Ocarina of Time II: Parallel Symphony
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Part One: Boy
Chapter Three: Twelve -- Forest
Link hefted the Fairy Bow experimentally. He drew an arrow, aimed, and let loose.
The twins laughed and clapped. Mido leaned against the tree and scowled. Saria ruffled the hair of the Kokiri 'boss,' then walked over to Link and peered at his target, a normal bull's eye. He had struck it dead center.
"Don't see what's wrong with a good old Fairy Slingshot," Mido muttered.
"I can't use Light magic with Deku seeds," Link replied quietly, looking away. "I'm going to need this when I face Ganondorf."
"Don't pay any attention to him, Link," Saria broke in soothingly, reaching up to place her hand on his shoulder. "We understand."
"Hey, I didn't mean it like that!" Mido objected, waddling over to the pair. "I mean, who decided that you can enchant arrows but not seeds?"
At that, Link looked down at Mido and grinned. "Hey, it's not that bad. Even the dreaded Ganon isn't immune to a good ol' Deku Nut to the face."
Mido brightened at that. "Really?" He grinned. "Take that, Mr. big-shot King of Evil!" A moment later, he was pacing, one hand on his chin. "Huh. We should probably start holding on to Deku Nuts, then...what's that fancy word of yours, Link? Store-piling?"
"Stockpiling," Link replied, nodding seriously. "Good idea. Farore willing, though, Ganondorf will never come within ten miles of these woods." Farore, please, he prayed mentally.
"Yeah, but better safe than sorry," Mido muttered, this time more to himself than anything else. Then, realizing the attention he was receiving from most of the Kokiri, he pulled himself up importantly, his head almost reaching Link's shoulder. "I have to think of these things. I am the Great Mido, after all."
"Absolutely, boss," Link quipped, smiling again.
Mido looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Watch the lip, Scrub Boy," he said, albeit without heat. "You and Saria go check out the temple. I wanna talk to the shop owner about those Deku Nuts."
"Yes, sir," Link and Saria said as one, then walked off as one of the Know-It-All Brothers followed Mido towards the store.
Saria hugged Link suddenly. "I'm so happy for you," she whispered.
Link wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Thanks, Saria." He shook his head in amazement. "Mido, actually acting like...like a leader," he said softly. "I never thought I'd live to see the day."
"I did," Saria replied , resting her head on his ribs. "It's funny. Ganondorf's caused so much pain, but in some ways he's been good for Hyrule."
Link's eyes bulged. "What? That monster?!"
Saria nodded. "Look at all the people he's brought together. Gorons and Zoras, the different Hylians, even some of the Deku Scrubs are starting to act decent." She smiled up at him. "And then there's you and Mido."
"Hey, I never wanted trouble with Mido," Link replied defensively as they entered the Lost Woods, the long hollow log opening into the maze they knew by heart.
Again Saria nodded, this time a bit sadly. "I know, Link. I know." She released him, then poked his hat gently.
Navi spiraled out. "Hey! What's the big idea -- oh, hi, Saria!" she said brightly.
"Navi," Saria said with a slight wave. Saria's own fairy flew over to Navi, and they both began to change colors with impressive speed.
"So," Link said brightly as they approached the Sacred Forest. "Why is Mido, of all people, sending you and me, alone, to the Temple?"
"He knows he can trust us," Saria replied evasively as she let Link help her up the ladder. Link knew she could more than manage herself, but at his current size, it was faster this way.
"That's not what I meant," Link said softly. Saria paused at the wall's edge. "Is something wrong, Saria?"
"We...don't know," she said slowly, looking worriedly across the ancient meadow-maze. "There's a strange feeling around the Forest Temple. A familiar feeling." The Forest Sage frowned slightly. "It feels...wrong."
Link gripped his Gilded Sword. "Thank the gods I can finally use the Fairy Bow. That Terminan bow's good, but it's just not the same." Not to mention kind of small, he thought wryly. "If Ganondorf is moving...I don't have the Master Sword, Saria." I don't want the Master Sword.
A cool wind blew around them. Saria rubbed Link's back with a tiny hand. "Then it's a good thing you can make Light Arrows. We will deal with the Gerudo King when the time comes." She smiled up at him. "I'm sure we'll be fine, Link." They reached the Temple entrance, Link looking up and rubbing the tips of his left hand's fingers with his thumb. The Hookshot itched to be summoned. "See?" Saria gestured at the Temple. "Everything's fine."
"I wonder." Link concentrated, closing his eyes. Come on...I can do this. Blood of Life, the fire, fluid and breath...the blessings of the goddesses in every heart...flow to the Eye and let me See. He opened them again.
Everything looked the same. "Farore," he breathed. Saria clucked at him disapprovingly, but for once, he ignored her and pulled out the Lens of Truth. "Huh. Nothing."
Saria brightened. "See? I stopped feeling it just before we got to the clearing." The diminutive Sage winked at him. "I bet it's afraid of you."
"Hah!" Link snorted, smiling ironically. "Ganondorf's only ineligible for the Triforce of Courage because he doesn't know what fear is." He looked up, expression fading to neutral. "On the other hand, who knows what time is to a phantom? Maybe it knows that I beat it once. Maybe the Light Arrows can disrupt its magic. Din knows it didn't like arrows the first time we fought."
