Clearer in Time

V. Reflections
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Zora’s Domain was no longer a beautiful, aquatic paradise, as it had been in the hero‘s childhood. It was covered in a thick layer of ice. Link’s footsteps echoed throughout the frigid wasteland. Under the ice, the Zoras could be seen, frozen solid in there final moments of terror and confusion. Once again, Ganondorf had shown no mercy.

“They’re still alive, under there,” a voice said from behind the hero. Link turned to face Sheik, becoming accustomed to her silent approaches. She had returned to her usual bodysuit and cowl of gauze. In her hand were what looked to be another tunic and hat, blue this time. Link could guess what that meant.

“Once you cleanse the Water Temple, the ice should begin to thaw,” Sheik continued. “The temple lies at the bottom of Lake Hylia. These will aid you under the water.” She tossed the hero the bundle of clothing. “A special tunic made by the Zoras.”

Link said nothing, just stared blankly at Sheik, making her feel uneasy. She didn’t like the look of him. The hero was weakening. His face looked tired with lack of sleep, dark circles under his eyes. His once determined look was replaced by something much more diminished, perhaps even hopelessness.

“The trials of the Water Temple hold much more than swimming, Hero of Time,” Sheik ventured. “ It will be difficult. There’s more time to recover your strength, if you need it.”

The hero surprised her by speaking, something he seemed not to do often.

“Where’s Zelda?” Sheik gasped, taken aback. Link did not drop his gaze, his eyes sad yet stern. She didn’t know what to say. She finally found her voice.

“I know you feel that the princess has abandoned her people…” She tried hopelessly. “But I can assure you she has her reasons…”

Link shook his head at her, a look of anger and disappointment on his face. It hurt Sheik to see him look at her that way. Link walked past her and headed towards the exit. Not so much as a wave. Suddenly Sheik trembled with a mixture of guilt and rage. That the savior of Hyrule would act like such a child? She thought.

“Don’t blame me for this!” She angrily shouted at Link’s back. “What do you care where the princess is, anyway? It didn’t seem nearly as important when you were with the farm girl!”

The last part slipped out before she could stop herself. Link spun back around in her direction, his eyes wide and fierce. Sheik took a step back, exposed of her spying.

“Link…” she started, but the hero ignored her, already stepping out of the exit, leaving her alone in the icy tomb.

…

The sun set over Lake Hylia as the sound of hoof beats approached. It had been a day’s ride from Zora’s Domain, and the Hylian stumbled off of Epona’s back, rather than a graceful dismount. Link doubled over, clutching his middle. He was very near complete exhaustion. He had hardly slept when he had stayed at the ranch almost two days ago, and hadn’t slept at all since then. He also had not taken the time to eat anything, despite Malon’s generously donated supply of rations. His wounds were not fully healed, and every move he made caused his body to shriek in protest. Link could deny himself no longer. He needed to sleep, no matter how stubborn he felt.

Slowly and deliberately he collected any wood he could find along the shore. He needed a fire, not just to cook, but to keep any hungry creatures away.

An hour later a small campfire blazed in the cloudy darkness of the night, the young Hylian sound asleep a safe distance away. He dreamed fervently, shifting and crying out in his slumber.

…

The water in the temple didn’t seem natural, somehow. Link had never been much of a swimmer, even in his earlier years. But something about the liquid that flooded the majority of the place, something about it was abnormal, making the hero twice as reluctant to dive in. Already he was shivering, wrapping his arms around himself whenever he surfaced. It was more than the icy temperature. The water seemed just a bit too viscous somehow, thicker than normal water, and when he dived deep, he found it hard to make his way back to the surface, as if the water itself was trying to drown him.

Not that he could drown, he thought as he dove into the next pool, propelling himself further down with strong yet clumsy breast strokes. The blue tunic he had received from Sheik allowed him to breathe while submerged.

Sheik…

Link’s thoughts and feelings seemed to be running in a dozen directions at once. She had been spying on him. For how long? For what purpose? Just when he thought he could trust her. Once again, it looked as if the hero was on his own.

Of course, she obviously felt betrayed, as well. Regardless of her motives, she had been watching him, and had seen him with Malon. She seemed extremely upset, enough so to lose her composure. Was she perhaps… jealous? What would that mean? That she had feelings for him? Link almost hoped that it wasn’t true. Yet another romantic bond would only lead to more trouble. Everyone who had ever cared for him was only let down in the end.

Sheik had already been hurt. Then there was Malon, and even Saria.

And of course, there was Zelda, who was nowhere to be found, not hurting but leaving her land to hurt.

