Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Back In Her Hands ❯ The Size Of Your Shadow ( Chapter 16 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Grey Fox 
At long last, I wrap up this obnoxiously long story. Halelujah.
Anime/Manga: Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.15.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 641 | Status: Completed
At long last, I wrap up this obnoxiously long story. Halelujah.
Anime/Manga: Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.15.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 641 | Status: Completed
Back In Her Hands
a Legend of Zelda romance fic
Chapter 16: The Size Of Your Shadow
6-15-2005
by Grey
Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series or any of its characters; Nintendo and the series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto do. So don't sue me or anything.
This fic is dedicated to CubedCinder128, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
******
When Zelda awakened, it was almost noon in Termina. The rays of the sun angled straight down into the canyons around the Snowhead Temple, rousing the princess from her peaceful slumber. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and after a few seconds she sat up, stretching and letting out a sonorous yawn that echoed all around her.
Zelda looked all around her, at all the edible mushrooms that had served as a perfect mattress for her titanic body. She snatched one up and slowly began to eat it. As she gobbled it down, she turned and looked at the nearby canyon wall. On a small protruding ledge, Link lay wrapped up in a giant, silky handkerchief Zelda had in her pocket, which she bundled him up in after he had fallen asleep snuggled up to her. The ledge was still submersed in a shadow, and thus the sunlight hadn't awakened him yet.
Leaning over for a better look, Zelda gazed down lovingly at the sleeping Hero of Time. He looked so adorable when he was sleeping. And when he looked about three inches tall, for that matter. But Zelda decided that both of them had had enough sleep and it was time to head out for the final sanctuary. She reached down and gently shook him with her index finger. It took a few nudges before she was able to wake him up.
"Huh? Wh-what?" he muttered weakly as Zelda continued to prod him with her finger. His eyes slowly opened, and he was greeted by the site of Zelda's enormous, smiling face gazing down at him adoringly.
"Morning, love," she said sweetly as Link sat up in his makeshift bed. "Feeling any better?"
Link let out a yawn, then answered, "I guess so. What about you?"
"Having some mixed feelings." Zelda admitted. "We only need one more mask and that salesman can undo my giantism, and I'm anxious for that. But.... part of me still gets a thrill from being your giant-sized girlfriend."
Link looked up into her gigantic blue eyes, and said, "Heh. Me too." Zelda smiled again, then brought up her index finger again and carefully brushed her fingertip along Link's side. Link then took her fingertip in both hands, and kissed it. Zelda giggled, feeling giddy from Link's cute romantic display.
But then Zelda noticed Link suddenly hang his head, as if he had remembered something shameful. The princess understood immediately. "Saria," she muttered empathetically.
"Yeah. I wonder if she'll ever get over all that's happened to her," Link replied in a sullen voice.
For a while after that, the two of them said nothing to each other. They merely prepared themselves for venturing outward, dining on a quick breakfast of mushrooms and drinking some cold water obtained by melting what snow remained in the canyon.
Eventually, Zelda felt it was time to get going. "So, Link, where's the final sanctuary?" she asked, a bit eager to get underway.
"Let's find out," Link replied as he pulled out the salesman's map and unfolded it. His eyes darted over the large piece of paper, trying to find a third ink mark pinpointing the location of a sanctuary.
There wasn't one. All he could find were the ink marks depicting the two previous ones. "WHAT?!!" Link cried out in disbelief as he looked over the map again. But he couldn't find anything pointing out a third dungeon.
"Link, what is it?" Zelda inquired in a concerned voice. Sighing, Link explained it to her. "How can that be?" she asked nervously. "You're JUST noticing this?!"
"Um, oops?" Link muttered sheepishly.
Zelda frowned at him, and said, "It doesn't make any sense. There's got to be FOUR locations marked out on there. Unless, maybe...."
"Unless what?" asked Link, wondering what Zelda was thinking.
"Unless two masks were hidden in each sanctuary," Zelda offered.
Link thought about Zelda's theory for a minute. That would definitely explain why the mask salesman had only marked two locations of the map. But he had searched every square inch of both sanctuaries and hadn't found anything else, besides the equipment hidden away....
And then, he remembered: the empty treasure chest next to the one that contained the magnetic gauntlet.
Link quickly explained to Zelda what he had just deduced. "That's it! The Giant's Mask that started this whole mess must've been hidden in THAT chest!! Someone must have stolen it long ago!"
"Uhh, how did the thief manage to get it out?" Zelda asked, scratching her head. "You said that the doors were all locked and everything; no signs that anyone else had gone through it before you. And how did it end up in the Stone Tower Temple?"
Link shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe the thief could phase through walls, I dunno," he answered weakly. "And who knows how it wound up in Ikana."
Zelda thought about it for a moment, then asked, "OK then, but where in the swamp mansion could the last mask be?"
"My best guess would be somewhere in the room where I found the seed shooter. I can't think of any other place it could be," Link replied. "Come on, let's get going."
*Back to the swamp again,* Zelda thought with a sigh as she carefully plucked Link off the canyon ledge and held him securely in her huge hands. With a thought, she summoned up the magic of Farore's Wind and transported them out of the canyon.
In an instant, Zelda was standing back in front of the bayou mansion. The princess stared blankly at the mansion, remembering all too well what had happened underneath it the previous night. Barely saving your boyfriend from certain death at the last possible second isn't something you can easily forget. But since it was now daytime, it looked a little less foreboding. Still, Zelda didn't want to stay longer than they had to; it now gave her the creeps. "Let's just find that last mask and get back to Hyrule," she said to the little hero in her hands.
"Agreed," Link called out to her. "Walk around to where you punched through the wall. It's got to be in that room." And so, Zelda walked to the side of the mansion and stuck her hand through the hole she had made before, gently setting Link down inside.
Wasting no time, Link ran back into the room where the shadow copies had attacked him. It looked just the same as when he left it: a large square room with an empty treasure chest in the center.
*I don't get it! There should be TWO treasure chests, like there was in the dragon's room,* Link thought vexatiously as he looked all around for anything unusual, but he found nothing. He then took out his Lens of Truth and looked through it, hoping it would reveal something concealed by illusions.
It did. The magical lens revealed a second treasure chest that Link had missed last night, nestled up against the center of the wall behind the first chest. *This is it!* he thought excitedly as he walked up to the inivisible chest. He reached over to open it....
And then some sort of pitch-black tentacle wrapped around his right wrist. Link looked to his right and saw what looked like a shadowy squid tentacle coming of the wall and ensnaring his arm, disturbingly similar to the ones that had imprisoned Saria in the colosseum before their battle. He then felt a similar sensation on his left arm, and turned to see another tendril had ensnared it as well.
And in the following second, three more inky-black tendrils shot out out the walls to entrap him. One wrapped around his torso, another around his midsection, and one on his left leg. "Wha... what the..." he cried out, overcome with shock and confusion. Hadn't he already annihilated the shadowy entities in this room, as well as those black tendrils that had entrapped Saria?
Link didn't any time to give it more thought, because the next second the tendrils began to slowly tug at his body, as if to pull him apart. "Uh-oh," he muttered as he wrestled with their grip, but to no avail. "Oh no.... OWWW!!! Zelda... ZELDA, HELP!!!"
Outside the mansion, Zelda could hear Link's faint, anguished screams. She had been patiently waiting for Link to bring out the final mask, but his tortured pleas snapped her to attention. Peering through the hole in the wall, she could see Link through the other hole. He seemed to have some sort of black wire wrapped around his arms, chest and leg. "Link, what's going on in there?" she called to him worriedly.
"ZELDA, HELP!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" he screamed back at her, extreme pain etched in his panicked voice.
Jarred into action by Link's frantic outburst, Zelda stuck her hand through the holes and grabbed Link's body in her fist. She tried to pull him out, but somehow ever her prodigious strength wasn't able to wrest Link free of the tendrils. And Link, trapped in Zelda's gigantic fist and with tentacles still wrapped around him, waited helplessly. "Umph! Link, I-I can't pull you free!!" he heard Zelda cry out, her voice filled with worry.
And then, Link heard the invisible treasure chest pop open, and seemingly out of thin air, a mask floated upwards from where he knew the chest was. It was shaped like the other three Giant's Masks, but this one.... it looked like it was molded out of obsidian, but it didn't reflect any light. It looked shadowy, sinister....