"Well, we're not going to find out today." She patted Link's hand, her eyes filled with her smile. "Why don't you go check on Zelda? She's next on your route, isn't she?"
Link rubbed the back of his neck and grinned weakly. "I'm that transparent, huh?"
"You're watching out for us," Saria said fondly, standing on her stump and stroking his cheek, "and we all love you for it. Go on."
He watched Saria sit down to play, letting the beauty of her Ocarina's music wash over him for a moment. Then, reluctantly, he brought the Ocarina of Time to his own lips. Something still doesn't feel right, he thought, but there was no question that the dark presence they'd sensed as they approached the Temple had fled. Even Phantom Ganon couldn't penetrate the Lost Woods easily, surely. He let the Prelude of Light flow through him, through the Ocarina, and the familiar swirl of power drew him between worlds.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Zelda held herself upside down, but otherwise upright, on one hand. Nayru, and I thought I was ready for this, she thought grimly, feeling her right arm trembling. Clad in only a familiar blue jumpsuit, lacking the wrappings or Sheikah tabard, the princess had a freedom of movement that she lacked almost entirely in her formal garb, but just this simple handstand was taxing her stamina. I've only been at this for five minutes! She looked at the light-clock beside Impa. Not even that, yet, she realized grimly. Ten more seconds for even this meager victory. Last time, at twelve, she'd been able to keep herself up for half an hour.
#Last time, little one, you had already spent two years running for your life,# Impa reminded her. "Time," she added aloud at the five minute mark.
"But--" Zelda began.
"Time," Impa repeated implacably. Zelda relented with far more relief than she wanted to admit, tumbling with some small grace to a sitting position. She rubbed her arm ruefully. "As much as you have been dancing, exercising and practicing acrobatics since Link's appearance, you are still a princess in this time and place." Impa gestured at the garden around them. "Even if you could shirk your other duties, which I know you would never do, the life of a royal heir is simply different from what you faced before."
"Easier, you mean," Zelda said reluctantly, looking at her still-trembling arm grimly. Traitor, she thought at it with a tinge of sorrow.
"I said different," Impa insisted, eyes narrowing. "You have already proven invaluable in your advice to the royal court. Simply because a thing is not physically taxing does not mean it is easy."
"I know, Impa," Zelda sighed. She let the arm rest on her lap. "The Sheikah arts come so much more dearly, though, and they shouldn't. I know them, every one, in my heart." She took in her body wryly. "My body, on the other hand, seems to be another matter."
"If you are so familiar with the training," Impa said sternly, though not unkindly, "then you should remember that integral to becoming a true Sheikah is the union of body, mind and spirit." The bodyguard placed her hand on Zelda's still-trembling one. "I fear that your borrowed memories are in fact making your task more difficult, not easier." Impa's expression softened, and she looked a bit sad to Zelda. "Perhaps I should not have made you wait."
"No, I'm glad," Zelda replied quickly, placing her left hand on Impa's and smiling. "I was so frustrated at first, I know...but you gave me my childhood back. I can never thank you for that."
Impa smiled back. "My child, you just did."
"Hey!" Navi shouted.
Impa chuckled and stood, smoothing her face over. Zelda, meanwhile, gasped and stood, brushing herself off as much as she could. She tried to make her hair look decent, but in the end, all she could do was tie it back.
Link was holding his hat in both hands, the end flailing around like a bagged whirlwind. He opened it then and glared in. "What's the matter with you?" he whispered to the hat, but Zelda's stamina wasn't the only thing she'd improved during her training.
"I was just saying hi! What's the big deal? Farore!" Navi darted out and buzzed around him briefly, then landed heavily on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, okay?" she insisted.
"Just try to behave yourself, all right? We're guests here, and as nice as Zelda is to us, she is the princess." Zelda distinctly heard the fairy give her Hero a raspberry, then Navi flew up to his head, folding her arms sullenly. Link sighed, then looked up, smiled apologetically, and waved. "Impa! Zelda! Hey there!" He settled the hat back on his head.
"Hi, Link!" Zelda jogged up, Impa falling in at her side. "You're early!"
Link rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. Gods, he's so cute when he does that, Zelda thought, then was grateful for Sheikah mind training. It kept her from blushing. Where in Nayru's name did that come from? He looked into her eyes, and his smile faded. "Just back from the Forest Temple," he said, barely avoiding a stammer. Then his eyes focused more deeply, and his voice steadied. "Saria sensed something dark there, but as we approached, it vanished."
Impa immediately stepped forward. "The first spirit of evil?" she asked, her body an arrow ready to fly.
Link folded his arms and looked towards the forest. It's almost like watching Impa herself, Zelda thought, pride in her Hero welling in her. "I'm not sure. There was something...different about it. Weaker, but that's to be expected, with Ganondorf lacking the Triforce of Power." He looked at Zelda again, and her heart did flip-flops. That intensity he'd had when they first met was back, and it had grown, if that were at all possible. "I came here first, in case..."
Impa nodded. "Well chosen, pup." She looked around them with her expert eye, Link watching the Sheikah with a nearly equal, but very different, sort of focus. "We are safe here, for the moment. The mightiest mages in Hyrule have bolstered the castle's defenses. Also, I sense not even the slightest attempt at intrusion by the Dark Fire that is the source of Ganondorf's power."
