Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda series do not, repeat, not belong to me. They rightfully belong to Miyamoto. (May he continue to make excellent games for the rest of his days.) What does belong to me are Cleo, Finn, Syrilla and Okam (sorta).

Chapter 24

Cleo and Jack were now on the wide, flat roof of the altar, surrounded by the eight spires. Standing in the very center was, to her great relief, a friendlier face. "Scervo!" she laughed. She ran to him. "I'm so glad to see y-" her words were stopped short when she saw Scervo closer and realized with a feeling like cold lead in all her organs that all was not well.

He was twitching forebodingly, his voice only static and sound spasms. And there was a black pike with chevron-shaped prongs sticking out of his chest. He was looking right back at her and she was sure he was trying to speak to her. The pike pulled back into his chest and he tumbled to the floor with a loud metallic clatter, revealing the perpetrator standing right behind him.

Okam gave a sinister chuckle. "Nothing but a piece of trash!" He waved his hand and Scervo was flung aside. He looked up at the mortally stunned and angered Cleo. He smiled. "I knew you'd come back... I had a gut feeling... I'm not the least bit surprised." He watched in amusement at her growing rage. "What's the matter? Did I break your friend? I'll admit, the pirate put up a tougher fight than I expected. But in the end, he relinquished the Essences of Light to me." He held out his hand and the essences appeared, floating above him. "All I have to do is place them on those spires and harness their power. Their magic will make me stronger, strong enough to finally take over the Twilight Realm..."

"But you are already powerful Aku! Why can you not take it over the same way you took over my homeland and so many other worlds?"

"Because, samurai, this realm is much different than the ones you and I are use to. Even though the strange effects of this world could not turn me into a lost spirit, it has indeed weakened me greatly. This realm was designed to be a prison for powerful beings of evil, a perfect and safe place for banishment. I'm not as strong as I once was. When I heard of this portal to such a realm, I thought to use it for my own evil purposes and remove you from existence. I did succeed, but I never thought you would make a last ditch effort to get rid of me as well. However, it still proved to be quite convenient.

"The accident turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I discovered a new civilization within the dimensional prison for me to conquer and expand my empire. But because of my weakened state, it proved to be almost impossible. It would be years, maybe decades before I could claim it. But not long after my arrival did I meet Veran with a lust for power, like myself, and some pretty valuable information. She told me the legend of the Essences of Light and how they are the ultimate source of power to the Twilight Ream. She admitted she didn't know their whereabouts, but knew that there was a scroll about them in the Palace of Twilight where her twin sister reigned as princess. Veran wanted the throne for herself and was willing to commit. We forged a partnership.

"With my power of shape-shifting I disguised myself as a poor old Twili and made my carefully crafted approach as a homeless man to Midna. With my forged sob-story, she took me in with sympathy and I used every ounce of psychology and charm to earn her trust and take my place as her adviser. Once I got the job, I headed to the royal library to look for the scroll. It took a few days because it was so enormous, but it was worth it. I would smuggle the information to Veran and provide to her my army of robot insects so she could find the essences. When the invasion started, Midna turned to me for help. To hold on to her trust, I showed her the scroll with the essences and had to obey her order to find them while accompanied by her own army. The Moon Pearl was the closest, so I aimed for it. Once I was away and alone with some of her guards, I killed them. I thought to get this one essence myself quickly, but there was one little thing I did not account for... The child."

Cleo listened carefully to the whole story and thought back to how she got here. She remembered being pulled in by a black shadow and saw a tall black being through blurred vision but could not figure out who it was. But now she knew.

"Not knowing you had the pearl, I wasn't sure at first what to do with you. Thinking you might be useful somehow, I took you back to the palace. And it turned out I was right, you have proven yourself useful after all, much more dependable than Veran. Not that she wasn't already disposable!"

"I've heard enough!" Cleo got the Skribal Sword ready. "You've harmed too many innocent people, and you killed my friend! This time I will not hold back! I will kill you! You're not human, you're not a Twili, you're not anything living and breathing! You're an abomination and it's ABOUT TIME YOU HAD YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU!"

Okam laughed. "Your threats will get you nowhere, child. I can see you reforged the Skribal Sword, but it doesn't mean you can still harm me!"

"Wanna bet!" Cleo slapped on the Rune of Oni, transforming the sword into the more legendary entwined blade of Oni himself. "You haven't learned a thing, Aku! When people do evil deeds, good will do everything it can to bite them in the butt! Especially if good gains aid from a Fierce Deity!"

