Two chapters in a row huh? How fun! I should probably make it clear that we're getting the beginnings of an AU of Phantom Hourglass here, so hopefully this'll all make sense. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Stone

He's drowning.

There's no other word to describe it, even though he knows it's not entirely true. He's almost drowned a handful of times before. Times where he'd nearly lost himself beneath the surface of the waves, though he'd always managed to find the last bout of strength he needed to to swim upward and outward out of the greedy depths. But now…

Now is nothing like any of those times.

There is no surface to swim up to, at least none that he can see. Instead, there's only darkness, above him, below him, all around him, even inside him. He breathes it in without wanting to, without meaning to, choking as its vile bitterness burns his throat. And if he really is drowning, then he knows it's not any kind of water that's dragging him downward. It's that darkness, that malice, that's trying its hardest to claim him.

And the worst part is… it's winning.

A strained scream slips out as he struggles to swim through the shadows. He has no idea if he's making any headway, if there's even any way out of this at all. For all he knows, this could go on forever, a slow, steady descent to his inevitable death. A cold sort of fear grips him as that unsettling thought sinks in along with the rest of him. But he still fights against it, still fights to escape whatever this is, still fights to break free.

After all, he's been fighting for such a long time anyway. Why stop now?

He's still kicking and flailing wildly when his back suddenly settles against something solid. His body stills as he gasps, lying on the stony ground beneath him for a moment or two and his chest heaves as he realizes he can actually breathe down here, though that's hardly any consolation. Because soon enough, the darkness above him begins to give way to something else, something he's seen before. Something that strikes terror into him every bit as much as it had the first time he'd been in the final moments of this doomed kingdom.

He darts upright, still staring up at the deluge of water pouring down from the sea above. None of it touches him as it spills down to flood the edges of the large platform around him. His heart hammers in his chest as he slowly pulls himself to stand, only to fall forward as soon as he so much as tries to take a single step. When he looks back, he finds something akin to a tentacle coiled around most of his left leg, its grip tight and unyielding.

It doesn't budge as he tries to pry it off of him, even going as far as digging his nails into its slick surface. He pulls as hard as he can against it, hoping to break it free from the spot where it emerges from, the center of the platform where the telltale mark of the Triforce should be. The round shape of an eye rests there now, and maybe if he wasn't in as much of a panic as he is now, Link might have tried to figure out why. Instead, all he can think about is getting out of this, out of all of this, out of whatever mess he's managed to land himself in this time.

A mess that seems dead set on becoming even more of a nightmare the more he tries to escape it.

From somewhere beyond the raging wall of water, a voice echoes, soft and sinister like an oncoming storm. Link stiffens when he hears it, searching in vain to try and find its source as it lets out a low, eerie laugh. "Oh my… what an… unusual catch my ghost ship has managed to make…"

"Who's there?!" Link demands between gritted teeth. He doesn't stop trying to free himself from whatever has his leg bound, whatever is keeping him from getting far away from here. From a place that shouldn't even exist anymore.

The voice ignores him, laughing once more. It seems a touch louder now, as if whatever it belongs to has moved in closer. It isn't lost on Link when the tentacle tied around his leg tightens in turn. "Your soul speaks volumes of itself, boy… So strong, so vibrant, so full of life…" A chill runs down Link's spine on that last word, as if he's been touched by something dark and unholy. As far as he knows, he very likely might have been. "A soul like yours will not be broken so easily… Still…"The voice slowly begins to shift from a haunting whisper into something deeper, firmer, and most frightening of all… something much more familiar to Link. "That doesn't mean itcan't be broken at all…"

He spins around as much as he can, his breath catching in his throat as he takes in the sight of the shadow looming over him. The shadow of someone who, much like Hyrule itself, should be forever lost to the depths of the sea. Link knows that better than anyone; after all, he'd been the one to run a sword straight through the man's skull only a few short months ago. So how then, is he able to stand before him here and now, with a wicked grin spread wide across his darkened features and his amber eyes flashing with hatred?

"It's been awhile, hasn't it, boy?" Ganondorf greets calmly, cruelly. He wields no weapons, and yet, Link still feels like the deadly tips of both of his long blades are aimed directly at his exposed throat.

"Y-you…" Against all odds, Link finally summons the courage to speak. "How… How are you-"

"Alive?" Ganondorf finishes, cocking an eyebrow. "It appears that blade of yours wasn't as powerful as you hoped it to be. And neither was the hand that wielded it."

