Chapter Text
In a memory covered, coated and full to the brim with fear, Link heard a voice whisper to him. Cold arms wrapped around him, hands slick coated in something warm.
He couldn’t break free, no matter how hard he tried. Even as he felt his real self hit the ground, both mind and body fighting with every fiber of his being.
He wanted to tell himself none of it was real. Around him, the world pulsed with an energy he couldn’t place.
I told you so. The Dreamer told him. The Hero left with an imaginary task. The one tasked with waking the Wind Fish… the Dreamer.
The Dreamer knew the truth.
Lips were on his ear, he felt them in many overlapped memories, in the foreign landscape of his mind and on his body, as he lay somewhere in the darkness.
I love you.
The voice he’d known so well from his memories rang clear in the room. Dark.
He supposed he should feel safe, but when he felt hands caress his face in the darkness, the blanket of fear wrapped around his body in place of the safety he so longed for.
~X~
Link wasn’t home. There was blood on the bathroom sink and in the grooves between the tile on the floor.
The world throbbed around them.
Sheik’s fear shattered that glasses that sat silently in the cabinet.
~X~
Dark’s feet wouldn’t carry him. He found himself behind the school, curled in the grass there. Something was pulling him into the ground, and when Ghirahim and Byrne found him, he was sure he was no longer in his own body.
The world was moving.
He didn’t hear the sirens in the distance, and the only thing that brought him to the surface was the sudden jolt of his head as it flopped limply to his back.
He sat up, looking around, suddenly aware…
“Glad you decided to join us. We’ll need you to walk yourself, now,” Ghirahim growled. When he looked up at the teacher, he could see the twin lines of blood that dripped from his nose. Byrne’s eyes were bloodshot and he offered no response to Dark’s questioning glare.
“There’s not much time, Dark.” Byrne whispered, his voice sounding hoarse. Ghirahim wiped more blood onto his white suit and led Dark into the gymnasium where more students waited. They were mainly athletes and musicians, Dark noticed. Students who’d been staying late after school. When the world shook, so did they. “Someone started-“
The room pulsed again, and this time the wave took students down with it. Ghirahim let out a sound of pain and hunched, coughing himself to his knees. Dark’s mind jumped to Link, when he realized that he, Zelda, and Sheik were not in the room. He looked around again, ignoring the splitting headache he could feel forming.
“Get the Hyrulians out of here. Leave the rest.” He whispered when the coughing subsided. Dark looked at the crowd of students.
“What?”
“You heard me! The people of Hyrule, the people of Lorule, the people of Twilight. No enemies, you can’t-“ The teacher was cut off by another round of coughing. His nose began to gush blood on the pants of his white suit.
Dark didn’t need to be told twice. He ran into the crowd and reached to pull Midna away from Vaati, Groose from the fallen history teacher, Cole. He supposed if someone was awakening Demise or Ganondorf or whoever, the enemies of the past would be the most immediately threatening. Even though it seemed like whoever was working the magic was trying to kill them.
Or, possibly, steal their magic.
Dark grabbed a girl who was once Link’s sister, and he remembered her as a small, friendly girl. One look in her eyes, and he realized she had no idea who he was. And while Groose seemed unaffected, the pulsing energy in the air moving right through him, Midna realized instantly. Groose led the rest of the unaffected students back into the school
“We’ve got to get out of here,” She said to Dark, when he’d locked the gym with Ghirahim and the rest of the fallen “enemies”. “Something’s not right.”
“What do you remember?”
“Enough. It’s nice to see you again, Hero.”
Dark let a sad smile settle on his face, staring at the tall princess. “It’s nice to see you as well, Your Highness.” He turned away from the door and tried his best to pinpoint the source of the energy. “But that’s Link’s title.”
~X~
Zelda was afraid. She finally felt what she assumed Sheik had been feeling this whole time. There was a familiar energy in the air, but it wasn’t something she distinctly knew. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it was Ganondorf’s magic working…
But it wasn’t. It was just that little bit of difference that scared her.