Link surfaced into a large, barren chamber. The place echoed wetly as he stepped out of the water. He trembled, no longer in cold, but in fury. This quest was tearing away at him, not just physically, but emotionally, as well. His friends were being pained, some by his own hand. And there was no one to blame but himself. It wasn’t fair. After everything he was doing to bring light back to the world, those closest to him just wanted more of him. Perhaps what Ingo had said while possessed by Ganondorf was not completely untrue…

Link heard a small splash from behind him as something rose from the water. He drew his blade, smiling for the first time in a while. This would be the first monster he had seen in this eerily silent labyrinth, and in his present mood, something to kill was welcomed.

He turned to face the creature and gasped. A figure stood before him, not a monster, but a beautiful creature. A Zora woman, azure and elegant. Something about her was oddly familiar. As Link watched, the gorgeous cerulean woman approached him, a smile played on her sensual cobalt lips. Link watched confusedly, unsure of the Zora’s intentions.

The Zora halted mere inches from him, looking up into his blue eyes with her appealing violet ones. She spoke in seductive tones.

“It’s been too long, my love,” Princess Ruto said. Without warning, she pressed into Link, kissing him fiercely. The second time a woman had advanced upon him in less then a week. Just when it seemed as though things could get no more complicated.

The Zora pulled away from him, looking rather irritated. “Aren’t you going to kiss me back? What sort of way is this to greet your fiancée? Don’t tell me you don’t remember me?” She eyed Link with a look of infinite impatience and annoyance, and suddenly he did remember her.

It was Ruto, the Zora Princess. The exasperated look on her face was unmistakable. Link hadn’t seen her since he had rescued her from the belly of a whale, all those years ago. When she had declared him her fiancé. As he recalled all of this, the Zora princess lost her patience.

“Ugh! How typical of a man!” She cried. “Out of sight, out of mind! It’s the same with all of you! Are you even paying attention!?!” She slapped Link upside the head, bringing him back to the moment. He looked at her, surprised. The Zora merely rolled her eyes.

“Ugh. Men. Anyway, I suppose you’re here to help, correct?” Link nodded, at her full attention. She smiled at his promptness. “Good,” she said. “This will go much quicker with two of us. I’ve already found the center chamber, where the source of the evil power is coming from. If we split up from here, then we’ll find the key in no time. Then my people will be saved. Goddesses forbid that we marry without family and friends in attendance.” She looked at Link expectantly. He nodded, agreeing with whatever she said.

“Good,” she said. “Together we can save my people, I know it. With your help, we’ll dispel the evil from this place. I would expect nothing less from my husband to be.” She leaned into the hero and put her lips to his once more, her tongue gently massaging his. Link kissed her back this time, wrapping his arms about her waist for good measure. That slap to the head had hurt. Even though it wasn’t initially romantic, Link couldn’t help but notice the way her body was pressed against his. Being a Zora, she was absolutely naked. Her body was elegantly curved and gracefully accented, her bare, shapely breasts flattened against his chest. As she kissed him, they both felt Link rapidly growing between the two of them, prompting Ruto to kiss him harder and deeper, grinding her hips agonizingly against his. She traced her fingertips up and down the back of his neck, sending shivers down his spine.

Just as Link felt as though he was melting into Ruto’s touch, she pulled away from him, a seductive smile on her face. She ran a finger across his sensitive lips.

“Not until we are wed, my darling,” she said, turning to leave, swinging her hips attractively as she walked to the pool. She looked over her shoulder at him, smiling prettily. “Good luck, my love. I’ll see you again, soon.” With that, she stepped into the water with a splash, and disappeared.

…

Link continued to wander the temple, looking unsuccessfully for the key to the master’s chambers. As soon as his strange reunion with his “fiancée” had ended, his foul mood and dark feelings had returned, extreme sexual frustration now piled upon them. He still had not seen a single monster, much to his further dismay. Of all the times for a temple to seem unthreatening, he thought as he swam through yet another underwater passageway.

The hero surfaced and inspected his surroundings. He could see the door to the master’s chambers. The large golden padlock glinted mockingly. Link frowned. If only he had the key.

He surveyed the rest of the room. It was mostly empty, but directly across from the padlocked entryway was another door. It was small and infinitely plain, made of simple wood, unlike the opposite door’s elaborately carved stone. There was no lock to be seen on the wooden door. Link swam to it and climbed out of the water in front of it.

Something about the door seemed strange, he thought to himself as he gripped the door knob. Something’s not right.

Then the moment passed and Link shook the feeling from himself. He turned the knob and opened the door.

…

Link seemed to no longer be in the water temple, but rather in the strangest place he had ever been. It was a large expanse of nothingness that stretched on into infinite. The sky was a perpetual grayish void and stretched seemingly into forever. Link stood upon the surface of a body of water, which for some reason did not break, although it splashed lightly as he stepped upon it. The water’s surface acted as a pristine mirror, reflecting his image back at him, the limitless sky looming above him.