Okam gave her the most intense stare, ever. One to rival hers. "It is a shame. You could have been great as my henchman. You were so dependable, so useful... I really am thankful to you for what you did. Too bad you're too much of a do-gooder to know any better. You are every bit like the samurai... just as foolish. I think it is time I shed this form... so you can gaze upon the true almighty form of Aku before you die!"

Then Okam's body began to melt, slowly becoming an oozing liquid until it was a black puddle with sneering eyeballs. Flames ignited above those eyes, one after the other. Cleo felt a strange coldness filling the air, as though coming from a dark underground pit. Then the black mass shot up insanely fast, towering over her. It took a new angular shape, grew rows of chevron horns, a green face like that of Asian mythological monsters appeared, complete with curved fangs, and finally a flaming beard sprouted to go with his eyebrows. He looked down at her and, raising his clawed hands, let out a booming cackle.

Shapeshifting Master of Darkness:
Aku

"Cleo," said Jack. "This will be the toughest fight you have had yet. The timing of your moves will be very difficult. It will require sharp reflexes and reaction time, so listen very carefully to everything I say. This is our chance to finally destroy Aku. Get ready." Cleo nodded to him.

Aku shot lasers from his eyes and Cleo reflected them with the Skribal Sword. She aimed them back at his face, stunning him, then charged forward to slash away at him. His black body burned away from the cuts she left and he howled in pain. Aku sprouted bat wings and took flight. Hovering above, he summoned a fireball and threw it at Cleo. She swung her sword to bounce it back, and the opponents ended up volleying it back and forth until she could get a hit. Stunned again, he fell to the ground, leaving her an opening for an attack. He turned into a shapeless shadow and tried to engulf her. Cleo felt pain as she struggled to get free. With a free arm, she cut herself loose. The shadowy mass then split apart into dozens of Akus and surrounded her. She unleashed a fiery spin attack, knocking them all to the ground. With all his doubles gone, Aku stood up and swiped at her. The claws hit her and she fell. He pounced at the first opportunity and kicked her. He charged at her and Cleo stood her ground, waiting. She rolled out of the way, when he was about to hit, and countered. She slashed his legs off and hacked away more of him.

Aku pulled away from her, breathing hard. He snarled viciously. Far from the altar, Finn and Midna were watching from a cliff. "Oh my *BEEP* God! I had no idea she was that strong! She's kicking his *BEEP* ass! Pardon my language, Midna."

Cleo glared at Aku. "You don't like getting beaten, especially by a kid! You're not playing with a full deck!"

"On the contrary, I think it is you who needs to recheck your hand," Aku replied.

"I just creamed you, Aku! Your time here is over!"

"Well, it's not over until the fat lady sings!"

"You're at the end of your rope!"

"You may have won this battle, but not the war. In fact, the tables have turned! I still have the essences..."

"You'd better fork 'em over now!"

"Please, enough!" Jack butted in. "All these strange metaphors are making me dizzy!"

"You think you've won? This is only the beginning... You never realized it, either of you! But you were at a disadvantage from the start." The Essences of Light came to Aku once more. "Once I gain the power of the Realm of Shadows itself, I will truly be invincible!"

Cleo charged at him, but he sent another shockwave to push her back. He raised his arms and the essences flew to their positions on the peaks of the eight spires. "NO YOU DON'T!" Cleo charged again and Aku shot his eye lasers across her path and a wall of flame shot up, blocking her.

"Now you will suffer the full might of the Deliverer of Darkness, and you will be smitten by the hand of Aku!" Cleo could only watch as he grew bigger until he was the same height as the spires. A bright glow formed around the essences and beams of light shot up into the sky. He held his arms up again and his eyes illuminated. The beams stopped and the glow reignited. The beams then shot at Aku and splintered around him. They engulfed and seeped into him. Twilight Realm markings formed on his body.

It all stopped in an instant. As the essences fell to the ground Cleo looked at them with heavy dread realizing their light was gone, their colors faded. They were all dead. Aku looked at himself. He raised his hand and a massive surge of energy rippled across the sky and the beautiful eternal twilight now turned into Fires of Hell. He laughed in triumph.

"What do we do, now?" Cleo asked Jack desperately. "How are we gonna save this realm?"

"... ... ...I do not know..." he answered with a hopeless tone as Aku's laughter continued to boom far and wide like thunder over the entire Twilight Realm.