She felt so helpless. She couldn’t move from her spot. She’d been grounded here, ever since they’d entered the kitchen. She could think, and plead.
Sheik was leaned over Link’s kitchen table, his pale hands gripping the linoleum as he heaved over the sink. There were small pulses of magic energy coming from him, and when she focused enough Zelda supposed she could prevent them from disturbing her own energy…
“Sheik, please, talk to me,” She tried again for the umpteenth time. “You need to control yourself.”
“I’m trying.” He hissed at her, another pulse interfering with the periodic one that came from some unknown source. Zelda focused harder on the energy surrounding him, bending it just enough… just… enough…
Sheik collapsed to the ground and Zelda leaned forward to take a breath. Her hands were shaking when she reached for her brother, who was trying to pull himself from his crumpled spot on the ground. He shook his head, and Zelda flinched when she sensed the magic energy in him.
“I’m sorry, I just-“
“You remembered your magic. It’s fine.” It was definitely not fine, Zelda decided, but she wasn’t going to tell Sheik that. “We need to focus on finding Link. He could be anywhere around here, and we don’t know what’s going on.” She ignored the fact that Sheik seemed to have no control over his ability to paralyze people, and the fact that they had no time to figure out how his newfound magic ability even worked.
“I don’t know, I just… there’s too much…” Sheik, despite his confusion, felt… normal. He’d say it was the most normal he’d felt since the entire ordeal. His mind was quiet—in panic mode, yes, but quiet—and he felt like he owned his own body. Whatever he’d just gone through…
“Sheik, I know, but we need to go find him.” Zelda started walking towards the exit before Sheik could take the time to think about his new situation, and her phone buzzed in her pocket.
“It’s Dark?” She looked at the screen for a half of second before reaching to answer, but Sheik held up his phone as well. Dark’s name was showing. Was he calling both of them… at the same time?
“Hello?” Zelda answered, and Sheik canceled the call incoming into his phone. She was met with silence, and then a breathless voice answered. It was higher pitched than Dark’s, and it sounded desperate… but-
“Princess.”
It was Dark.
“Dark-“
“Princess, listen to me,” the voice was urgent, but it was wrong. In the static-filled background, there was another voice, yelling something unintelligible. “He’s mine now, do you understand?”
“Dark, what the hell are you-“
“He’s mine now. He-“
The call disconnected, and Sheik showed Zelda the phone that had been ringing the entire time. “Answer it,” she whispered, and when Sheik complied they were met with silence.
“Hello?”
“Sheik, um, hey, where are you?” This voice was, too, unmistakably Dark. Sheik opened his mouth to respond, but Zelda snatched the phone from his hand and growled into the mic, “you need to explain who you are right. Now.”
“What the-“
“Now!”
“Zelda I do not have time for this shit,” Dark’s clearer voice answered through the speaker. “I’m at the school, and I’ve got students and teachers passed out in the gym. Ghirahim told me to lock it up, ‘cause of the energy around here, but I’m not too sure how long that will last.”
“You said you were at the school?” Sheik asked, grabbing his phone back from Zelda.
“Yeah. Shiek? You sound different.” The teen mused, and Sheik hummed in response.
“Things’ve been quiet. Do you know what’s…”
“What the energy is? No. Midna’s got an idea, but we-“
“Link is missing,” Zelda interjected. She was frustrated at Sheik’s sudden change yet again. He was back to his old self it seemed, but now was not the time. “What do you mean people are passing out?”
“The- Link, he’s…“ the phone was quiet for a second, before Dark continued. “The… people who were enemies in the past, I suppose, they all passed out. Ghirahim had a nose-bleed, Vaati was unconscious, so was Cole. Zant was seizing, and not in his usual manner.”
Zelda made a motion for Sheik to follow her, and the pair ran down to their car, noting the empty streets that lay in front of them.
“And you said you had Midna with you?”
“Yeah. I think she’s got enough memories to figure out some magic working. What happened to Link?”