Link didn’t recognize himself. His once strong face was long and weary with stress and exhaustion, his clothes were tattered and dirty with blood and other things. His eyes held a look that seemed unfitting to him, a look he didn’t recognize of himself.

He walked on. He walked on forever, it seemed. The scenery was unchanging, unending. After a time he looked over his shoulder and found that the door he had come through was gone. Nowhere to go but ahead.

Eventually, there came a change on the horizon of gray. A black speck. As Link made his way closer, the spot began to take shape. It was a small island, a tiny mound of ground protruding from the sea of reflection. Growing from the tiny expanse of dirt was an old dead tree, it’s branches gnarled and bare. As Link drew closer still, he could see something else under the tree.

A person. Leaning against, the withered trunk. The figures head was down, their arms folded across their chest. Link finally stopped a short distance from the figure. Waiting for it to move. After a moment, it spoke. It’s voice was eerily recognizable.

“I’ve been waiting, hero,” the figure spoke in Link’s voice. “What took you?” The figure raised his head, causing Link to take a step back.

It was him. Link stared at the figure and felt as though he were staring into the water’s reflective surface. It was Link. Exactly the same, yet strikingly different. The strange copy had an entirely different coloration. His skin was pale and his eyes were red, as if he were some kind of vampire. His tunic and hat were jet black in favor of field green, and his hair was a light blonde, almost white, instead of Link’s sandy blonde locks. As the hero looked him over, the doppelganger grinned malevolently, revealing pointed canine teeth that added to his vampire like appearance. Besides his teeth and color scheme, however, his resemblance to Link was uncanny. Everything, from the calluses on his fingertips to the frays on his tunic, were identical.

“Confused?” The dark Link said, a hint of glee in his voice. He stretched lazily and moved from under the tree, approaching Link. “I thought you would be. But then again, is it so surprising to see a double of yourself? A dark one at that? This is the mirror room, after all, and you’ve been feeling more than a little dark and gloomy these days.”

Link’s eyes widened, and the shadow Link’s seemed to gleam with delight. “Don’t look so shocked, my friend. I know a lot more than that. I know everything about you. I am you. Get it?” Link said nothing, only watched the doppelganger intently, ready to draw his sword. He could see that the shadow Link had a blade resting at his back, as well, a Master Sword copy, with a black hit instead of blue. The dark Link stopped about two feet away from Link.

“I’m afraid this is as far as you go, my friend,” Dark Link said, smiling all the while. “Lord Ganondorf has grown bored of you.” With that he reached to his back and slowly began to draw his sword.

In the flash of a second, Link drew his sword and shield and charged the dark mimic. Shadow Link, his devilish grin seeming to grow even wider, expertly dodged Link’s attack. As he sidestepped, he pushed at the back of Link’s head, knocking him to the ground.

“To slow, I’m afraid,” Dark Link said mockingly. “You’ll have to do much better than that.” Link picked himself up and assumed his stance. Dark Link stood straight, holding his black-hilted Master Sword lazily. Link charged again, this time feinting and swinging all the way around in a spin. He looked around, left arm outstretched, looking for the shadow.

“Up here,” said Dark Link’s voice. Link looked up and gasped. Dark Link was balanced expertly upon the tip of the Master Sword. As Link watched, Dark Link somersaulted off of the blade, seemingly weightless. He stretched again, yawning. Taunting.

Link charged again, realizing it was useless but infuriated all the same. He was in no mood for this. Once again, Dark Link sidestepped the attack. This time, rather than pushing Link to the ground, he grabbed the back of Link’s tunic and pulled the hero to him. Dark Link held Link in submission, his counterfeit blade held at Link’s throat.

“I hope you’ve realized by now that your attacks are useless,” he said indolently. “I told you, I AM YOU. I know everything you know. That means I know your fighting style and…” at this he slid his blade across the side of Link’s neck, drawing a trickle of blood. “that means I know which attack you’re about to use.” Dark Link drew his face close to the crook of Link’s neck. The hero braced himself, unsure of what the shadow man would do. Then slowly, so as to make Link gasp, Dark Link used his tongue and licked at some of the blood. He slowly exhaled his breath onto Link’s neck, causing his body to shiver, not unlike it had when Ruto had kissed him.

“You’re so tense, since your encounter with the Zora,” Dark Link said in hushed tones, his sword still at Link‘s throat. “You just need to relax, hero.” He touched his lips to Link’s wound. Link gasped again. He felt strange and uncomfortable that there was a man at his neck, let alone his enemy, but could not deny an unorthodox sense of pleasure at the mimic’s touch. The feeling was pleasant, especially after the unresolved tension caused by Ruto’s advance.

