

"It might take a while," I said.

"It looks like we have plenty of time," she told me as she looked back at Zelda. The ball of light was growing pretty slowly.

I nodded, and opened my mouth to speak…

When Impa interrupted me, "We have company."

I swore as I turned toward the entrance. If those guards had decided to disregard Zelda's orders…

Malon stepped away from me with a gasp as I pulled the Great Fairy's Sword from my its sheathe and readied my shield. Impa already had her own weapon, a kodachi, drawn. There were three shadowy blobs forming at the entrance to the temple, and as they rose, they started to take on a more humanoid shape. A familiar sword and shield combo appeared on their back as they took on a shape I remembered very clearly from the other timeline.

Shadow Link. Or should I say, Shadow Links.

Impa was already half way to the shadows as I started my charge. Strangely, only one of them charged to meet Impa. They clashed and I noticed something strange. Not only did it look like the Shadow Link was right-handed (the one I fought had been left-handed like me), but his fighting style was… sloppy.

Impa easily fought the Shadow Link back and delivered a fatal blow. With a final shriek, the Shadow Link dissolved into darkness.

The other Shadow Links laughed in a very chilling manner that caused me to come up short. Impa then cursed and threw her blade away. The Sheikah's weapon was covered in some kind of black stuff that quickly covered the entire blade. The blade seemed to shudder on the ground, and then dissolved.

Impa backed away from the spot where her blade had landed quickly, "Be careful Link."

I turned back to the other Shadow Links, as they charged at me. They clashed with me. Though they seemed to be better than the one who fought Impa, they were still not as skilled as me. We fought for several minutes, and I was eventually able to exploit one of the Shadow Links' mistakes. I used my shield to knock away his sword and thrust mine through his chest.

With a screech, he disappeared. The last Shadow Link back flipped away, laughing as he did. I looked down at my sword and noticed that it had been corrupted when I had delivered the final blow to the other Shadow Link. Unlike with Impa's blade, however, the corruption was spreading slowly. The magic in the Great Fairy's Sword was keeping the darkness from spreading, but I knew that the sword was not going to last more than a few more minutes.

The last Shadow Link hung back. If he could smile, I'm sure he would be doing so now. He was trying to keep his distance, waiting for my sword to disintegrate so that I would be more vulnerable. I was not going to make it easy for him.

I charged at him again. Though he backpedaled, he could not move away fast enough. We clashed again. This time, his skill matched mine. It seemed that every time one of the Shadow Links was killed, the Shadow Links that were left got more powerful.

We traded blows. Our blades were nearly blurs as we clashed again and again. Even if I could get the upper hand on him, chances were that I would not be able to do so before my sword was destroyed. As I tried to formulate a plan in the middle of this battle, I heard a sound that on any other day would have been extremely unwanted…

"What's going on here!" the Captain exclaimed as he rushed into the temple, followed by two of the guards.

"What do you think!" Impa shouted, "Help us!"

The guards all readied their spears and began to thrust at Shadow Link. He was surrounded, so he unleashed a spin attack that forced me back and broke the two guards' spears. They proceeded to retreat rather quickly. The captain managed to block without losing his weapon and immediately followed up by swinging his spear. I was already closing the distance once again.

Apparently the Captain had definitely earned his position. Between me and the Captain, Shadow Link was having a hard time keeping us at bay. He was still managing, however. He would knock the spear away with his shield then spin around to unleash a flurry of sword thrusts at me, keeping me on the defensive.

I noticed that the corruption had nearly turned the blade black, and it had almost reached the guard of my sword. I did not have much time…

Shadow Link finally made his move. After forcing me back once again, he quickly spun around towards the Captain who was getting ready to attack again. Shadow Link then tossed his shield. The Captain tried to block, but the heavy shield easily shattered the shaft of the spear and connected with the Captain's chest. The Captain flew back and landed on the ground with a thud. He was out for the count.

Shadow Link immediately went on the offensive. His attacks came at impossibly fast speeds that prevented me from getting any attacks in of my own. The corruption was almost to the guard and to the hilt. Time was running out.