"Dark Fire..." Link scowled. "Medeus said something about Dark Fire just before we shut him up."
Impa nodded. "You know how magic works. Some," she said, looking at Zelda proudly, and the princess suddenly felt ten feet tall, "have a natural talent for Light Force, or Shadow Force," she added, tapping her Eye, then looking back at Link, "but most wield mana through balancing the two. Like a water wheel, the flow of Light and Shadow moves mana through the world. What the foul witches have taught their king is a deliberate imbalance -- the void that burns, the flame without light. Dark Fire."
"Mandrag's Maw," Zelda said, making the symbol of the Triforce over her heart with her left hand.
"You'll have to tell me about this Mandrag some time," Link said, smiling suddenly. Zelda blinked in astonishment. "Well, as long as Ganondorf's the one with this power, he's the one I'm worried about."
Impa sighed and sat in the grass. Zelda was sure Link didn't notice, but the princess was amazed to see the Sheikah fingering a flower idly. "You have learned much in a short time, Hero, but there is still much you do not know that others receive with their mother's milk." Link's face tightened, and Zelda fought to keep her own expression steady at the sight of his pain. "There is no shame in it, pup, but this you must know. Mandrag is the enemy of the Goddesses themselves."
Link gasped. "The...you mean Din, Nayru and Farore? How could they have an enemy?"
"All we have are legends, now," Impa said, exhaling. "The story goes that Mandrag, or 'magic-thief,' once had a different name, now lost to time. He was beloved by the goddesses all, but loved only Din. Growing jealous of Din's sisters, he spent less and less time with the creators. Indeed, it was the creation of Hyrule that finally drove him to madness. Now he had not two sisters to contend with, but a world entire. He attempted to seize Din for himself, but her might was too great and she cast him out of the Sacred Realm. His love turned to hatred, and his desire became a thirst for power and power alone." Link sat before Impa, mesmerized by the tale. Navi leaned on her arms as she laid down, as rapt as her partner. Zelda watched her Hero with fascination, having heard the story more times than she could count.
"Mandrag came to Hyrule, it is said, bent on our destruction, but Nayru saw his evil intent and warned her sisters." Impa frowned. "Then, she made what may have been the only mistake in her existence. Still feeling compassion for the goddesses' first friend, she descended herself to make one last attempt to reach him. Instead, he sought to capture her and use her as bait for Din." Link's hands became trembling fists in an eyeblink. Zelda didn't have to wonder why. Memories of another life flickered in her mind, watching in helpless terror as her Hero, already forced to endure a thousand battles, strode towards the King of Evil alone, even Navi stripped from him. "Their powers were too evenly matched, but when their battle neared the newly-made Hylians, Nayru feared for our safety and ceased her assault, only defending herself. Mandrag might have had her then, but Din and Farore appeared, the Goddess of Power blazing fury incarnate and her younger sister a whirlwind of fearless wrath."
"Is that where the Evil Realm comes from?" Link asked suddenly.
Impa nodded. "Very good, lad. The three goddesses created the prison eternal for him, though they left one hope for both the God of the Dark Fire and themselves. If he would forsake his cruel ambitions, they would welcome him to the Sacred Realm once more. They left a way for the mightiest wizards to reach him, that their children might guide Mandrag back into balance."
Link frowned, his fists relaxing. "I thought you said Nayru only made one mistake."
"It was the same mistake, pup," Impa replied, "if mistake it can be called, for the goddesses' only crimes in this were too great a love for their friend and too great a faith in their children. As you might imagine, the young, untutored Hylians, the power of the gods singing in their veins, were easy prey for the fallen one. More than one mighty witch and cunning sorcerer fell to the greed and corruption of Mandrag's whispers. Over time, mercifully, it became more difficult to contact Mandrag; only the purest of heart or most clever and powerful of wizards could penetrate the seal."
Link's fists formed again, trembling all the harder. "Who decides what 'pure of heart' means, anyway?"
"The Sacred Realm is not the Evil Realm, Link," Impa said firmly. "They touch, they connect to and reflect each other, that the goddesses might speak with their ancient foe and his servants, but only the Triforce itself could possibly bring the two into real contact, and Ganondorf never had the True Force in his grasp. Mercifully, knowledge of the Evil Realm has been all but lost." She looked away sadly. "Would that it had been lost entirely."
"The Mandrag Heir..." Link whispered. "Koume and Kotake?" he asked suddenly. Zelda gaped. Nayru! Why didn't I think of that?
Impa, meanwhile, merely nodded. "Mandrag, seeing his hope for escape dwindling, granted the last two witches he seduced virtual immortality. They, in turn, have been corrupting the Gerudo for centuries. Ganondorf is, without question," the last Sheikah said with deep bitterness, "their crowning achievement. Brilliant, charismatic, merciless and fantastically talented in all the wizard's arts, Dragmire is everything they have sought for centuries, and more. Only his vestiges of honor prevent him from being ideal for them."
"Honor!" Link blurted, outraged. "Ganondorf?!"
Impa pierced the young Hero with a stern look, and he fell silent. "Even the King of Evil is not evil itself. Why did he not place a sword to Zelda's throat, otherwise, and force you to give him the Triforce of Courage?" Link and Zelda paled almost as one. "Indeed. Dragmire's Gerudo training runs deeply enough that he must challenge a worthy foe in something that at least resembles fair combat."