The next instant, the tentacles detached from the walls and seemingly turned into a liquid, glue-like form, which spread all over Zelda's fist. The hovering Giant's Mask then lunged forward and embedded itself into that liquid mass, as if to merge with it. *What now?* he thought, his heart filling with dread as the viscous, black mass continued to writhe across the fingers wrapped around him.
Link felt himself lurch backward as Zelda suddenly pulled her arm out of the mansion. Looking at her hand, she saw the black goo on her fist. "Ack!! What the.... GET OFF ME!!!" she shrilled fearfully, shaking her hand violently in an attempt to get the shadowy, gluey mass off and obviously forgetting she was still holding Link.
However, the black glop eventually came off on its own. It evaporated off of her hand, turning into a dark, smoky mist. Zelda watched in confusion as the last of the glop turned into black mist, and Link, incredibly dizzy from being shaken about like a toy, strained to watch too. The wisp of black mist then gently drifted away from the pair, and it seemed to expand exponentally as it did so. Soon, it expanded into a cloud of mist that could encompass even Zelda.
And before Link and Zelda's eyes, it gradually began to take a shape. Within seconds, the black mist had formed a vague outline of a human body....
After a few more seconds, Link and Zelda let out a collective gasp once they realized what it was turning into.... it was shaping itself into a shadowy copy of the princess, which was exactly the same size as her.
Once it had fully materialized, the creature simply stood there, silently observing Zelda and the Hylian man she still held tightly in her hand. "Zelda, look out!" Link warned, realizing the extreme danger Zelda was now in. "This thing'll come at you any second!"
But for some reason, the dark copy of Zelda did not attack them. It merely continued to stand there and stare at the nonplussed princess. And then, through the Sages' bond, Zelda was somehow able to connect with this strange new creature. It was merely a quick flash, lasting only a second or two, but it was enough to realize this: it was cold, malevolent hatred for everything she held dear.
And then, without warning, swirls of black mist circled around Dark Zelda, like a shadowy version of Farore's Wind. And a second later, she vanished from their sight.
For a moment, Zelda and Link stared blankly at where the creature had stood. "I-I don't understand," Link spoke up, shattering the silence. "Why didn't it attack? All my dark copies tried to take me out right away!"
"I don't know either," Zelda said, shaking her head. "But we'd better find it. This thing.... it's malevolence was overwhelming; no telling what it'll do."
"Not to mention it has the last Giant's Mask," Link added. "I think we should go to Clock Town right now. If it's out to kill and destroy like you say...."
Link didn't need to explain any further - Zelda understood what would happen if her new counterpart attacked the most populated area in Termina. And so, after Link was carefully set down on her shoulder, he played the Song of Soaring. It was a drastic step transporting Zelda directly into the town, but with that thing out there....
As the gigantic white wings wrapped themselves around Zelda, Link remembered one detail: there wasn't much room around the owl statue in the center of Clock Town for her to materialize in. But there were no complications when the two of them reappeared in Clock Town; Zelda's feet were firmly yet precariously planted on the sloping wooden planks that lined the northern part of the town's central area, though her feet would undoubtedly leave giant indentations in the wood.
As soon as they had rematerialized, Link looked down from her shoulder and immediately noticed something was amiss: the Clock Tower was gone!
Link gasped in disbelief, his heart leaping up into his throat. He looked around some more, and saw that scattered about the central part of town, there was debris that he recognized as once being part of the huge tower. And where the Clock Tower had once stood, there was now a smoldering crater with steam rising from it. At looked as if an unfathomable large magnifying glass had been used to burn a tunnel forty feet in diameter, right where the tower once stood.
"AAAAHHHH!! ANOTHER ONE!!" Link heard a woman scream from down below, snapping him out of his state of shock. Then he heard a man cry out, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!" Link looked down, and saw several panicked townspeople running around aimlessly, obviously scared out of their mind.
One thing was all too clear: Dark Zelda had already been here.
"L-Link?" Zelda muttered shakily as she surveyed the destruction, her lip trembling. "W-what's going on here? What d-did that t-thing do?"
"It-it wiped out the tower, a-and it looks like it used Din's Fire to burrow a tunnel under it," replied Link uneasily.
"B-but why?" asked Zelda, her voice still shaky. "Isn't the only thing under it the...."
Then it hit her like ten thousand tons of brick: underneath the Clock Tower was the portal connecting Termina with their own world. And her evil double was tunneling her way back to that world! "LINK! She's making her way to H-Hyrule!! She-she's.... GOING TO DESTROY IT!!!" she shrieked fearfully, her face twisted in horror. And if she could have clearly seen Link right then, she'd know his face had a horrified expression on it as well.
"T-then... she could already be there!!!" Link cried out disbelievingly. "Once she's in our world, she can teleport there right away and...."
"Not necessarily," Zelda said hopefully, turning to look down at her shoulder at Link. "There's a limit on how far I can teleport with Farore's Wind. And Hyrule is hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles away from the portal...."
Link stared back up at her, realizing what Zelda was getting at. "So... you're saying there's still a chance we can get to Hyrule first if I use the Ocarina?"
Zelda nodded slightly. "Yes, but we've got to go NOW!" she said urgently. And the urgency in her voice spurred Link into action, and he took out the Ocarina of Time and played the Serenade of Water....
And then, the two of them vanished in a swirl of sparks that darted up into Termina's afternoon sky, transporting them back to their homeland.... for a desperate attempt to save it.
******
"And that's all I know," Saria said uneasily to Impa. "When I woke up this morning, I was in my house, and Mido said Link brought me there." The two of them stood within the royal throne room of the rebuilt Hyrule Castle. Saria had come seeking Impa as soon as she had awakened to tell her what she remembered. But having to relive the horrific events of the previous night almost brought to tears.
Impa merely stared down at Saria, silently reflecting on what the Kokiri girl had revealed to her. As usual, Impa's face betrayed no emotions whatsoever. But Saria was certain that deep down, she was feeling a sense of relief, knowing that Link and Zelda were alive and well. *No thanks to me,* Saria thought guiltily.
"And you're saying whatever abducted you also turned you against them?" Impa asked, breaking the uneasy silence.
Saria looked down at the floor. "Y-yes," she answered shamefully. "This thing.... it-it made my envy rage out of control, and I almost killed Link. And the princess.... if-if Link hadn't hit me enough times, that barrier that kept her out would've still been strong enough, a-and...."
Impa reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Saria's shoulder. Saria looked up at the Shiekah warrior, and saw nothing accusatory in her eyes. "I can tell you speak the truth, Saria, and I know you are not to blame for what happened," Impa said empathetically.
"Th-thank y-you," stammered Saria, still on the verge of tears.
"But Saria, why didn't the rest of the Sages sense something was amiss?" asked Impa.
Saria thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I-I think it was some other dimension," she replied. "Did-didn't Link say he had travelled to some sort of alternate universe?"
"And what were Link and the princess doing there?" Impa inquired. "It sounds as if this dark force brought you there to guard something. What was it? What were they after?"
"Another Giant's Mask," answered a familiar voice.
Impa and Saria turned in the direction of the voice to see that Link had entered the royal chamber. His body language suggested he was expecting a fight at any moment, and his face.... it was an expression of pure dread, of someone who knew an inevitable disaster was about to take place.
"Link?!" Saria gasped. "W-why are you here?"
Link took a few steps forward. "Saria...." he breathed, still feeling just as guilty as she did.
"Link, what is going on?" Impa asked queurulously, her voice actually betraying a sense of surprise and uneasiness. "Why are you here? What is...."
"A giant shadow copy of Princess Zelda is on its way here and plans to wipe Hyrule off the face of the Earth," Link said matter-of-factly.
Saria stared at Link slack-jawed, obviously unwilling to believe what she had been told. Impa was eyeing Link with a dubious look as well, and said, "Are you serious? How can you...."
"Listen, we haven't got time," Link snapped irritably. "Thanks to the Ocarina of Time, we managed to get here first, but that thing'll be here any minute. We've got to make sure everyone in Hyrule is somewhere safe once it's here." Impa could sense the feelings of urgency behind Link's words, and nodded.
"Alright then, the princess is rounding up everyone in the market town and escorting them to the castle," Link continued, satisfied that he had convinced Impa of the approaching danger. "As for me, I'm going to use the Ocarina to transport myself around and warn everyone else."