Shadow Link jumped away, laughing. He knew that he had won…

Shadow Link was leaning back as his sword clattered to the ground, his red eyes wide with surprise. I could see Impa behind him, some throwing knives in her hand, and a grim smile on her face.

I did not waste any more time. I charged magic into the Great Fairy's Sword, and then unleashed a spin attack on the now helpless Shadow Link. With a loud screech, he disappeared into shadow. Just as he vanished, I dropped the now fully corrupted sword. I watched with a bit of sadness as the trusty blade that I had been using for the past few years disintegrated into shadow, never to be seen again.

I looked behind me to see Impa heading over to check on Zelda and Malon. Zelda looked as if she had not moved through the entire battle. The ball of light in-between her hands had grown quite massive. Malon looked rather shaken, but otherwise fine.

I went over to the Captain, who was being looked over by the guards. He was just barely returning to consciousness.

He looked up at me and, for the first time ever, smiled at me, "I guess your not such a bad guy after all, eh, Link?"

I could not help but grin as I held out my hand to the Captain and pulled him to his feet, "I could say the same about you."

The Captain saw Zelda with the ball of energy in her hands, and said, "I guess I always knew that the princess was special. I just never imagined how special."

"I can explain…"

"It's not my place to question," the Captain interrupted me.

He looked around, then with a sigh, said, "I'll go back outside then. There are still more guards, so don't hesitate to call for help if needed."

I nodded, "Will do."

As the Captain walked back outside, I heard the groan of a large stone door. I turned around to see that Impa was supporting a now very exhausted Zelda as the Door of Time slowly slid open.

Zelda opened her eyes and smiled weakly at me, "That took a lot more out of me than I thought it would."

I started to walk towards her, but she held up her hand to stop me, "Don't worry about me, Link. You have your own role to play here."

I nodded. I started to head towards the chamber where the Master Sword rested. As I passed Malon, she reached up and grabbed the sleeve of my tunic.

"Are you really going to go pull the sacred blade?"

I smiled at her as I said, "It's my duty as the Hero of Time."

"You're the Hero of Time!" she said, shocked.

Again, I need to remember that Malon does not know everything.

I nodded to her, "I promise to explain everything later."

She nodded at me in turn and let go of my tunic. I could feel her watching me as I made my way into the chamber.

The chamber looked like the rest of the temple, but the room was circular instead of square and the ceiling was much higher than in the main chamber. There was a raised platform in the middle of the chamber. Carved onto the platform was the symbol of the sages. Despite the bright room behind me, a single window seemed to provide the only light in this room. Resting in the shaft of light was the sword that had gotten me through the time of Ganondorf's dark reign. Even after all these years, the winged purple hilt of the sword was still very familiar to me…

The Blade of Evil's Bane… the Master Sword.

I reached forward and got a firm grip on the hilt with both of my hands. Planting my feet, I gave the sword a firm tug and it slid free of the pedestal. I was surrounded by a bright blue light as I felt the power of the Master Sword surge through me. The light got so bright that I was forced to cover my eyes briefly…

As soon as the light died down, I dropped my arm and felt my mouth drop open in surprise.

Standing before me was another person, his arm was raised to cover his eyes. Judging by his rounded ears, it was obvious that he was not Hylian, though his complexion made it highly unlikely that he was a Gerudo (not to mention the fact that he was male). He was close to my height and his dark, almost black, hair was not quite shoulder length and looked a bit messy. He had on a gray jacket that had a hood (he was not wearing the hood though), a black shirt with strange writings on it, and strange blue pants. His footwear was also strange. I noticed that he had bracers equipped over his jacket sleeves and a sword scabbard at his belt. The thing that really caught my attention was the sword in his hand. It was identical to the Master Sword, except that the hilt was green.

The Sword of Darkness? Here!

Not leaving anything to chance, I readied my sword and shield and charged at the person in front of me.

A/N: I must say, I am enjoying writing this fic even more than I thought I would. A lot of the free time I have goes into this fic (I'm neglecting all my video games lol). Again, reviews are definitely appreciated.