"Sure," Link snarled, "trapping someone in a magic crystal, that's fair."
"I was no match for him in physical combat," Zelda whispered, looking into her hands, "even with my Sheikah training." The other three looked at her in varying degrees of surprise. Navi nearly fell off Link's hat, more from her own reaction than his, but righted herself in mid-air and flew to hover above him. "He fought me with magic, when I had the Temple of Time as a defense. He won." She sighed. "Easily."
Link gritted his teeth. "Only because he had the Triforce of Power, Zelda! Whatever his twisted mind thinks is fair, that sure isn't it!"
"Yeah!" Navi added emphatically. "Once you're grown up, I bet you could wipe the floor with him!" She fluttered to Link's shoulder. "Link, how do you wipe a floor with a person?"
Link snorted a chuckle. "Beats the heck out of me, Navi." He paused in thought briefly, and Zelda sensed the Hero thinking about the original discussion. He looked up suddenly, realization dawning in his eyes. "Power...to repel evil..."
"You use the Master Sword to wipe the floor?" Navi asked dubiously.
Zelda giggled, and even Impa smiled. "Not literally, Navi," the Sheikah replied. "I believe, however, that Link has connected the Master Sword to Mandrag." Link nodded. "Before Koume and Kotake, there was a spiteful young sorcerer named Vaati. Most of his tale is lost to history, but in his arrogance he thought to control Mandrag. The Dark Fire consumed him in the end, but Mandrag was reborn through the remains of this vicious mage. The greatest Sages and sorcerers of that time, it is believed, used the power of the Triforce to call on the gods, and together they created the Master Sword. A young hero, clad in green," she added with a significant look at Link, "used the sword to destroy Mandrag's incarnation in our world. The Temple of Time was built to house the Master Sword and strengthen the seal on the Evil Realm. This had the side effect of sealing the Sacred Realm, due to their connection."
Link sat quietly for a long moment, then whistled. "That's some story."
"Yes, it is," Zelda replied. "We only have fragments of the legends, however, and they were legends long ago. There's so much we've lost. Was the Master Sword's ability to seal the Sacred Realm intended? Who was Vaati really, and where did he come from? Some of the legends say he was in love with a great bearer of the Light Force, but that strongly contradicts his connection to Mandrag."
"People," Impa noted dryly, "can be contradictory beings at times."
Zelda nodded in agreement. "True, but that would be an incredibly important part of the legend, wouldn't it? Yet we have no idea who this woman might have been. All we know of her is that the hero who contended with Vaati cared for her as well, no doubt more truly." She blushed suddenly, folding her hands in her lap. "It -- I've always liked that part. That's all."
"There's nothing wrong with that, Zelda," Link said, and Navi bobbed in the air in her mimicry of a nod. "Still, it sounds like this Vaati was no Ganondorf."
"Agreed," Impa said simply, standing. The two children followed suit, Navi darting into the Hero's hat again. "Where Vaati was spiteful and overcome by hubris, Ganondorf is driven only by his hunger for power. Koume and Kotake have seen to that. Arrogant though he may be, we are all more familiar with his cunning and strategic genius than we would wish."
Zelda bit her lip. Din, Nayru and Farore, she sighed, carefully wiping her lips clean with one finger. Link nodded, lost in thought. Then he stiffened, eyes wide with horror. As one, the Sheikah and the princess looked at him with concern. "Link? Link, what's wrong?" Zelda asked insistently.
"...Saria..."
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
#Link! Link, can you hear me?#
#I'm here, Saria! What's wrong?# His mind's eye sought the Forest Temple and Saria, and found vines threaded through with evil magic. The Poe Sisters, he realized with dull horror.
#It was a trick! I'm so sorry!# The Hero could feel Saria using her Ocarina magic and Sage powers, but she was being driven back. #It is Phantom Ganon, Link -- but he's different somehow! I need your help-#
The connection snapped like a cut bowstring.
Link gasped. "SARIA!" he screamed, then raced out of Zelda's garden, pulling the Ocarina of Time from his pouch as he darted past astonished guards.
"Link, wait! Don't go alone--" Zelda was calling to him.
I'm sorry, Zelda, but I can't wait! he thought desperately, the Minuet of Forest whistling across the garden in record time. As his body swirled into pure, verdant mana, one thought ruled his mind. She was supposed to be safe, sear it! She was supposed to be safe!
The strange non-existence between space and time faded, and he appeared before the Temple, Hookshot already appearing in his hand. The beasts of the Temple were no match for his Gilded Sword and Megaton Hammer, and he quickly made his way through the first few rooms. The Poes fled the main chamber, of course, but Link knew exactly where to find them. Let's see how you gods-forsaken ghosts like a diet of Light Arrow, he snarled. The great chambers seethed with Deku Babas, but the Water Temple's extra-long Hookshot let him destroy them from a distance with ease. The Octoroks were no greater a threat than before, but the Hero found himself forced to focus to reflect their stones. Saria, he thought, his knuckles turning white on the hilt of his golden blade.
"She'll be okay, Link," Navi said quietly as they reached the top floor. "We'll find her."
"I know, Navi," Link replied through gritted teeth. "It's just..."