"L-Link," Saria spoke up. "J-just transport me with you to the Lost Woods. I'll warn the Kokiri myself. You'll waste too much time going through the Lost Woods to reach the village." Link looked down at his friend, felt another swell of guilt after seeing the bandages still wrapped around her forehead, and nodded.
"Link, what about the creature itself? How do we stop it?" Impa asked acutely, but she already knew what Link's answer would be.
Link turned to the Shiekah, and said, "It's all up to Zelda."
******
"Hurry! Get to the castle!" Zelda commanded, standing in the center of town, and watched all the Hylians from the market town make their way down the path that led to the field in front of Hyrule Castle. She was eternally grateful they had heeded her dire warning; it had been over a week since she had fled, yet they still obeyed her and trusted her.
Zelda continued to watch her people flee to the safety of the castle. They looked so tiny and fragile; they would be easy prey for her wicked counterpart if she arrived before they reached the castle. Then the princess turned back to look at the market town. Much of the damage from the Wizzrobe's assault was still unrepaired, and she shuddered at the thought of what sort of destruction a fight between her and her double would cause.
After a few minutes, the princess ventured down the path to the castle herself, and stepped up onto the field that stretched out before it. The townspeople had made it through the initial gate unhindered, but the guards around the castle's entrance were barring their way. "Let them through!" Zelda said in a commanding voice. "Get inside, all of you. That's includes all you soldiers, too."
And so, after another minute, everyone had retreated into the relative safety of Hyrule Castle, and Zelda let out a sigh of relief. By now, Link would have warned everyone else in Hyrule about her dark double as well. All that remained now was for her to vanquish the abomination that had taken her form.
And vanquish it she would. This was her homeland, and she would fight to the death to defend it. She had went into self-imposed exile because she feared her size and power made her too dangerous, but now she was the only one who could protect Hyrule.
*It should be here by now,* Zelda thought nervously as she glanced all around her, hoping to catch any signs of her elusive enemy. *It's sure to try and attack the castle first, I'm certain of it!*
And then, she both heard and sensed the crackle of magical energy being expended behind her. Zelda whirled around and saw a dark sphere of energy coming right at her, leaving a blazing trail of dark, purplish-black flames. She had noticed it just in time, and erected a forcefield with Nayru's Love to protect herself. The black ball of energy harmlessly impacted the barrier and dissipated into nothingness.
But then, Dark Zelda seemingly came out of nowhere and rushed straight at her. She struck her in the midsection with a fist charged with dark energy just as the Nayru's Love barrier faded away. The stinging pain made Zelda yelp and stagger backwards, and her double had another chance to attack. She threw another punch, this time at Zelda's face.
But the princess was ready. As Dark Zelda threw her punch, she sidestepped and then grabbed her arm. Then she began sending shocks of magical power through her adversary as she held onto her arm. However, Dark Zelda soon managed to retaliate, bringing her knee up into Zelda's midsection and forcing her to relinquish her grip. The shadow double then charged forward with both hands outstretched, and Zelda felt her body get smashed by concentrated dark magic.
Zelda keeled backward and fell, and expected her counterpart to attack while she was down. But Dark Zelda simply ran past her, towards the castle.
*Oh no!* Zelda thought panickingly as she scrambled to her feet. *It's more concerned with wreaking havoc on Hyrule than destroying me!* she realized as she ran after her shadowy clone. She soon caught up with her and tackled her. And just as she collided with her, Zelda called upon the power of Farore's Wind and used it to transport both of them elsewhere.
The two of them rematerialized in Hyrule Field, a few dozen meters to the south of Lon Lon Ranch. *There. Now we're out of range of everyone,* she thought as she turned her counterpart around and punched her in the face, and she swore she could see some black liquid pour out of her nose. However, Dark Zelda was soon able to regather her wits and counterattack. She sunk her fist into Zelda's midsection, then followed up with an uppercut to the head.
"Ack!!" cried Zelda as she reeled backward from the force of her blow. Luckily, she forced herself to regain her composure and face Dark Zelda again. But she was too late to prevent what was coming next; she was charging up a ball of evil energy, her twisted equivalent of Din's Fire. Before Zelda could do anything, the ball launched forward and struck her. It ignited upon impact, and billowing plumes of dark fire hungrily licked at her flesh. Twinrova's fire blast had certainly been painful, but it was nothing compared to this!
Zelda slumped down to her knees, hissing and gritting her teeth. She then heard Dark Zelda approaching, undoubtedly to attack her again. Luckily, she was still focused enough to summon up a Nayru's Love barrier, just in time to block Dark Zelda's magically-charged fists.
*Can't let it keep me on the defensive!* Zelda thought desperately as the diamond-shaped barrier began to fade away. *What did Link say.... that these shadow copies seem to know everything about the people they mimic. Maybe if I do something unexpected....*
Then Zelda got an idea. She rose to her feet and slowly backed away from her shadow copy, who had both fists clenched and charged with magic. Just as the last traces of her forcefield melted away, she rushed forward and summoned up the power of Nayru's Love again, but in an entirely different way. Instead of forming a large barrier around her, she formed two smaller ones around her fists.
With her fists now encased in rock-hard magical barriers, she smashed her left hand against the side of Dark Zelda's head, and she reeled from the impact. Then she cocked back her right hand and hurled it at her double's chest, and she swore she could feel ribs give way before her barrier-enclosed fist.
Dark Zelda staggered back helplessly, leaving herself wide open for another attack. Zelda then decided that this presented a perfect opportunity to strike back with Din's Fire, and she concentrated on forming a ball of fiery energy. Her counterpart regained her composure just as Zelda launched the attack at her, and erected her own diamond-shaped forcefield just in time, although hers was so dark and opaque one couldn't see through it.
The fiery sphere impacted the forcefield, and Dark Zelda had timed it so perfectly, it rebounded and flew back at Zelda. "WHOA!" exclaimed Zelda as she dashed to the side, letting the ball of flame fly harmlessly past her.
Zelda turned to attack her double again, but then saw she was using her version of Farore's Wind. "Oh no you don't!" she cried out, charging toward her with her hands outstrecthed to grab her. But she was seconds too late; Dark Zelda vanished in a swirl of black, cyclonic wind, and Zelda clumsily ran through the spot she had stood in a moment before.
*Ack! It's going after the castle again!* Zelda realized, a feeling of cold dread gripping at her heart. There was only one thing to do: teleport and get back to the castle. And so, she concentrated, summoning up her magic and calling upon Farore's Wind.
But before she could initiate the spell, she felt something as hard as a rock strike her on the back of her head.
"Aahhh!!" she screamed, stars swirling all across her field of vision as she turned around to see what had hit her. What greeted her was the sight of Dark Zelda rearing back her fist, which was now encased in a black, opaque forcefield.
Zelda didn't have enough time to block the incoming blow; her double nailed her in the jaw, and it felt as if it almost snapped loose from her skull. *It never tried to return to the castle,* Zelda realized as she fought back the extreme pain. *It merely wanted me to think it did, so I'd dropped my guard as I teleported!*
Zelda looked back in front of her and saw her double advancing again. Acting on instinct, she spun herself around while calling upon Nayru's Love, and another forcefield appeared around her along with smaller crystalline shapes that swiftly rotated around the middle. These crystal-like structures mercilessly cut through Dark Zelda and forced her back, which was just what the princess was counting on. She rushed forward, jumped, and kicked outward, concentrating her power into the ball of her foot. When she struck her evil double, the impact hit her like a bolt of lightning, and she flew backward several hundred feet, eventually slamming into the rocky walls that surrounded Hyrule Field.
*That must've weakened it considerably,* Zelda thought hopefully as she darted toward her downed foe. *If I keep it up, I'll destroy it in no time.* But she instinctively knew that it wouldn't be so simple. Her head was still reeling from Dark Zelda's merciless blows, and using so many magic spells so quickly was beginning to exhaust her. But she was determined to wipe out that giant, twisted version of herself. If she couldn't do it, who would?
By the time Zelda had closed the distance between them, her double was already on her feet. She eyed the princess warily, and Zelda could make out traces of a hateful expression on her shadowy face. Not wanting to give her too much time to gather her wits, Zelda dashed forward with one hand glowing brightly, crackling with energy.
Zelda lashed out with her fist charged with magic, but her counterpart merely sidestepped and tripped her as she rushed by. Zelda fell forward and hit the ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dirt and snapping a couple trees underneath her oppressive weight. She quickly looked over her shoulder, hoping to spot any incoming attacks from Dark Zelda, but all she saw was the final wisps of black wind that signified she had teleported again. *Huh? Where is it going now?* she thought confusedly.