Link shakes his head, his mouth alarmingly dry. He tries to crawl away from his old foe, but the tentacle around his leg keeps his movement far too limited. And in turn, that makes him far too vulnerable. "No, that… this isn't real," he draws in a sharp breath, forcing himself to believe that. "T-this is just a dream–it's gotta be! You're not real, none of this is-"

Ganondorf steps forward while he's still speaking, only to cut him off by grabbing him by the front of his tunic and hoisting him up to his level. It had been easy to forget just how small he is compared to this tower of a man when he'd plunged the Master Sword into his forehead. But now, he's quickly reminded just how easily Ganondorf could–and almost did–kill him without even trying.

"Let me assure you, this is very real," his smile is finally gone. In its place is an icy, piercing glare that bears straight into Link's wide, terrified eyes. "You failed to take me down for one simple reason: you are weak. The King of Hyrule searched far and wide for a hero to bring about my end. In the end, he found you. And you, boy, are no hero."

Link bristles. He's in no position to argue, he knows that. But in spite of himself and the wicked man holding onto him, he still does anyway. "You're wrong," he forces his voice to be as steady as it can. "T-the King said I'm the Hero of-"

"The Hero of Winds?" Ganondorf scoffs. "That 'title' is nothing more than a false honor given to a child pretending to be something far more than he actually is."

"I didn't 'pretend' to defeat you," Link shoots back just as harshly.

"But you didn't defeat me," Ganondorf smirks, finally dropping Link. He lands hard on the stony ground at the man's feet, unable to brace himself from the brutal kick that slams into his side. "All you accomplished was buying yourself and that miserable ocean you call home a few more fleeting moments of existence. One has to wonder though…" he turns away, only briefly glancing back over his shoulder at the breathless boy behind him. "What would the people you vowed to protect think if they could see just how pathetic you truly are?"

Link's still in the middle of picking himself up off the ground as he watches Ganondorf begin to face him again. But by the time he's fully turned back around, someone else is suddenly standing in his place. Someone who manages to spread even more raw fear spreading through Link's veins than Ganondorf had before her.

"...Aryll?" His heart sinks as soon as he says her name. But sure enough, there his little sister stands, her face full of equal anger and anguish as she takes in the sight of him.

"Big brother…" she begins, her voice trembling with something Link's never heard in it before. With bitterness, with betrayal. "Why did you leave? Don't you care about me?"

"O-of course, I do," Link tries to crawl closer to her, still unable to properly stand. He stops as soon as she backs away from him, almost as if she's afraid. Afraid of him. "Aryll, everything I did, the reason why I fought so hard in the first place… it was all to save you."

"But you didn't save me," Aryll looks away from him, glaring at the stony ground. Tears stream down her cheeks, and Link hates that he's the cause of them, that something he did–or didn't do–has made his beloved little sister cry. "Not for good. 'Cause you left us, all on our own, like we don't even matter to you."

"No," Link tries reaching out to her, only for something to latch around his wrist, roughly yanking it back. He briefly registers that it's another tentacle, identical to the first, before he tries appealing to Aryll again. "I left to-"

"To find a new home?" Link starts when Aryll disappears in the blink of an eye. A hand comes to rest on his shoulder, but it's nowhere near as loving and gentle as he's used to it being. And neither is the look on his grandmother's face when he looks back at her standing just behind him. "Why, dear? Was the home I worked so hard to make for you and your sister not enough?"

Grandma is a small woman, soft and sweet and anything but intimidating. Even when she used to scold him for getting into mischief when he was little, Link never had any reason to fear her. But now, the deep, undeniable disappointment in her eyes is enough to make his blood run cold. "Grandma, I-"

"You what?" she asks , her frail, quiet voice laced with venom. "Abandoned your family? Left everyone who loved you to set sail upon the open sea?" She sighs, shaking her head. "Your parents did the same thing, Link. Don't forget what happened to them…"

She skims a hand against the side of his face, something she's done so many times before. This time however, it's not meant to comfort or encourage him. This time, it's only to direct his gaze to the shadows forming to his right. There, a pair of silhouettes stands in silence, flickering in and out of existence. Link can't make out their faces, and he knows exactly why. He was so young when he lost his parents to a violent storm at sea–he can't even remember what they look like anymore.

Any semblance of resistance or boldness drains out of him the second he sees them. He extends a shaking hand to them, his eyes burning with oncoming tears. Another tentacle slithers its way to entrap his other leg, but he barely notices it. One of the shadows–his mother, he thinks–starts to reach back out to him. But just before their hands can touch, both of his parents let out a shared, horrific scream that strikes Link down to his very core. All he can do is watch as they're violently ripped to pieces by something unseen, by the cruel hand of fate that decided to tear his family apart.

"Stop!" he cries, falling to the ground. He hates that he isn't able to hold back a sob that wracks his entire body with grief he can't otherwise bear. "I-I don't wanna hear anymore! Whatever you are, please, just… leave me alone!"