Zelda started the car and Sheik took the phone back once again. “I’ve got some magic back,” Sheik answered, dodging the question, and Zelda glared at him as she backed out onto the road. They both anticipated Dark’s foul reaction to any details about Link. “Zelda’s got some sense back. Listen, Dark-“
“Hold on,” the teen cut in, and the line went dead. Before the two could respond, Dark was calling back. “I’m behind the gym,” he said curtly before hanging up again.
They were already on the road, and as they got closer to the school, the atmosphere was increasingly worsening. There were cars on the side of the road, abandoned, and there were no people around to accompany them. The energy in the air grew thicker and more concentrated, and when they finally approached the school’s largest gym, they could see Dark and Midna hunched over something that looked like a mirror.
When they got out of the car, Dark looked up and waved them over. “The energy feels like it’s coming from under the school. Midna’s trying to…?”
“I’m trying to feel what the magic’s purpose is.” She looked up and smiled at Zelda, who smiled genuinely back. “It’s nice to see you again, Princess Zelda.”
“Same to you,” Zelda replied, and Sheik looked between them before placing his hand on the ground beside Midna’s.
“You said Link was missing?” Dark asked, but Zelda didn’t seem to hear him as the three of them analyzed the magic. Dark tried to ask again, but he felt like he was moving through fog. His arms felt heavy and the nausea washing over his body came and went with the magic in the air.
“It doesn’t feel like there’s a way to get to the source,” Sheik said after a moment, and Midna nodded in agreement. He glanced up at Dark, who was trying to keep from vomiting. Zelda seemed to notice at the same time her brother did, and went to stand with him.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I don’t have a magic bone in my body, but at least whatever this is isn’t affecting me like the ones inside of the gym.” That was a lie. The magic was affecting him strongly, and it was nothing but sheer will power that kept him on his feet.
Zelda nodded in response, looking back at Sheik and Midna. “I got a call from your phone earlier.”
Dark’s mouth was sealed shut, as if opening it again would cause him to vomit, but his expression was one of confusion. He ran his hand through his hair, pulling his fingers roughly through the sweat-slicked strands.
“It was at the same time you called Sheik. Whoever called, they were upset. Said ‘He’s mine now’ and hung up.” She crossed her arms and looked at Dark. “It doesn’t help that we can’t find Link.”
Midna stood up from her place on the ground beside Sheik. “We can’t find a source, and I’m not sure I could find Link, either. I can’t feel where he could be.”
The three looked towards Sheik, who was still hunched on the ground, carefully. “I think… I think I’ve found something.” As he spoke, a blue light rose from the ground he was kneeling on. “The source is from underground. I’m going to try to get us down there. Dark, are you in any condition to fight?”
“Yes.” Dark coughed out, still bracing himself against the wall. Midna and Zelda gave him a skeptical look. “Is Link down there too?”
“I’m not sure,” Sheik responded honestly. “But I don’t know where else he could be.”
“If we can find a sword for me, I can fight,” Zelda chimed, removing her jacket and using the hair tie on her wrist to pull her blonde hair back. She tossed one to Midna, who did the same with her orange-red hair.
“I should be fine without a weapon,” Midna added once she got herself in order. “I doubt there’ll be that much sunlight if we’re going underground.”
The gym door rattled and Dark ran to it, pressing his ear against it. There was a muffled voice from the other side, and Dark moved to open it, revealing Ghirahim leaned up against a short Zora boy.
“If you need weapons,” Ghirahim coughed, “I should be able to use the last of my magic to supply you.” He snapped his pale fingers and his sword materialized, and he nodded his head for Zelda to retrieve it. Another snap and a heavy looking broadsword was given to Dark, who stabbed it through the side of his jacket for a makeshift sheath. Sheik received smaller, thinner knives, which he stuck in the sides of his belt and continued to work his magic into the earth.
“There’s magic that feels too familiar for my liking,” Ghirahim mumbled, as he turned to go back towards the gym. “I wish you all the best of luck.”
And as soon as the doors to the gym were closed and resealed, Sheik’s magic revealed a tunnel that lead into a never-ending darkness.
~X~
He was outside when he awoke.