She got her answer soon enough. Dark Zelda reappeared about two or three hundred feet above the princess, and then dropped down while angling her heel downwards. Zelda didn't see her counterpart's rapidly descending form until it was too late, and her slammed down painfully onto her backside. But it wasn't the force of her massive, falling body that she felt; rather, it was the collected dark energy that had been harnessed in the heel of her double's foot.
"AAAHHHH!!!" Zelda screeched, the force of the dark magic almost knocking her unconscious. For a few moments, she lay motionless, unable to get back up and fight. Then, she felt herself being turned on her back, and through her blurred vision she saw Dark Zelda kneeling down beside her, and formed around her fist was another Nayru's Love barrier, shaped like a needlepoint. Zelda caught on immediately: her double planned to run her through.
*No! I can't lose!* Zelda thought gravely. *Everyone in Hyrule is depending on me!* It was true; if she was felled, nothing in Hyrule could stop her counterpart's rampage. She had failed to prevent Ganondorf's ascendance, but she refused to fail now, against this warped mockery of herself.
Calling upon her last reserves of strength, Zelda lashed out with a quick burst of Din's Fire, flames engulfing everything around her. Dark Zelda caught a good deal of it, and immediately got back on her feet and backed away from the billowing flames. The princess slowly got back onto her feet as well, facing her double. The deadly needle-like forcefield that had been on her hand was now gone, but it was obvious that she still had plenty of fight left in her, as opposed to Zelda, who felt as if she'd pass out at any moment.
Dark Zelda started charging at the staggering princess again, this time forming spike-shaped crystalline barriers around both fists. Zelda, struggling to remain conscious, mustered together her power again, preparing to erect another barrier around herself....
But it proved to be unnecessary. As her counterpart was closing in, some sort of tiny, brightly-lit projectile hit her in the midsection all of a sudden. Ripples seemed to spread outward across her shadowy body, and her torso seemed to crackle with electricity. Then another one of those projectiles hit Dark Zelda in the head, and she staggered backwards, and the spear-like barriers around her fists dissipated.
*Wh-what was that?! Who's....* Zelda began to think. Then she figured out what it was. She looked down at the ground and glanced all around. Sure enough, a few dozen feet away from her was Epona, and riding on the horse was Link, bow at the ready with another light arrow. He fired it at Zelda's evil double again, and she staggered even more.
"Link! Don't!" Zelda cried out in a strained voice. "I-It's too dangerous here!"
"Not a chance," she heard Link say, his voice sounding faint and distant. "We've been through this together, and we'll see it to the end together."
Zelda turned back to her double. Link's light arrows had not done any significant damage, but they had managed to daze her slightly, leaving her open for an attack. "OK then, here goes," she breathed as he collected more magic to use Din's Fire. Within seconds, she had formed another blazing ball of magical fire and sent it towards her counterpart, and this time she wasn't able to resist. The ball exploded and enveloped her in red-hot flames, and she sank down to one knee.
Dark Zelda was helpless again, and Link kept firing more light arrows at her to make sure she stayed that way. "Zelda, do it now! Finish it off now!" he called out to Zelda.
It seemed so long ago, back when they had sealed away Ganondorf together. Zelda held down the gravely weakened King of Evil down with her magic, allowing Link to deliver the final blow with the Master Sword. And now, their roles had been reversed: Link kept Dark Zelda at bay with his light arrows, enabling the princess to move in and finish her off....
At that moment, Zelda felt a familiar burning sensation in the back of her hand. She glanced down at it, and saw the Triforce symbol glowing brightly, fiercer than ever before. And an instant later, she felt incredible power radiating out of her hand, revitalizing her. The Triforce of Wisdom that she protected, it was now giving her the strength she needed to lash out for one final, mighty assault.
Her fist charged with more magical energy than she had ever mustered before, Zelda dashed twoard her foe, who had somehow managed to get back on her feet. The princess lurched forward and threw a punch at Dark Zelda's chest, and her fist penetrated her and sank into the area where her heart was. Then the Triforce of Wisdom pulsated again, amplifying Zelda's remaining magical power and tearing apart the vile copy of the princess from the inside....
And then, Dark Zelda exploded in a blinding flash of white, blazing light, lighting up all of Hyrule Field as if a miniature sun had burst into existence....
As quickly as it had began, the blinding light faded away. Noticing this, Link withdrew his arm from his face and opened his eyes. There was no trace of Dark Zelda anymore. All he could see was Princess Zelda's enormous, motionless body sprawled out on the ground. Evidently, her final effort to vanquish her shadowy clone had succeeded, but she had knocked herself out in the process.
******
Slowly, gingerly, Princess Zelda opened her eyes. *Wh-where am I?* she thought as she tried to bring her vision into focus. She was laying face-up on something, and she could feel something soft underneath her body. Sort of like... a comfortable bed.
*Huh?* she thoughtly confusedly as her eyesight finally came into focus. What she saw directly above her was a stone ceiling. Now even more confused, she sat up and looked down at herself. No longer was she wearing a mud-stained royal dress with a burn hole in the back; now she had on a simple, silky white, long-sleeved nightgown. And she had been lying in her own bed.... the place where her predicament had began.
"Welcome back, princess," she heard a familiar voice say. Zelda turned in the direction of the voice to see Link standing near her, smiling. But no longer did he seem shrunken to her, barely standing more than three inches tall. He now stood before her as the tall, handsome Hero of Time she had fallen in love with.
"L-Link?!!" she breathed, not believing what she was seeing. She quickly looked around her, and saw that she was indeed back in her bedroom in the castle. "Wh-what happened to m-me?! D-did...."
"We return you to normal?" Link finished for her, a look of delight still on his face. "Yep. You knocked yourself out after you killed Dark Zelda, and we decided to perform the procedure right then and there. With all four masks, that salesman was able to magically bond them all, and once I played the Song of Healing again, well...." He let the sentence dangle as he looked at her again.
"How long was I out?" Zelda asked seriously.
"About twenty-four hours," replied Link.
Zelda stared back at Link for a while, trying to think of something else to say. "L-Link, back there, during the fight, th-thank you," she said at length. "You probably saved me."
Link shook his head. "Nah. Even if I hadn't shown up, you would've found a way to beat it. All those Moblins, the Wizzrobe and his spider thing, your dark double.... no one can ever accuse you of being a meek, helpless princess, that's for sure." Zelda felt herself blush after hearing Link's compliment. It was quite something to hear the most battle-hardened man in Hyrule praise her for her toughness.
Link then walked over to a nearby nightstand. Turning to see where he was going, Zelda saw all sorts of potted plants were placed on her nightstand. "Everyone's been sending you some 'welcome home' and 'get well soon' gifts," Link explained to her.
Zelda examined the plants closely. In a jar filled with water was some sort of purple seaweed that was undoubtedly given to her by the Zoras, and in another pot was a flowering cactus that she guessed came from the Gerudo. About five or six bouquets of flowers were on her nightstand as well. Zelda felt a great swell of pride and gratitude from seeing such an outpouring of sympathy from the people of Hyrule.
"Zelda," Link spoke up suddenly. "There's something else."
The princess turned to face Link again, who had a solemn look on his face. "Zelda, it... it's about... what you asked me."
"What I asked you?" said Zelda, confused. "W-what...."
"About if I wanted to marry you," Link suddenly said.
Zelda gasped, astonished by his response. Link decided to continue. "When you first asked me, I was.... scared."
"Scared?" Zelda huffed amusedly, not believing that Link could be frightened of anything. "You, scared?"
"Uh-huh, I was," Link responded. "The sudden way you asked me shocked me, and I was too afraid to jump into something that serious so soon. But...."
"But what?" Zelda asked.
"But after you ran away, I realized just how much you meant to me, and that I couldn't go on without you," he explained affectionately. "And now, now I know...."
Link reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He quickly showed it to the princess. It was a golden ring, and on it were three triangle-shaped diamonds, arranged to form the Triforce symbol.
Before Zelda could say anything, Link spoke up again. "Zelda, will you marry me?"
The thunderstruck princess looked up back up into Link's eyes, and tears began to form in her own. Not tears of pain, or tears of sadness, but tears of pure joy. "YES!" she shouted happily as she shot up from the bed and hugged her beloved hero. "Yes, Link! I will marry you!"