"What?"
"This is so frustrating," he said in a furious rush. "I remember most of this, but it's been over two years and a lot of temples. I've forgotten just enough that I don't quite know what I do now." He looked around. "Wait. This room -- I remember. I need to go in here." He opened the door.
"Link, wait...I don't know..." Navi spiraled slowly around the Hero as they entered the octagonal room. "Wait, I remember! We don't need to be here! All you get in here is--"
The door fell closed behind them. All-too-familiar iron bars clanged down behind them as well as at the door in front of them. Three Stalfos appeared in swirls of what they now knew was Dark Fire.
"...the Fairy Bow."
"Which I have," Link sighed. "Navi," he said as he drew sword and shield, the skeletal knights chuckling evilly as they approached, "when we kill these things, hit me right in the forehead, okay?"
"Watch out!" was Navi's only response, and the two leaped into battle once more. The fairy's power to focus his aim was as invaluable as always, but even with that and the might he'd gained over the years, three Stalfos were still a challenge. The first went down quickly, but he took a shallow cut along his back from one of the others. Without the blessing of the Fairy of Courage, he would have been bleeding. With an air of annoyance, he pulled out the Megaton Hammer and proceeded to reduce the second Stalfos to shards, taking a slash on the arm from the third. Trading Hammer for Hookshot, he stunned the obnoxious thing, then slashed it into oblivion. Like its brethren, the last Stalfos vanished in a burst of Dark Fire.
"Well." Link leaned on his knees for a moment and took a few deep breaths. "I'd forgotten how much fun that was."
"I just might hit you on the head after all," Navi drawled. "Look, let's just get the Fairy Bow and go. Zelda's an archer, isn't she?"
Link smiled proudly. "Best one I know, and considering that I know a bunch of Gerudos, that's saying something."
"Besides you, that is," Navi interjected.
"Me?" Link shrugged. "I'm okay."
"Okay?!" Navi raced around to hover a foot ahead of Link, then flew backwards with exact timing to keep pace with him. "How many Gerudo warriors from the future wanted to 'breed' with you, again?"
Link coughed. "Um, let's go find Saria, okay?" he said with a blush. Striding forward, he opened the chest. There, as he expected, was the Fairy Bow.
What he didn't expect was to watch the Fairy Bow float into the air and then, in a whirl of golden motes of Time magic, vanish. Link looked at Navi in shock. The fairy stared back, eyes wide with uncertainty and fear. "Link, what was that?"
Link swallowed and looked at the empty space. He pulled out his Lens of Truth. Nothing. "I...I don't know." A thought struck him suddenly. "Wait a minute." He pulled out his Ocarina and played the Song of Time. An afterimage of the swirl appeared, and what looked like a pictograph of the ruins of Ganon's Tower flickered in the background. The Zelda who had sent him back was there, unmoving, and even a few bits of debris were frozen in mid-air. The Fairy Bow was appearing, a corresponding swirl of energy locked in place along with everything else.
"What in Farore's name is that?" Navi whispered.
"I...I'm not sure," Link whispered back. "But..." he looked down, then back up. The image was already fading. "...if I had to guess, the best I can come up with is that the Zelda in there, that Hyrule, that...time...is still there, somewhere. Then, some-when?" Link rubbed his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut for a second. "Gaaah. Not our problem right now. We have a Fairy Bow, she has a Fairy Bow. Fair trade." He strode towards the now-unlocked far door. "Come on. I want to introduce some sadistic Poe girls to Light Arrows."
Navi grinned, bobbing her aerial 'nod.' "I'm with you, Hero."
The Light Arrows did indeed disagree with the Poe Sisters. They weren't quite as effective as the Hero had hoped, but he quickly retrieved all four flames and activated the strange lift device. "Ready, Navi?" he asked grimly as he strode forward without hesitation.
"Ready!" the fairy agreed immediately, zipping around the Hero. Together, they rode down to the lowest level and worked their way into the strange gallery. Link walked into the center of the room and looked around.
Nothing happened. Link grimaced, glaring at the paintings. "Where are you, you ugly, overgrown Poe? Show yourself, Din burn you!"
"Such manners!" an all too familiar voice laughed, booming from every direction. "You are a guest, boy. You should be more polite."
"A guest?!" Link roared. Navi virtually hummed with outrage at his side. "I'm a Kokiri! This is our Temple, and you, you gods-forsaken monster, are not welcome!"
"Kokiri?" The evil presence laughed again. "We both know better than that, don't we, little Hero?" Link ignored the pain in his heart, head darting from side to side. Finally, the creature began to form overhead, motes of Dark Fire appearing from nowhere to form the false Ganondorf on his shadow-steed. He wielded the familiar three-pronged spear, and stared mockingly at Link with Ganondorf's face. Again, he gripped the top of his head, tearing the face away...
...but this time, what he revealed was the monstrous boar's head of Ganon himself!
"WAAH!" Link blurted, leaping back. The thing's sadistic laugh redoubled.
"The Twinrova witches have been watching you, kid," the creature bellowed with cruel amusement. "With our magics combined, we have detected many strange things...and learned a few useful tricks. While we do not know all regarding your accursed knowledge, rest assured that we know some of what you have experienced. This beast, for instance...very useful! HA ha ha ha ha!" Returning to familiar ground, the evil spirit from beyond rode into one of the paintings.