Without warning, Dark Link bit down over Link’s wound, hard. His pointed canines pierced Link’s flesh, a bittersweet feeling of pleasure mingled with pain. Link cried out softly. Fresh blood flowed from the wound. Dark Link put his finger to the pool of crimson liquid and slid the finger into Link’s mouth. He pulled the finger out to find that the blood had been sucked clean. Dark Link then proceeded to slip his hand under Link’s tunic, calloused fingertips tickling and caressing his tight abdominals. Dark Link’s mouth stayed at Link’s neck, his breath sending chills down the hero’s body as the mimic’s hand slowly made it’s way lower…

Lower…

Then, as abruptly as it had started, it ended. Dark Link moved his sword away from Link’s neck and to his torso. With one fluid movement, he slashed the blade across the hero’s chest, tearing through the green tunic and into the tanned flesh. Link screamed out in pain as the blood began to spill from the gaping wound. Within seconds his green tunic was soaked a muddy brown.

A moment afterwards, Link was thrown to the ground. Dark Link chuckled to himself as his heroic counterpart struggled to his feet.

“You really are too much,” he said, wiping blood from his lips with his fingertips. He licked his fingers clean and continued. “The savior of Hyrule, so easily seduced by the enemy. A male enemy, no less.” Link had fully risen to his feet, sword and shield hanging loosely from his hands.

“This is the end, Hero of Time. It’s been fun.” Dark Link drew back to swing his sword. Just as he stepped in to swing, Link, quick as a flash, threw his shield at Dark Link’s feet. Dark Link tripped and fell with a grunt. In less than a second, Link was upon him, pinning Dark Link’s body to the ground with his own, sword at the throat, faces inches apart. Dark Link smiled.

“Clever, hero,” he said. “I was hoping this wouldn’t be too easy.” His voice sounded as nonchalant as ever, but Link could see anger in his eyes. Something the hero now recognized as having seen in himself lately. Is this what he was becoming? A shadow of himself?

No more, he said to himself. Just as Link made to press the blade down, Dark Link leaned upwards, pressing his lips to Link’s in a soft kiss. His tongue invaded Link’s mouth, once again an uncomfortable but not entirely unpleasant feeling.

With Link’s eyes still wide with surprise, Dark Link bucked the hero off of him and grabbed his sword off the floor. He turned to face Link, who was now in a stance with both hands at his sword, his shield on the floor. Dark Link did the same, a frown upon his face. The hero was cleverly innovating his moves, so that Dark Link could not predict them.

They charged at each other, and the endless grayness echoed fiercely as their blades clashed. Each pressed their sword against the other’s, their bodies trembling with effort. Slowly but surely, Link began to buckle and cave. The wound at his chest was dire, and might even prove fatal if not soon tended to.

Dark Link grinned maniacally, his canines protruding fiercely as his smile stretched with triumph. There was nothing the hero could do now. Link was on his knees, struggling just to hold against Dark Link’s blade.

Then, on the spur of the moment, Link did something that Dark Link could have never predicted. He released his grip on the Master Sword.

With nothing resisting him, Dark Link stumbled forward and tripped over Link’s crouching body. He jumped back to his feet and turned to defend himself, but it was too late. He turned to find Link standing before him, Master Sword once again in hand. Without a chance to defend, Link slashed Dark Link across the chest, giving the doppelganger a wound identical to his own.

Dark Link fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. Blood dripped at his knees. He looked back up at Link to see the hero holding the sacred blade to his mimic’s throat. Even through his pain, Dark Link smiled.

“Well done, hero,” he said. “You have bested me. Now finish the job.” Link nodded.

The strike was quick, precise.

And yet Dark Link felt no pain…

He opened his eyes to find himself still alive and to see Link walking away, his sword and shield at his back. He felt something on his neck and put his hand to it. Blood.

Dark Link’s eyes widened. The hero had matched him wound for wound. A cut on the neck, and a slice to the chest. He trembled with rage. How dare that fool mock him so? Dishonor him in such a way.

“NO!!!” He screamed at the departing hero. “COME BACK HERE AND FINISH ME!!! YOU COWARD!!! COME BACK!!!”

But the hero seemed not to hear, just kept walking. Dark Link kneeled there in a red cloud as his blood mixed with the water below him.

“NO!!! YOU COWARD!!! I HATE YOU!!! I’LL KILL YOU!!! I’LL KILL YOU!!! I SWEAR IT!!!”

The defeated shadow warrior continued to scream. Link paid no mind, just continued forward. There was an exit in sight.

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Bloodplay is great. Please review!!! I haven't recieved any :( This is starting to become discouraging...