And Link wrapped his arms around Zelda as well, and the two just stood there, embracing one another.
******
THE END
So long,
Grey
a Legend of Zelda romance fic
Chapter 16: The Size Of Your Shadow
6-15-2005
by Grey
Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series or any of its characters; Nintendo and the series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto do. So don't sue me or anything.
This fic is dedicated to CubedCinder128, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
******
When Zelda awakened, it was almost noon in Termina. The rays of the sun angled straight down into the canyons around the Snowhead Temple, rousing the princess from her peaceful slumber. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and after a few seconds she sat up, stretching and letting out a sonorous yawn that echoed all around her.
Zelda looked all around her, at all the edible mushrooms that had served as a perfect mattress for her titanic body. She snatched one up and slowly began to eat it. As she gobbled it down, she turned and looked at the nearby canyon wall. On a small protruding ledge, Link lay wrapped up in a giant, silky handkerchief Zelda had in her pocket, which she bundled him up in after he had fallen asleep snuggled up to her. The ledge was still submersed in a shadow, and thus the sunlight hadn't awakened him yet.
Leaning over for a better look, Zelda gazed down lovingly at the sleeping Hero of Time. He looked so adorable when he was sleeping. And when he looked about three inches tall, for that matter. But Zelda decided that both of them had had enough sleep and it was time to head out for the final sanctuary. She reached down and gently shook him with her index finger. It took a few nudges before she was able to wake him up.
"Huh? Wh-what?" he muttered weakly as Zelda continued to prod him with her finger. His eyes slowly opened, and he was greeted by the site of Zelda's enormous, smiling face gazing down at him adoringly.
"Morning, love," she said sweetly as Link sat up in his makeshift bed. "Feeling any better?"
Link let out a yawn, then answered, "I guess so. What about you?"
"Having some mixed feelings." Zelda admitted. "We only need one more mask and that salesman can undo my giantism, and I'm anxious for that. But.... part of me still gets a thrill from being your giant-sized girlfriend."
Link looked up into her gigantic blue eyes, and said, "Heh. Me too." Zelda smiled again, then brought up her index finger again and carefully brushed her fingertip along Link's side. Link then took her fingertip in both hands, and kissed it. Zelda giggled, feeling giddy from Link's cute romantic display.
But then Zelda noticed Link suddenly hang his head, as if he had remembered something shameful. The princess understood immediately. "Saria," she muttered empathetically.
"Yeah. I wonder if she'll ever get over all that's happened to her," Link replied in a sullen voice.
For a while after that, the two of them said nothing to each other. They merely prepared themselves for venturing outward, dining on a quick breakfast of mushrooms and drinking some cold water obtained by melting what snow remained in the canyon.
Eventually, Zelda felt it was time to get going. "So, Link, where's the final sanctuary?" she asked, a bit eager to get underway.
"Let's find out," Link replied as he pulled out the salesman's map and unfolded it. His eyes darted over the large piece of paper, trying to find a third ink mark pinpointing the location of a sanctuary.
There wasn't one. All he could find were the ink marks depicting the two previous ones. "WHAT?!!" Link cried out in disbelief as he looked over the map again. But he couldn't find anything pointing out a third dungeon.
"Link, what is it?" Zelda inquired in a concerned voice. Sighing, Link explained it to her. "How can that be?" she asked nervously. "You're JUST noticing this?!"
"Um, oops?" Link muttered sheepishly.
Zelda frowned at him, and said, "It doesn't make any sense. There's got to be FOUR locations marked out on there. Unless, maybe...."
"Unless what?" asked Link, wondering what Zelda was thinking.
"Unless two masks were hidden in each sanctuary," Zelda offered.
Link thought about Zelda's theory for a minute. That would definitely explain why the mask salesman had only marked two locations of the map. But he had searched every square inch of both sanctuaries and hadn't found anything else, besides the equipment hidden away....
And then, he remembered: the empty treasure chest next to the one that contained the magnetic gauntlet.
Link quickly explained to Zelda what he had just deduced. "That's it! The Giant's Mask that started this whole mess must've been hidden in THAT chest!! Someone must have stolen it long ago!"
"Uhh, how did the thief manage to get it out?" Zelda asked, scratching her head. "You said that the doors were all locked and everything; no signs that anyone else had gone through it before you. And how did it end up in the Stone Tower Temple?"
Link shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe the thief could phase through walls, I dunno," he answered weakly. "And who knows how it wound up in Ikana."
Zelda thought about it for a moment, then asked, "OK then, but where in the swamp mansion could the last mask be?"
"My best guess would be somewhere in the room where I found the seed shooter. I can't think of any other place it could be," Link replied. "Come on, let's get going."
*Back to the swamp again,* Zelda thought with a sigh as she carefully plucked Link off the canyon ledge and held him securely in her huge hands. With a thought, she summoned up the magic of Farore's Wind and transported them out of the canyon.
In an instant, Zelda was standing back in front of the bayou mansion. The princess stared blankly at the mansion, remembering all too well what had happened underneath it the previous night. Barely saving your boyfriend from certain death at the last possible second isn't something you can easily forget. But since it was now daytime, it looked a little less foreboding. Still, Zelda didn't want to stay longer than they had to; it now gave her the creeps. "Let's just find that last mask and get back to Hyrule," she said to the little hero in her hands.
"Agreed," Link called out to her. "Walk around to where you punched through the wall. It's got to be in that room." And so, Zelda walked to the side of the mansion and stuck her hand through the hole she had made before, gently setting Link down inside.
Wasting no time, Link ran back into the room where the shadow copies had attacked him. It looked just the same as when he left it: a large square room with an empty treasure chest in the center.
*I don't get it! There should be TWO treasure chests, like there was in the dragon's room,* Link thought vexatiously as he looked all around for anything unusual, but he found nothing. He then took out his Lens of Truth and looked through it, hoping it would reveal something concealed by illusions.
It did. The magical lens revealed a second treasure chest that Link had missed last night, nestled up against the center of the wall behind the first chest. *This is it!* he thought excitedly as he walked up to the inivisible chest. He reached over to open it....
And then some sort of pitch-black tentacle wrapped around his right wrist. Link looked to his right and saw what looked like a shadowy squid tentacle coming of the wall and ensnaring his arm, disturbingly similar to the ones that had imprisoned Saria in the colosseum before their battle. He then felt a similar sensation on his left arm, and turned to see another tendril had ensnared it as well.
And in the following second, three more inky-black tendrils shot out out the walls to entrap him. One wrapped around his torso, another around his midsection, and one on his left leg. "Wha... what the..." he cried out, overcome with shock and confusion. Hadn't he already annihilated the shadowy entities in this room, as well as those black tendrils that had entrapped Saria?
Link didn't any time to give it more thought, because the next second the tendrils began to slowly tug at his body, as if to pull him apart. "Uh-oh," he muttered as he wrestled with their grip, but to no avail. "Oh no.... OWWW!!! Zelda... ZELDA, HELP!!!"
Outside the mansion, Zelda could hear Link's faint, anguished screams. She had been patiently waiting for Link to bring out the final mask, but his tortured pleas snapped her to attention. Peering through the hole in the wall, she could see Link through the other hole. He seemed to have some sort of black wire wrapped around his arms, chest and leg. "Link, what's going on in there?" she called to him worriedly.
"ZELDA, HELP!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" he screamed back at her, extreme pain etched in his panicked voice.
Jarred into action by Link's frantic outburst, Zelda stuck her hand through the holes and grabbed Link's body in her fist. She tried to pull him out, but somehow ever her prodigious strength wasn't able to wrest Link free of the tendrils. And Link, trapped in Zelda's gigantic fist and with tentacles still wrapped around him, waited helplessly. "Umph! Link, I-I can't pull you free!!" he heard Zelda cry out, her voice filled with worry.
And then, Link heard the invisible treasure chest pop open, and seemingly out of thin air, a mask floated upwards from where he knew the chest was. It was shaped like the other three Giant's Masks, but this one.... it looked like it was molded out of obsidian, but it didn't reflect any light. It looked shadowy, sinister....
The next instant, the tentacles detached from the walls and seemingly turned into a liquid, glue-like form, which spread all over Zelda's fist. The hovering Giant's Mask then lunged forward and embedded itself into that liquid mass, as if to merge with it. *What now?* he thought, his heart filling with dread as the viscous, black mass continued to writhe across the fingers wrapped around him.