Link wiped sweat from his brow. This body was not Ganon's, but Ganondorf was commanding it directly, of that much he was certain. He drew his bow, readied a Light Arrow and prayed to Farore. Turning slowly, he heard the tell-tale swirl, spun and fired.
Thank you, Farore! he exulted as the demonic horse exploded in a clash of light and shadow. As he expected, Phantom Ganon soared into the air, spinning his double-ended spear. "Looks like you don't know as much as you thought, tyrant," Link quipped.
"We shall see. HA!" Ganon fired a ball of power at the Hero. Link grinned and swung his sword into it.
The blade passed through the globe, and Link flew back, body sizzling. "GAH!" He gritted his teeth as the evil king's puppet laughed again.
#Link, that's not the Master Sword! What you tried to do -- that must have something to do with the Power to Repel Evil!# Navi warned him through their connection.
#Oh, great,# Link replied with a groan. #I hope the Light Arrows work, then...# The Hero remembered all too well how effective normal arrows had been against the first Phantom Ganon. He tossed a Deku Nut at the creature, who recoiled. Heh. Mido to the rescue. What a day this has been. Link drew his bow again. Navi loyally flew into place over the monster's head, and the Hero fired.
Even as a phantom, Ganon's scream was horrific. It wasn't like a normal person's pain. Ganon's roar was like all the hate in the world given voice, as if pure spite could enter the world as a single relentless sound. Naturally, even a Light Arrow wasn't going to deter Ganon with a single shot, and the duel continued. Each fired and dodged, Link evading bursts of Dark Fire, Ganon occasionally spinning out of the way of an Arrow. The Hero hissed in pain as another blast pounded him. He's tougher than his stooge from the first time around, Link thought angrily. I've got to think about this...
A sudden grin formed. "Hey, pig-boy! Try this one on for size!" He summoned the Iron Boots, wincing in memory of old pain though they fit at last, then pulled out the Hookshot and fired. With the Boots bracing him, the phantom was pulled to Link's side. Now let's see if he's immune to the Gilded Sword! Link thought triumphantly, the sight of Ganon's shock evident even on his porcine features. A flicker of thought banished the Iron Boots, and he slashed again and again at the devil before him. Ganon howled in pain and fury. Guess not. Link's smile grew genuinely predatory when, after one particularly vicious slash, he thrust his sword behind him.
"Grrrah! DIE!" Ganon snarled, bringing up his spear for an overhand smash.
Link spun, slashing and burning in a whirlwind of death. Phantom Ganon bellowed in hatred denied, then exploded in a burst of shadow and flame. "Heh heh heh..." the pained voice chuckled. "...not bad, kid. You're strong." A green glow slowly grew from above as the phantom's influence waned. "Unfortunately for you, I am stronger. You may have defeated this puppet, but rest assured, the master yet awaits you!" With that, the last traces of Dark Fire vanished.
Link sat down heavily. "Whew. Navi, you okay?"
"Oh, sure, I'm the one getting beat on all the time. Wait, actually, that would be..." Navi shot back caustically.
"Oh for Din's sake," Link breathed. "Look, would you fly up there and see if that glow's Saria?"
"No need," Saria replied gently. She floated slowly to the floor, her fairy orbiting dazedly above her, then threw her arms around Link and hugged him more fiercely than he thought possible for the sweet Kokiri girl. "I'm so sorry!" she sobbed suddenly.
"Wh-huh-you're sorry? Farore, for what?" Link blurted.
"Language," Saria said automatically, then leaned back and smiled sheepishly. Link mumbled something that he hoped was an apology as she continued. "I wasn't in any danger, Link. I was trying to ask for your help in cleansing the Forest Temple when that...that creature locked me out. I couldn't get in, and it would have taken forever to get past the wards on the roof to reach Mido..." she squeezed again, and Link clenched his jaw to avoid groaning. His ribs were going to be truly angry with him in the morning. "...but he cut me off in the middle of contacting you, and I just knew you would think I was in danger. If anything had happened to you because of me--"
Link took her arms in his hands and leaned back. Gods be good, he thought quietly as the pain receded. "Saria, you were like my mother, my sister and my best friend all in one when I was a kid. You were always there for me." He brushed an errant lock out of her face. "I'll always be there for you." He chuckled, finally giving in to a wince. "Besides, what's a few open wounds between friends?"
Saria considered that for a moment. "Tell that to Zelda," she said finally, releasing him and folding her arms, but she grinned as she said it.
"Oh, that's not fair," Link groaned, trying to stand. He sat down again with a thump. "Ow. We -- for the love of Nayru, what's that?" he gasped, looking up. A second glow of forest green was descending. As Saria followed his gaze, he realized that it was the Forest Medallion. Before either of them could say anything, however, the same time magic that had claimed the Fairy Bow at the temple's apex claimed the Medallion. "Of course. I already have the Forest Medallion."
Saria blinked up at the empty space where the Medallion had been. "Link, do you know what just happened?"
"I'm not sure," he replied, finally regaining his feet with some help from the Forest Sage, "but I've got an idea. I'm hoping the Sage of Time can give me some help on that one."