In all technicalities, he was indoors. There was a stone ceiling, many, many, many, feet above, which dripped water down on and beside him with a quiet, steady tempo. The air was fresh, clean like a forest, and there was a breeze that lifted his hair from his forehead and set it back down, gently.
But his mind told him that he was outside, in a grove. And when he stared at the ceiling hard enough, he could see the sky in its place.
He was lying on soft grass, grass that brought back memories that comforted him, even in his confused state.
His head ached.
When he sat up, he could see the light shining down in the grove from seemingly nowhere. The sky and the sun were perhaps the source… but he knew that despite what he saw, they didn’t exist.
He felt like he was underground, underneath the earth.
His head ached.
For some reason, he felt like he wasn’t alone in this grove, but he had no memory of how he’d come to arrive here in the first place. He felt solidly grounded in his body, and his vision didn’t have the surreal tint to it… his feelings now didn’t seem like they were clouded by someone else’s thoughts.
He was here… but he didn’t understand how he’d gotten here.
His head ached.
When he stood, the world tilted and he fell back into the soft grass. He took a moment to gather himself, digging his hands in the damp ground, before standing up and taking in more of his surroundings. There was some kind of pedestal in the center, and his muddy mind pulsed with every bone in his body screaming different messages.
The Links of his memories seemed to reach a general consensus: they remembered this place. The fact that he was here was Bad.
His head ached.
When Link reached up to feel it, he saw through the haze that he was covered in blood.
It seemed to source from different places on his head, one of the sources was a gash on his chin. He felt the source of pain on his head, and felt not only a raised lump but blood clotted around the area.
The realization jolted him from his foggy haze, but his aching head protested. When he approached a puddle on the ground of the meadow, he saw that there were blotchy bruises forming on his face… how long had he been lying on the ground in the middle of nowhere?
There was a bang, followed by a pang of fear that sprinted through his gut, forcing him nearly to his knees again.
“Princess,” a voice was whispering, desperate. Link tried, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source of the voice. “He’s mine, now.”
A bird took off from the trees to his right. The voice was quiet again, and he didn’t want that to change. Link figured he could make his way silently across the grass and stone, given his bare feet. The grassy patches seemed to be free of anything that could injure him, but he remained careful until he was at the pedestal, looking at the engravings surrounding it.
It was the same as the one he’d seen in the museum. The pedestal for the Master Sword stood in front of him, and when he blinked, he could see the sword itself in its natural place.
When he looked up, he could see Dark standing on the other side of the pedestal.
When he blinked, Dark was gone.
“Link,” he heard from behind, but before he could respond Dark was already holding him, his grip deceptively tight. “Shh, shh, shh. You’re here,” he whispered, his hand plastered on Link’s mouth. Link felt his body begin to struggle, but he dug deeper in his mind…
Shadow Link, the Dreamer supplied. He’s not who you think he is. You need to escape.
“Link, I need you to do something for me,” Shadow Link whispered in Link’s ear, and Link could feel how this man was shorter than Dark, thinner. His voice was higher, and raspy. “But first…” Shadow Link released Link and walked in front of him, hands in the air. “I’m not your enemy.”
He’s lying.
Link couldn’t move. There was something heavy holding him into place, and a memory of the feeling let him know that it was magic that kept him trapped in place. When he looked into Shadow Link’s red and black eyes, all of the Links of past in his mind cried out at once.
It was excruciating, feeling each memory cry out in protest. The different voices provided different memories, each with its own wave of fear and brutality; they were all warnings that his body would not allow him to heed.
“I’m not your enemy,” Shadow repeated, reaching a hand to caress Link’s bruised face. “You just…” he ran his thumb over the scratches that adorned the hero’s face, “you wouldn’t stop trying to fight me! And I didn’t have enough magic to keep you from doing something you’d regret. But now, I don’t have to hurt you anymore.”
Shadow Link extended a pale hand towards the altar, where dark red light flowed from the altar to his hand. He took a step back from Link and Link felt his body relax. But he still couldn’t move. The Master Sword floated between them, and Shadow Link’s pale face twisted into something like a mockery of sadness.