Link felt himself lurch backward as Zelda suddenly pulled her arm out of the mansion. Looking at her hand, she saw the black goo on her fist. "Ack!! What the.... GET OFF ME!!!" she shrilled fearfully, shaking her hand violently in an attempt to get the shadowy, gluey mass off and obviously forgetting she was still holding Link.
However, the black glop eventually came off on its own. It evaporated off of her hand, turning into a dark, smoky mist. Zelda watched in confusion as the last of the glop turned into black mist, and Link, incredibly dizzy from being shaken about like a toy, strained to watch too. The wisp of black mist then gently drifted away from the pair, and it seemed to expand exponentally as it did so. Soon, it expanded into a cloud of mist that could encompass even Zelda.
And before Link and Zelda's eyes, it gradually began to take a shape. Within seconds, the black mist had formed a vague outline of a human body....
After a few more seconds, Link and Zelda let out a collective gasp once they realized what it was turning into.... it was shaping itself into a shadowy copy of the princess, which was exactly the same size as her.
Once it had fully materialized, the creature simply stood there, silently observing Zelda and the Hylian man she still held tightly in her hand. "Zelda, look out!" Link warned, realizing the extreme danger Zelda was now in. "This thing'll come at you any second!"
But for some reason, the dark copy of Zelda did not attack them. It merely continued to stand there and stare at the nonplussed princess. And then, through the Sages' bond, Zelda was somehow able to connect with this strange new creature. It was merely a quick flash, lasting only a second or two, but it was enough to realize this: it was cold, malevolent hatred for everything she held dear.
And then, without warning, swirls of black mist circled around Dark Zelda, like a shadowy version of Farore's Wind. And a second later, she vanished from their sight.
For a moment, Zelda and Link stared blankly at where the creature had stood. "I-I don't understand," Link spoke up, shattering the silence. "Why didn't it attack? All my dark copies tried to take me out right away!"
"I don't know either," Zelda said, shaking her head. "But we'd better find it. This thing.... it's malevolence was overwhelming; no telling what it'll do."
"Not to mention it has the last Giant's Mask," Link added. "I think we should go to Clock Town right now. If it's out to kill and destroy like you say...."
Link didn't need to explain any further - Zelda understood what would happen if her new counterpart attacked the most populated area in Termina. And so, after Link was carefully set down on her shoulder, he played the Song of Soaring. It was a drastic step transporting Zelda directly into the town, but with that thing out there....
As the gigantic white wings wrapped themselves around Zelda, Link remembered one detail: there wasn't much room around the owl statue in the center of Clock Town for her to materialize in. But there were no complications when the two of them reappeared in Clock Town; Zelda's feet were firmly yet precariously planted on the sloping wooden planks that lined the northern part of the town's central area, though her feet would undoubtedly leave giant indentations in the wood.
As soon as they had rematerialized, Link looked down from her shoulder and immediately noticed something was amiss: the Clock Tower was gone!
Link gasped in disbelief, his heart leaping up into his throat. He looked around some more, and saw that scattered about the central part of town, there was debris that he recognized as once being part of the huge tower. And where the Clock Tower had once stood, there was now a smoldering crater with steam rising from it. At looked as if an unfathomable large magnifying glass had been used to burn a tunnel forty feet in diameter, right where the tower once stood.
"AAAAHHHH!! ANOTHER ONE!!" Link heard a woman scream from down below, snapping him out of his state of shock. Then he heard a man cry out, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!" Link looked down, and saw several panicked townspeople running around aimlessly, obviously scared out of their mind.
One thing was all too clear: Dark Zelda had already been here.
"L-Link?" Zelda muttered shakily as she surveyed the destruction, her lip trembling. "W-what's going on here? What d-did that t-thing do?"
"It-it wiped out the tower, a-and it looks like it used Din's Fire to burrow a tunnel under it," replied Link uneasily.
"B-but why?" asked Zelda, her voice still shaky. "Isn't the only thing under it the...."
Then it hit her like ten thousand tons of brick: underneath the Clock Tower was the portal connecting Termina with their own world. And her evil double was tunneling her way back to that world! "LINK! She's making her way to H-Hyrule!! She-she's.... GOING TO DESTROY IT!!!" she shrieked fearfully, her face twisted in horror. And if she could have clearly seen Link right then, she'd know his face had a horrified expression on it as well.
"T-then... she could already be there!!!" Link cried out disbelievingly. "Once she's in our world, she can teleport there right away and...."
"Not necessarily," Zelda said hopefully, turning to look down at her shoulder at Link. "There's a limit on how far I can teleport with Farore's Wind. And Hyrule is hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles away from the portal...."
Link stared back up at her, realizing what Zelda was getting at. "So... you're saying there's still a chance we can get to Hyrule first if I use the Ocarina?"
Zelda nodded slightly. "Yes, but we've got to go NOW!" she said urgently. And the urgency in her voice spurred Link into action, and he took out the Ocarina of Time and played the Serenade of Water....
And then, the two of them vanished in a swirl of sparks that darted up into Termina's afternoon sky, transporting them back to their homeland.... for a desperate attempt to save it.
******
"And that's all I know," Saria said uneasily to Impa. "When I woke up this morning, I was in my house, and Mido said Link brought me there." The two of them stood within the royal throne room of the rebuilt Hyrule Castle. Saria had come seeking Impa as soon as she had awakened to tell her what she remembered. But having to relive the horrific events of the previous night almost brought to tears.
Impa merely stared down at Saria, silently reflecting on what the Kokiri girl had revealed to her. As usual, Impa's face betrayed no emotions whatsoever. But Saria was certain that deep down, she was feeling a sense of relief, knowing that Link and Zelda were alive and well. *No thanks to me,* Saria thought guiltily.
"And you're saying whatever abducted you also turned you against them?" Impa asked, breaking the uneasy silence.
Saria looked down at the floor. "Y-yes," she answered shamefully. "This thing.... it-it made my envy rage out of control, and I almost killed Link. And the princess.... if-if Link hadn't hit me enough times, that barrier that kept her out would've still been strong enough, a-and...."
Impa reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Saria's shoulder. Saria looked up at the Shiekah warrior, and saw nothing accusatory in her eyes. "I can tell you speak the truth, Saria, and I know you are not to blame for what happened," Impa said empathetically.
"Th-thank y-you," stammered Saria, still on the verge of tears.
"But Saria, why didn't the rest of the Sages sense something was amiss?" asked Impa.
Saria thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I-I think it was some other dimension," she replied. "Did-didn't Link say he had travelled to some sort of alternate universe?"
"And what were Link and the princess doing there?" Impa inquired. "It sounds as if this dark force brought you there to guard something. What was it? What were they after?"
"Another Giant's Mask," answered a familiar voice.
Impa and Saria turned in the direction of the voice to see that Link had entered the royal chamber. His body language suggested he was expecting a fight at any moment, and his face.... it was an expression of pure dread, of someone who knew an inevitable disaster was about to take place.
"Link?!" Saria gasped. "W-why are you here?"
Link took a few steps forward. "Saria...." he breathed, still feeling just as guilty as she did.
"Link, what is going on?" Impa asked queurulously, her voice actually betraying a sense of surprise and uneasiness. "Why are you here? What is...."
"A giant shadow copy of Princess Zelda is on its way here and plans to wipe Hyrule off the face of the Earth," Link said matter-of-factly.
Saria stared at Link slack-jawed, obviously unwilling to believe what she had been told. Impa was eyeing Link with a dubious look as well, and said, "Are you serious? How can you...."
"Listen, we haven't got time," Link snapped irritably. "Thanks to the Ocarina of Time, we managed to get here first, but that thing'll be here any minute. We've got to make sure everyone in Hyrule is somewhere safe once it's here." Impa could sense the feelings of urgency behind Link's words, and nodded.
"Alright then, the princess is rounding up everyone in the market town and escorting them to the castle," Link continued, satisfied that he had convinced Impa of the approaching danger. "As for me, I'm going to use the Ocarina to transport myself around and warn everyone else."
"L-Link," Saria spoke up. "J-just transport me with you to the Lost Woods. I'll warn the Kokiri myself. You'll waste too much time going through the Lost Woods to reach the village." Link looked down at his friend, felt another swell of guilt after seeing the bandages still wrapped around her forehead, and nodded.