"Giving in so quickly, my boy? And here I thought you were stronger than this. I thought you were a hero…"

When Link looks up, his grandmother is gone. He might've been strangely grateful for that… if there wasn't a certain crimson boat sitting before him instead. "K-King!" he reels back, shocked. Ganondorf surviving was one thing, as impossible as it should have been. But the King of Hyrule–the King of Red Lions… Link can't believe he's able to look him in the eyes again. His tears fall even harder as joy weaves its way into his heartache. Even so, the feeling doesn't last long when he hears what the King has to say.

"So, a few cross words is all it takes to tear down one who once possessed the Triforce of Courage?" the King turns his wooden nose up at the boy. "I expected so much more from you, Link. My final wish was for your future. How disappointing it is that you won't survive to see that future."

Link tenses when a fourth tentacle slips onto his last free limb. This time, however, he has the wits about him to pull his arm away before it can coil too tightly around it. "No," he steadies himself as much as he can. He wipes his tears away, biting his fear back as he glares the "King" dead in the eyes. "Dream or no dream, I will survive this. I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to make your–the King's wish come true. We're going to find a place to build the next Hyrule–no matter what it might take!"

The King's already severe expression darkens as he seamlessly shifts from his boat form into his true, regal appearance. Much like Ganondorf did, he stands tall over Link, draping the boy in shadows that he can't seem to slip out of. Especially not when the final tentacle finally succeeds in pinning his arm painfully behind him.

"There's the challenge I was hoping for," the King smirks darkly. "It seems you still have some fight left in you after all, child…"

"Enough!" Link snaps as he pulls against his binds. "Who are you, really? Why are you doing this?!"

The false King chuckles, his eyes flashing as their color shifts to a bright, haunting gold. "Would you really like to know? Very well then. Most of my victims don't live long enough to make a last request. I suppose it's only fair that I honor yours…"

The King's already twisted smile widens to an unnatural degree as his eyes shift together into a single, glowing amber one. Link feels sick to his stomach as he watches the body of his most trusted companion morph and bend in all sorts of horrific ways until it isn't even remotely Hylian anymore. A massive beast emerges from his broken form, though the most Link can make out about it is its lone, enormous eye, a hoop of gold ringed by orange and green that shines fiercely in the darkness. Countless thick tendrils twist out of its round body, joining the other tentacles that have Link bound as they wrap around his legs, his torso, even around his neck. He's all but incapacitated by them, but he doesn't cry out or show any signs of panicking. Instead, he faces this monster with an unflinching glare, determined to prove to it that he isn't afraid. Even though he knows he has every reason to be.

"What… are you?" Link asks, wincing as one of the tentacles forces him to stare at the monster. As if he could look away to begin with.

"I am what your kind calls a demon…"the beast speaks in the same voice he'd heard when he first arrived. Finally knowing who it belongs to does nothing to make him feel any better about his current plight. "A devourer of the most essential energy of all: the Force of Life itself… All souls possess it, for it is the very thing that keeps you mortals alive. It is that very power that has served as my sustenance for eons. However…" the demon draws in closer, its eye all but engulfing Link in its malicious, greedy hunger. "There are some souls that carry Life Force in far greater amounts than most. Souls that are special, that have been blessed by the hands of the goddesses themselves… A soul like yours…"

Link doesn't even see the final tentacle slithering toward him until its tip touches his chest. The second it does, a pain far worse than any wound he's ever had sweeps through his entire body. It feels like something is being ripped out of him, slowly and agonizingly. His vision blurs and his stomach lurches as a scream forces its way out of his throat. That scream comes to a quick end when the demon clasps a spare tentacle over his mouth, forcing him to suffer in silence as it continues whispering its treacherous taunts.

"Your soul is the most powerful source of Life Force than any I have ever consumed before,"the demon practically purrs in satisfaction over its latest 'meal'. Not that its victim is even listening amidst the unending pain splitting through every last fiber of his being. "You truly are a marvel, child… to be so young of body and mind… and yet… to have spirit far more ancient than even I… Would you like to see them?"

The demon finally pulls back, putting its soul-stealing power on pause as it releases its hold over Link's mouth. He dangles from the rest of his bonds, exhausted and achy as he tries to focus on what the demon is saying. "S-see what?" he manages to weakly ask.

"...The faces your soul has worn before,"is the only reply the demon gives as it appears to vanish. Its tentacles remain though, still keeping Link tightly trapped as they force him to look the boy who's appeared just a few feet in front of him in the eye. A boy that, he quickly realizes, looks a lot like him.