“Link, I need you to do something for me,” he repeated, walking with the floating sword towards the altar. The shadow’s neck jerked to one side, and he paused before turning back to Link. “I’m not your enemy.”
The grove was silent for a second, while the shadow seemed to compose himself, muttering more repetitions of phrases he’d already spoken.
While he did this, Link analyzed him. The man was somehow very pale and very dark at the same time, his skin possessing a grayish color that changed with each fluctuation of the light. His hair was black and unkempt, falling over his strangely colored forehead… the “whites” of his eyes were black, with two red irises peering back at him.
How had he mistaken him for Dark? He felt almost ashamed… until Shadow Link gathered himself and turned around, with neat black hair and pale skin… red eyes so soft they were almost pink.
Sure, he was still smaller than Dark, but…
When he spoke, it was in Dark’s smooth, sure voice. “I’m sorry, Link. I lost myself for a second.” Link’s eyes could only follow Shadow Link so far, and he strained himself to keep an eye on the strange man. Another wave of pain and nausea fell over him when he lost track of Shadow Link, and he forced his mouth open just to heave.
“Are you feeling sick?” Shadow Link asked, appearing in front of him once again. “That was definitely not my intention. Please, let me help,” he said quietly, placing one of his pale hands on Link’s forehead…
And the pain vanished. As did six of the Links that were active in his mind. The others seemed to vanish as well, though they were still there. But… Link still had the memories, without the emotional input.
“I know, those memories can be pesky. I’m surprised no one did this for you… or that none of the memories provided you with the ability to do this.” Link felt the magic on him loosen up, and he sunk to the ground on shaky legs.
“Who are you?” He growled as soon as he could breathe.
“Link… I’m Dark.” The Shadow replied. “I… you’ve forgotten me?”
“You’re not Dark you-“
The magic seized him again and the Shadow kneeled in front of him. “Liar? I’m no liar, love. I am Dark. I am the original Dark Link, your original shadow. Unlike the imposter, I knew how to follow my master and my emotions.”
Shadow Link’s hand was on Link’s forehead once again, and an onslaught of memories ran across his mind. He watched as Dark—no, Shadow—sat with him beside Hylia Lake, in a world slightly dimmed and muted compared to the Hyrule of his memories.
“We shared so much time together, Link,” the man spoke from in front of him. “Sure, Hyule was a darker place… but we were happy.”
The wrong feeling that came over Link was his own, the second-hand memories were silent.
“I followed my orders… Link, you have to believe me…” the desperation in the Shadow’s voice gave Link pause, and he felt the magic energy lift from his body once again.
“Who are you?” Link asked again, and Shadow sighed sadly, leveling Link with a pink-red gaze.
“I was the original. Master created me to dispatch you… but I couldn’t. He created another, more promising. A better fighter, a better… a better everything. He was bigger, faster, stronger… but he was unfit, too. He couldn’t follow orders. The Hero and his Shadow, saving Hyrule.
“But I was better. Master didn’t know, until later, when he used me, but he didn’t know. I am n—I’m not your enemy.” Shadow’s appearance shifted back to the strange one he’d had earlier, before slipping back into Dark’s image.
“I loved—I love you, Link. I never wanted… I never wanted to hurt you, Link please believe me.”
Link couldn’t find his voice. When he searched his mind for input, he received none. He… he had to make the decision on his own.
He’d remembered the hatred held in his memories for Dark… or, who he believed was Dark. The heroes of the past hated Shadow Link. They hated him for what he did numerous times, for posing as the man they all loved and…
The one before him looked so much like Dark, sounded so much like Dark… and now that he knew the truth, the floodgates of trust for Dark opened and his instincts cried at him to flee from this imposter.
But… if Shadow Link was telling the truth, and he was the original “Dark Link”….
“You were there when…” Link thought to the times he’d seen the strange image, in visions and fights. He’d blown off whatever images he’d seen that resembled Dark, because they’d had black and red eyes, gray skin instead of porcelain.
“Yes. I was a Twilight Interloper. I stood behind the tree in the Water Temple, when your precious shadow entered the room and emerged victorious, but changed. What did he tell you?”