"Link, what about the creature itself? How do we stop it?" Impa asked acutely, but she already knew what Link's answer would be.
Link turned to the Shiekah, and said, "It's all up to Zelda."
******
"Hurry! Get to the castle!" Zelda commanded, standing in the center of town, and watched all the Hylians from the market town make their way down the path that led to the field in front of Hyrule Castle. She was eternally grateful they had heeded her dire warning; it had been over a week since she had fled, yet they still obeyed her and trusted her.
Zelda continued to watch her people flee to the safety of the castle. They looked so tiny and fragile; they would be easy prey for her wicked counterpart if she arrived before they reached the castle. Then the princess turned back to look at the market town. Much of the damage from the Wizzrobe's assault was still unrepaired, and she shuddered at the thought of what sort of destruction a fight between her and her double would cause.
After a few minutes, the princess ventured down the path to the castle herself, and stepped up onto the field that stretched out before it. The townspeople had made it through the initial gate unhindered, but the guards around the castle's entrance were barring their way. "Let them through!" Zelda said in a commanding voice. "Get inside, all of you. That's includes all you soldiers, too."
And so, after another minute, everyone had retreated into the relative safety of Hyrule Castle, and Zelda let out a sigh of relief. By now, Link would have warned everyone else in Hyrule about her dark double as well. All that remained now was for her to vanquish the abomination that had taken her form.
And vanquish it she would. This was her homeland, and she would fight to the death to defend it. She had went into self-imposed exile because she feared her size and power made her too dangerous, but now she was the only one who could protect Hyrule.
*It should be here by now,* Zelda thought nervously as she glanced all around her, hoping to catch any signs of her elusive enemy. *It's sure to try and attack the castle first, I'm certain of it!*
And then, she both heard and sensed the crackle of magical energy being expended behind her. Zelda whirled around and saw a dark sphere of energy coming right at her, leaving a blazing trail of dark, purplish-black flames. She had noticed it just in time, and erected a forcefield with Nayru's Love to protect herself. The black ball of energy harmlessly impacted the barrier and dissipated into nothingness.
But then, Dark Zelda seemingly came out of nowhere and rushed straight at her. She struck her in the midsection with a fist charged with dark energy just as the Nayru's Love barrier faded away. The stinging pain made Zelda yelp and stagger backwards, and her double had another chance to attack. She threw another punch, this time at Zelda's face.
But the princess was ready. As Dark Zelda threw her punch, she sidestepped and then grabbed her arm. Then she began sending shocks of magical power through her adversary as she held onto her arm. However, Dark Zelda soon managed to retaliate, bringing her knee up into Zelda's midsection and forcing her to relinquish her grip. The shadow double then charged forward with both hands outstretched, and Zelda felt her body get smashed by concentrated dark magic.
Zelda keeled backward and fell, and expected her counterpart to attack while she was down. But Dark Zelda simply ran past her, towards the castle.
*Oh no!* Zelda thought panickingly as she scrambled to her feet. *It's more concerned with wreaking havoc on Hyrule than destroying me!* she realized as she ran after her shadowy clone. She soon caught up with her and tackled her. And just as she collided with her, Zelda called upon the power of Farore's Wind and used it to transport both of them elsewhere.
The two of them rematerialized in Hyrule Field, a few dozen meters to the south of Lon Lon Ranch. *There. Now we're out of range of everyone,* she thought as she turned her counterpart around and punched her in the face, and she swore she could see some black liquid pour out of her nose. However, Dark Zelda was soon able to regather her wits and counterattack. She sunk her fist into Zelda's midsection, then followed up with an uppercut to the head.
"Ack!!" cried Zelda as she reeled backward from the force of her blow. Luckily, she forced herself to regain her composure and face Dark Zelda again. But she was too late to prevent what was coming next; she was charging up a ball of evil energy, her twisted equivalent of Din's Fire. Before Zelda could do anything, the ball launched forward and struck her. It ignited upon impact, and billowing plumes of dark fire hungrily licked at her flesh. Twinrova's fire blast had certainly been painful, but it was nothing compared to this!
Zelda slumped down to her knees, hissing and gritting her teeth. She then heard Dark Zelda approaching, undoubtedly to attack her again. Luckily, she was still focused enough to summon up a Nayru's Love barrier, just in time to block Dark Zelda's magically-charged fists.
*Can't let it keep me on the defensive!* Zelda thought desperately as the diamond-shaped barrier began to fade away. *What did Link say.... that these shadow copies seem to know everything about the people they mimic. Maybe if I do something unexpected....*
Then Zelda got an idea. She rose to her feet and slowly backed away from her shadow copy, who had both fists clenched and charged with magic. Just as the last traces of her forcefield melted away, she rushed forward and summoned up the power of Nayru's Love again, but in an entirely different way. Instead of forming a large barrier around her, she formed two smaller ones around her fists.
With her fists now encased in rock-hard magical barriers, she smashed her left hand against the side of Dark Zelda's head, and she reeled from the impact. Then she cocked back her right hand and hurled it at her double's chest, and she swore she could feel ribs give way before her barrier-enclosed fist.
Dark Zelda staggered back helplessly, leaving herself wide open for another attack. Zelda then decided that this presented a perfect opportunity to strike back with Din's Fire, and she concentrated on forming a ball of fiery energy. Her counterpart regained her composure just as Zelda launched the attack at her, and erected her own diamond-shaped forcefield just in time, although hers was so dark and opaque one couldn't see through it.
The fiery sphere impacted the forcefield, and Dark Zelda had timed it so perfectly, it rebounded and flew back at Zelda. "WHOA!" exclaimed Zelda as she dashed to the side, letting the ball of flame fly harmlessly past her.
Zelda turned to attack her double again, but then saw she was using her version of Farore's Wind. "Oh no you don't!" she cried out, charging toward her with her hands outstrecthed to grab her. But she was seconds too late; Dark Zelda vanished in a swirl of black, cyclonic wind, and Zelda clumsily ran through the spot she had stood in a moment before.
*Ack! It's going after the castle again!* Zelda realized, a feeling of cold dread gripping at her heart. There was only one thing to do: teleport and get back to the castle. And so, she concentrated, summoning up her magic and calling upon Farore's Wind.
But before she could initiate the spell, she felt something as hard as a rock strike her on the back of her head.
"Aahhh!!" she screamed, stars swirling all across her field of vision as she turned around to see what had hit her. What greeted her was the sight of Dark Zelda rearing back her fist, which was now encased in a black, opaque forcefield.
Zelda didn't have enough time to block the incoming blow; her double nailed her in the jaw, and it felt as if it almost snapped loose from her skull. *It never tried to return to the castle,* Zelda realized as she fought back the extreme pain. *It merely wanted me to think it did, so I'd dropped my guard as I teleported!*
Zelda looked back in front of her and saw her double advancing again. Acting on instinct, she spun herself around while calling upon Nayru's Love, and another forcefield appeared around her along with smaller crystalline shapes that swiftly rotated around the middle. These crystal-like structures mercilessly cut through Dark Zelda and forced her back, which was just what the princess was counting on. She rushed forward, jumped, and kicked outward, concentrating her power into the ball of her foot. When she struck her evil double, the impact hit her like a bolt of lightning, and she flew backward several hundred feet, eventually slamming into the rocky walls that surrounded Hyrule Field.
*That must've weakened it considerably,* Zelda thought hopefully as she darted toward her downed foe. *If I keep it up, I'll destroy it in no time.* But she instinctively knew that it wouldn't be so simple. Her head was still reeling from Dark Zelda's merciless blows, and using so many magic spells so quickly was beginning to exhaust her. But she was determined to wipe out that giant, twisted version of herself. If she couldn't do it, who would?
By the time Zelda had closed the distance between them, her double was already on her feet. She eyed the princess warily, and Zelda could make out traces of a hateful expression on her shadowy face. Not wanting to give her too much time to gather her wits, Zelda dashed forward with one hand glowing brightly, crackling with energy.
Zelda lashed out with her fist charged with magic, but her counterpart merely sidestepped and tripped her as she rushed by. Zelda fell forward and hit the ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dirt and snapping a couple trees underneath her oppressive weight. She quickly looked over her shoulder, hoping to spot any incoming attacks from Dark Zelda, but all she saw was the final wisps of black wind that signified she had teleported again. *Huh? Where is it going now?* she thought confusedly.