"W-what-" he tries to ask, only for his chest to seize up in lingering pain. When he looks back up, the boy has suddenly changed, going from a child to an adult in the blink of an eye. Despite his age, he's still clad in the heroic green garb Link grew up hearing about and he still has an all-too-familiar sword strapped to his back. It takes Link almost no time and all and far too long to realize exactly who this young man really is. Or rather, who he'd been in an age long gone by. "You're… you're the-"

"The Hero of Time," he finishes, his icy blue eyes fixed on the young hero before him. "I was younger than you are now when I was forced to become a hero. The trials I went through were much worse than any you might have faced. But history remembers me for being courageous enough to overcome them all. The question is, will anyone remember a hero like you?"

Link doesn't have an answer for that. Nor does he have an answer for the second boy who comes to stand alongside the Hero of Time. He's much younger, perhaps even younger than Link himself, with a strange hat that seems to curve upward and end in a beaked face. "Will they remember you for who you saved, no matter how big or small they might be?" he asks just as coldly as the older hero.

"Will they remember you for how many monsters you took down to save your people?" another teenage hero appears, staring Link down with sharp, wolf-like eyes.

"Will they remember you for bringing back their lost light?" yet another hero asks, followed up by a fourth almost identical to him.

"Will they remember how you built bridges between worlds?"

"Or how you worked together to restore peace and harmony?" not one, but four heroes, each clad in a different color, ask in unison.

"Or how you became a legend without even trying?" one of them asks as even more keep appearing.

"Will they remember you even if you don't remember yourself?" a hero clad in blue rather than green questions calmly.

One final hero shows up, standing alongside the Hero of Time as he joins the others in their judgemental interrogation. "Will they remember you for doing whatever it takes to save the people you love?" he fixes the younger hero in a sky-blue glare.

"Or," the Hero of Time finally speaks up once more. "Will they remember the 'Hero of Winds' for being the weakest link in the chain. Will they remember you for being nothing more than the failure you really are?"

Link can feel tears budding on the corners of his eyes again, but this time, he refuses to let them fall. Not now, not when faced with all of the legendary heroes who have come before him. "I…" he takes in a deep breath to quell his fear, along with the dull ache still burrowed deep in his chest. "Am not a failure."

"Are you sure about that?" An entirely new voice questions, a voice Link would know anywhere. Time seems to stand still as the heroes of the past disappear, leaving only one person to step forward in their place. And even after everything he's seen and heard thus far, her hateful scowl and vicious words cut him the deepest of them all.

"If you really were a hero worth his salt," Tetra steps closer to him, her tone haughty and condescending. "Then you wouldn't have fallen into such an obvious trap like the ghost ship. And even if you had, you would have been able to escape by now. But instead, here you are, on the verge of death, sniveling like the scared little boy you really are." She perches a hand under his chin, smirking deviously when his cheeks flush red against his will. Even if she isn't the real Tetra, the effect she has on him is still the same. "Who's going to save you now, Link?"

She doesn't give him a chance to answer. Instead, her grip on his face tightens as she presses her other hand against his chest. Whatever the demon had done to him earlier starts up again, stealing something straight out of the depths of his very soul, something he's not so sure he'll be able to get back. He cries out, but she quiets him by pressing a finger against his lips. "Shh…" she puts on a sickly sweet facade of a smile. "It's ok… It'll all be over soon."

As she thumbs some of his tears away, he finds himself hating the demon even more for its despicable tricks. For using the faces of his foe, his family, his friends, her face to taunt and trick and tear him to pieces. And even more than that, he hates himself for falling for being stupid enough to fall for it all so easily. "Don't cry, Link…" she whispers as her eyes take on the exact same shade as the demon's. "Just relax… and let go…"

As much as he doesn't want to, he finds he doesn't have much of a choice anymore. His body grows weaker by the second, his limbs limp and lacking any sense of feeling. His head lolls to the side, his eyes growing heavy as even breathing begins to become more and more of a challenge. Whatever the demon is taking from him is draining him from the inside out. And by now, it's taken enough of it that he can't even hope to salvage what might be left of it.

"Let go…" Tetra tells him again, and he knows he's on the verge of doing exactly that. His faint and fading thoughts beg him to resist, to fight back, to simply just stay alive. But as darkness continues creeping on the corners of his vision, he knows he isn't capable of any of that. He's far too weak to even try.

Just like the demon said.

"Let go…"that same demon echoes as its latest disguise falls away. Link hardly even notices when it resumes its true, terrible form; by now, he's on the brink of falling into exactly what the demon wants of him. Into oblivion, and whatever might lie beyond it.

"Let go…"

"...Link…"

Another voice, a different voice, calls his name just as he closes his eyes one final time. The last thing he sees isn't the demon's wicked eye plunging him into eternal darkness. Instead, the last thing he sees is a faint, yet beautiful burst of green light.

"Let go….

"Wake up…"

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