“He told me he had to conquer himself.”
“He had to conquer you. Or, rather… I guess himself. Another version of himself.”
“But if Dark was with you in the Temple, Link, when did you meet?” Link blinked at Shadow Link, his head beginning to hurt again. “
At the beginning of the Temple.”
“In a room, filled with water? And a tree?”
Link… supposed that was where they met? It felt wrong, but Link had no other flow of memories in his mind to prove Shadow Link wrong. Perhaps that’s why he’d resealed his memories.
“Link, I’m the Dark you met. He’s the one who emerged. He’s the one who accompanied you, helped you, and killed you in the end. He’s the one who let my Master succeed.”
To Link, nothing about this sounded right. He was full of questions for Shadow Link. He’d not finished sorting his memories when he was brought here, and now here he was in the hands of an enemy. No knowledge, no weapon, no magic.
He knew he was being lied to. Dark was the one who he’d spent his time with, not this imposter… save for in the third memory… the third memory… the—
Shadow Link’s lips were on his, and when he tried to flee, the magic energy was weighing down on him once again. The Shadow’s eyes were open, watching him with their flickering gaze. Shadow’s hands were back on Link’s face and when the Shadow finally sighed and pulled away, allowing Link to breathe and speak, Link scrambled away from him.
“Link, don’t be-“
“Stay away from me!” Link crawled towards the Master Sword that Shadow’d abandoned earlier, and Shadow Link watched him carefully as he picked it up from the ground and brandished it. His form was shaky, with his legs too close together and his knees not bent enough. His wrists looked weak and his whole body was tense.
He had no idea what he was doing.
Shadow Link smiled, holding up both of his hands. “Link, love, you’re on the right track! I needed you to pick up the sword, you know. It burned me whenever I tried to touch it. I’m made of different stuff than you and your dear ‘Dark Link’.”
Link growled at him and fixed his stance, thinking back to the brief sword-fighting lessons he’d taken with Ghirahim. He thought about Dark’s stance, and way of handling a sword, and he loosened his body and held the sword in his left hand, lowering it to his side. His right arm ached distantly for a shield.
He watched as Shadow Link walked absently around the meadow, seemingly unaffected by Link’s weapon. Link took this moment to strike, swinging his sword in a downward arc like he’d seen Dark do—
Shadow Link had him disarmed in a second, the Master Sword landing in the soft grass at Link’s bare feet.
“You thought you could fight me, Hero?” Shadow Link growled in his ear as he forced Link to kneel in the grass. “You thought you were a match for me? I’ve taken your memories, I’ve taken everything from you! You’re mine!” Link fought back, but his body felt so weak and tired.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this? How long I sat back and watched you and your precious sidekick prance around in Hyrule Field, like you deserved to be happy? While I was locked away as a failure!” Shadow Link threw Link to the ground and stood up, the Master Sword hovering beside him as he stalked towards the altar. He grabbed the back of Link’s shirt, dragging him towards the pedestal as well.
“I watched you two fuck in the moonlight while I sat rotting away in the bottom of that forsaken castle with the rest of Gandondorf’s failed experiments. I will never forget the stench of that foul place, while he got to smell the air of Hyrule in my place. I was not the FAILURE!” Shadow screeched, throwing Link down at the pedestal. “I was not the one who let you LIVE!”
Link propped himself up on the pedestal and froze when he saw Shadow Link standing over him, Master Sword hovering above him. He fully expected it to land in his chest, inside of the many stab wound scars that he knew were now showing on his chest.
But it didn’t, and Shadow Link stood over him, chest heaving. “Put the sword in its place.” He growled at Link, dropping the heavy sword beside his head. “You have to be the one to do it. Put the sword. In. The. Ground.”
Link reached with a trembling hand towards the sword, but felt his body begin to fail on him. His head was throbbing once again, and he could hear distant voices of the memories Shadow had sealed screaming at him. Distantly, he heard Shadow scream and before he could feel the boot that was descending on him, his body had already gone limp.