She got her answer soon enough. Dark Zelda reappeared about two or three hundred feet above the princess, and then dropped down while angling her heel downwards. Zelda didn't see her counterpart's rapidly descending form until it was too late, and her slammed down painfully onto her backside. But it wasn't the force of her massive, falling body that she felt; rather, it was the collected dark energy that had been harnessed in the heel of her double's foot.
"AAAHHHH!!!" Zelda screeched, the force of the dark magic almost knocking her unconscious. For a few moments, she lay motionless, unable to get back up and fight. Then, she felt herself being turned on her back, and through her blurred vision she saw Dark Zelda kneeling down beside her, and formed around her fist was another Nayru's Love barrier, shaped like a needlepoint. Zelda caught on immediately: her double planned to run her through.
*No! I can't lose!* Zelda thought gravely. *Everyone in Hyrule is depending on me!* It was true; if she was felled, nothing in Hyrule could stop her counterpart's rampage. She had failed to prevent Ganondorf's ascendance, but she refused to fail now, against this warped mockery of herself.
Calling upon her last reserves of strength, Zelda lashed out with a quick burst of Din's Fire, flames engulfing everything around her. Dark Zelda caught a good deal of it, and immediately got back on her feet and backed away from the billowing flames. The princess slowly got back onto her feet as well, facing her double. The deadly needle-like forcefield that had been on her hand was now gone, but it was obvious that she still had plenty of fight left in her, as opposed to Zelda, who felt as if she'd pass out at any moment.
Dark Zelda started charging at the staggering princess again, this time forming spike-shaped crystalline barriers around both fists. Zelda, struggling to remain conscious, mustered together her power again, preparing to erect another barrier around herself....
But it proved to be unnecessary. As her counterpart was closing in, some sort of tiny, brightly-lit projectile hit her in the midsection all of a sudden. Ripples seemed to spread outward across her shadowy body, and her torso seemed to crackle with electricity. Then another one of those projectiles hit Dark Zelda in the head, and she staggered backwards, and the spear-like barriers around her fists dissipated.
*Wh-what was that?! Who's....* Zelda began to think. Then she figured out what it was. She looked down at the ground and glanced all around. Sure enough, a few dozen feet away from her was Epona, and riding on the horse was Link, bow at the ready with another light arrow. He fired it at Zelda's evil double again, and she staggered even more.
"Link! Don't!" Zelda cried out in a strained voice. "I-It's too dangerous here!"
"Not a chance," she heard Link say, his voice sounding faint and distant. "We've been through this together, and we'll see it to the end together."
Zelda turned back to her double. Link's light arrows had not done any significant damage, but they had managed to daze her slightly, leaving her open for an attack. "OK then, here goes," she breathed as he collected more magic to use Din's Fire. Within seconds, she had formed another blazing ball of magical fire and sent it towards her counterpart, and this time she wasn't able to resist. The ball exploded and enveloped her in red-hot flames, and she sank down to one knee.
Dark Zelda was helpless again, and Link kept firing more light arrows at her to make sure she stayed that way. "Zelda, do it now! Finish it off now!" he called out to Zelda.
It seemed so long ago, back when they had sealed away Ganondorf together. Zelda held down the gravely weakened King of Evil down with her magic, allowing Link to deliver the final blow with the Master Sword. And now, their roles had been reversed: Link kept Dark Zelda at bay with his light arrows, enabling the princess to move in and finish her off....
At that moment, Zelda felt a familiar burning sensation in the back of her hand. She glanced down at it, and saw the Triforce symbol glowing brightly, fiercer than ever before. And an instant later, she felt incredible power radiating out of her hand, revitalizing her. The Triforce of Wisdom that she protected, it was now giving her the strength she needed to lash out for one final, mighty assault.
Her fist charged with more magical energy than she had ever mustered before, Zelda dashed twoard her foe, who had somehow managed to get back on her feet. The princess lurched forward and threw a punch at Dark Zelda's chest, and her fist penetrated her and sank into the area where her heart was. Then the Triforce of Wisdom pulsated again, amplifying Zelda's remaining magical power and tearing apart the vile copy of the princess from the inside....
And then, Dark Zelda exploded in a blinding flash of white, blazing light, lighting up all of Hyrule Field as if a miniature sun had burst into existence....
As quickly as it had began, the blinding light faded away. Noticing this, Link withdrew his arm from his face and opened his eyes. There was no trace of Dark Zelda anymore. All he could see was Princess Zelda's enormous, motionless body sprawled out on the ground. Evidently, her final effort to vanquish her shadowy clone had succeeded, but she had knocked herself out in the process.
******
Slowly, gingerly, Princess Zelda opened her eyes. *Wh-where am I?* she thought as she tried to bring her vision into focus. She was laying face-up on something, and she could feel something soft underneath her body. Sort of like... a comfortable bed.
*Huh?* she thoughtly confusedly as her eyesight finally came into focus. What she saw directly above her was a stone ceiling. Now even more confused, she sat up and looked down at herself. No longer was she wearing a mud-stained royal dress with a burn hole in the back; now she had on a simple, silky white, long-sleeved nightgown. And she had been lying in her own bed.... the place where her predicament had began.
"Welcome back, princess," she heard a familiar voice say. Zelda turned in the direction of the voice to see Link standing near her, smiling. But no longer did he seem shrunken to her, barely standing more than three inches tall. He now stood before her as the tall, handsome Hero of Time she had fallen in love with.
"L-Link?!!" she breathed, not believing what she was seeing. She quickly looked around her, and saw that she was indeed back in her bedroom in the castle. "Wh-what happened to m-me?! D-did...."
"We return you to normal?" Link finished for her, a look of delight still on his face. "Yep. You knocked yourself out after you killed Dark Zelda, and we decided to perform the procedure right then and there. With all four masks, that salesman was able to magically bond them all, and once I played the Song of Healing again, well...." He let the sentence dangle as he looked at her again.
"How long was I out?" Zelda asked seriously.
"About twenty-four hours," replied Link.
Zelda stared back at Link for a while, trying to think of something else to say. "L-Link, back there, during the fight, th-thank you," she said at length. "You probably saved me."
Link shook his head. "Nah. Even if I hadn't shown up, you would've found a way to beat it. All those Moblins, the Wizzrobe and his spider thing, your dark double.... no one can ever accuse you of being a meek, helpless princess, that's for sure." Zelda felt herself blush after hearing Link's compliment. It was quite something to hear the most battle-hardened man in Hyrule praise her for her toughness.
Link then walked over to a nearby nightstand. Turning to see where he was going, Zelda saw all sorts of potted plants were placed on her nightstand. "Everyone's been sending you some 'welcome home' and 'get well soon' gifts," Link explained to her.
Zelda examined the plants closely. In a jar filled with water was some sort of purple seaweed that was undoubtedly given to her by the Zoras, and in another pot was a flowering cactus that she guessed came from the Gerudo. About five or six bouquets of flowers were on her nightstand as well. Zelda felt a great swell of pride and gratitude from seeing such an outpouring of sympathy from the people of Hyrule.
"Zelda," Link spoke up suddenly. "There's something else."
The princess turned to face Link again, who had a solemn look on his face. "Zelda, it... it's about... what you asked me."
"What I asked you?" said Zelda, confused. "W-what...."
"About if I wanted to marry you," Link suddenly said.
Zelda gasped, astonished by his response. Link decided to continue. "When you first asked me, I was.... scared."
"Scared?" Zelda huffed amusedly, not believing that Link could be frightened of anything. "You, scared?"
"Uh-huh, I was," Link responded. "The sudden way you asked me shocked me, and I was too afraid to jump into something that serious so soon. But...."
"But what?" Zelda asked.
"But after you ran away, I realized just how much you meant to me, and that I couldn't go on without you," he explained affectionately. "And now, now I know...."
Link reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He quickly showed it to the princess. It was a golden ring, and on it were three triangle-shaped diamonds, arranged to form the Triforce symbol.
Before Zelda could say anything, Link spoke up again. "Zelda, will you marry me?"
The thunderstruck princess looked up back up into Link's eyes, and tears began to form in her own. Not tears of pain, or tears of sadness, but tears of pure joy. "YES!" she shouted happily as she shot up from the bed and hugged her beloved hero. "Yes, Link! I will marry you!"
And Link wrapped his arms around Zelda as well, and the two just stood there, embracing one another.
******
THE END
So long,
Grey