"Your ideas, I suspect, have merit, young Hero," a new, deep voice echoed through the gallery. Link, Saria and Navi turned as one to the center of the room, where the expected gateway had finally opened. Instead of the familiar blue of the Light Temple's Chamber of the Sages, though, it glowed orange-gold, almost like the Requiem of Spirit's magic. From that golden glow emerged a large figure in an all-concealing cloak, face hidden by the brown hood's shadows and the body surrounded by the voluminous wing-like cape.
Link jumped in front of Saria, who immediately formed a sphere of green energy between her hands. "Who are you?" the Hero demanded, sword and shield out in an instant.
"I am the Arbiter," the newcomer announced evenly. It's strange, Link thought, carefully taking in what little he could of the unfamiliar visitor. He doesn't feel like an enemy, but his voice, so empty... The Arbiter turned his head, and Link guessed that he'd shifted his gaze from the blade back to the Hero. "You and the princess have altered Time itself, and now the gods must take a hand, lest the streams of time become dangerously mixed."
"Streams of time..." Link licked his lips, concentrating. That vision... "Are you saying that the Zelda I knew in the future sent me to another...'time stream?' Is that it?"
"Exactly," the Arbiter said, his voice seeming to take on just the faintest hint of something that might have been a feeling. Saria seemed to be trying to stare through darkness itself to see the face beneath the hood. "Thus have I been chosen to prevent the barriers from weakening overmuch. Your Zelda did well to--"
"My Zelda," Link growled dangerously, "is at Hyrule Castle. Endanger her at your peril."
"The Zelda from the other time stream meant to aid the past and redeem what she felt were her sins toward you," the Arbiter continued as if Link hadn't just threatened him, "yet those actions have resulted in an imbalance in the forces of both her Hyrule and this one. To save her time stream, some of the advantage gained in this one must be balanced out."
Saria frowned faintly. "Why? That doesn't seem fair."
"Had she simply sent you knowledge, that would be true," the Arbiter replied neutrally, "but she did not. Though he possessed the body of a ten year old, this Link had all the experience, power and equipment of the Hero of Time, excluding only the Master Sword. You were given a warrior capable of conquering an enemy wielding both the Triforce of Power and the Dark Fire. Link has only become stronger, and will grow stronger still during the next five years. More to the point, in doing as she did, she deprived her own stream of its Hero. He is here, now, before you."
Saria's eyes went wide. "Then...but..." She looked from Link to the Arbiter. "Are you saying that this Link is from a completely different world?" Link shuddered. I can't be alone again...can I? One look into Saria's eyes gave the lie to that fear, and he almost smiled again. Still trying to protect me. "I won't believe that! He's our Link!"
"In a sense, you are correct," the Arbiter agreed. "This 'stream' was no different from the other until Link's arrival from the future separated it from its mother time. As such, he is different, yet not. Nevertheless, the point remains that where there was one, there are now two -- mirror-worlds reflecting one another across Time. The very instant he arrived, however, choices changed, events changed, and you became unique individuals from the beings who now reside in that other world."
"Wait a minute," Link cut in. "Are you saying that there's two of everyone...but me?"
"And your fairy companion," the Arbiter said evenly. "While your understanding is not perfect, it is sufficiently accurate for the discussion at hand."
"Oh no," Saria whispered.
"The ageless Forest Sage grasps the danger well," the Arbiter intoned. "You may think little of your importance even now -- a function of your pure, noble heart," he said, voice still utterly even, and Link turned bright red, "but the truth is that without you, that world will eventually fall to eternal darkness before Ganon's might. In order to ensure that does not happen, we must give that world what its Zelda truly intended -- a Link with his childhood restored."
"Is that even possible?" Navi asked incredulously. "How can we exist there, if everyone got copied but us because we got -- moved!"
"Even for the gods, it will not be a simple task," the Arbiter said, still as motionless as a statue, "but given how you came to be here, it is possible. They are, in many ways, beyond the normal flow of time -- one could say they are of Time itself -- and after a fashion, so is the one you know as Mandrag."
"So...we, we have to keep the Dark Fire's focus over here, where I am, so he can't mess up that other world while it's vulnerable?" Link asked, shaking his head. "Gods be good. When is it enough..." he sighed, taking a long, deep breath. "I'm sorry. That was unworthy. I'm just...I'm just tired."
"That world is more vulnerable than even you can imagine, Hero of Time," the Arbiter said, beginning to sink into the gate. "You saw the image through your use of the Ocarina. Your time streams are matched, yet you are in the past. The world where you originated from remains in the 'moment' from which you were sent until this stream flows unto the equivalent moment here, 'now.' If your Ganondorf becomes capable of projecting his might and will into that world, he and his foul patron will have years to effect magic that will thunder across that Hyrule in the instant you vanished." The Arbiter's head seemed to tilt away from Link for a moment. "You are not a prisoner, Hero of Time. You can choose not to bear this burden." His voice was still impersonal, but Link sensed something -- compassion? Pity?
It didn't matter. "Sure. I can just let a whole world fall to Ganon forever because I need some sleep," Link drawled. "I beat the monster once, I can do it again."
"Know, Hero, that Ganondorf will be permitted to match your knowledge and power with terrible might," the Arbiter warned. He could have been giving Link directions to the Potion Shop in Castle Town. "I am not permitted to warn you of his plans, and he will become increasingly aware of your 'future history.' The only benefit you will receive is the barrier between worlds."
"I'll manage." Link straightened, sheathing his sword and returning the Hylian Shield to his back. "It's what I do."
"Indeed it is, young Hero," the Arbiter said, disappearing into the portal. "Indeed it is."
He was gone.
"Okay," Navi said nervously, "is it just me, or was that almost as creepy as Phantom Ganon himself?"
"No argument there," Link agreed emphatically. "You know what really ticks me off, though, is now I've got to find all the stuff I already have. Again!"
Saria laughed and hugged him gently. "What are we going to do with you?" the Sage asked fondly.
Link sighed. "Help me go through the Dodongo Caverns and Jabu-Jabu to grab the stuff I missed?" he said with a weak grin.
Saria and the two fairies laughed in unison. "Come on, Hero," the Sage said, guiding him into the gateway. "I'll take care of you. Just like old times."
'Just like old times,' Link thought, sniffling slightly as they descended into the light. You'll never know how much those four words just meant to me.
They emerged at the platform for the Requiem of Spirit.
"What in Farore's name?!" Link blurted. Saria grimaced. Then they watched in shock as, desert shaking furiously around them, a titanic pillar rose from the sands near the Spirit Temple, its peak adorned with a huge replica of the Forest Medallion, held in the wings of the great Phoenix of Hyrule.
"Link, let's get out of here," Saria whispered.
"Definitely Sage advice," Link quipped weakly. "Hang on." Saria gripped him tightly, and this time Link was more than glad of it. He played the Prelude of Light, and its welcome mana wrapped around them like a blanket. With that, they were gone.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Impassively, the Arbiter watched the Hero and Sage vanish. Once, he was sure, he would have worried about them, but he was not as he had been. That had been the agreement.
Ganondorf strode up beside him. The Gerudo King was strutting, even for so simple a walk. "And so it begins," he said with amusement.
"You are unwell," the Arbiter said without concern.
"The kid has skill, no question," Ganondorf replied, his deep voice only faintly mocking, "but when the time comes, I will crush him like an insect. You know the nature of my advantage, Arbiter." He ignored the searing winds and scouring sands that blew around them.
So did the Arbiter. "You do not yet know the full extent of what the Hero has accomplished, monarch," he said, walking towards the great Temple doorway. They could have been discussing the weather. "The advantage you have bargained with me for is far less absolute than you might think."
"You?" Ganondorf looked at the Arbiter with astonishment. Then he laughed, a pained cough marring his confident demeanor. "Arbiter, I will take any advantage I can acquire, but rest assured I find yours of moderate account at most. In battle, I have been bested only once in all my years since earning my scimitars. At that, it took the legendary Queen of Hyrule in her enchanted armor to overwhelm me while I was yet a mere prince."
The Arbiter shrugged. "As you say. The Chamber of Arbitration will pass judgement in the end. I care not which of you it judges; such is my duty and my fate."
"So you mentioned," Ganondorf replied, a cunning look crossing his face. He rubbed his chin lightly. "What sort of judgement, precisely, do you intend to pass?"
"There are artifacts," the Arbiter explained, "appropriate to both yourself and the Hero, a sword of light and a mirror of shadow. The vanquished will meet his end in this world with the use of the relevant device."
"A sword of light..." Ganondorf chuckled wryly. "A fitting end to the Hero."
The Arbiter saw no point in correcting the Gerudo King. He would fulfill his obligations and nothing more. Thus had he been made. If some portion of the man he had been would have felt satisfaction in the tyrant's error, that was not particularly relevant.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
"You couldn't wait five seconds to take me with you?" Zelda scolded fiercely as she pushed Link on to the healer's bed. Of all the reckless...! she fumed to herself.
"Take you with -- Impa would have skinned me alive!" Link blurted. "Ow!"
"Don't be such a baby," the princess said firmly, trying to remain stern. She nudged the Hero, and he pulled up his tunic and rolled onto his side obediently.
"Baby?! You fight Phantom Ganon without the Master Sword and see how you look on the other side of it. Owww." Link sighed while Zelda looked at the ugly gash along his back. "Do you know where Impa and Saria went?" he asked quietly.
Zelda forced herself to focus on the deep, unpleasant wound. It wasn't bleeding, a side effect of the Great Fairy's blessing, but it seemed to glow almost malevolently to her Sage's sight. He's right -- well, except Impa would have been after my hide first, she thought bitterly. It wasn't right. How many times? she wondered, forcing herself to become outwardly calm. "This wound is...infected is not the right word, but the phantom's energy has tainted it. Do you have a fairy bottle?" Zelda asked evenly. Link merely arched an eyebrow at her. "You might have used them up already. I don't want to take any chances." She glanced at Navi. "Is there something you could do?"
Navi looked at her toes. Zelda didn't sense shame from the fairy, but there was a sort of embarrassment not unlike what she picked up from her Hero when he was reminded of being an orphan, or that he wasn't a true Kokiri. "I can't heal wounds normally, the way pink fairies do. I can help Link every once in a while, but I have to store it up."
"She can draw me back to a specific time," Link explained bluntly, "if I fall really far or get knocked out. Navi's saved my life more than once that way." Navi rested against the Hero's cheek. "It's not something either of us likes to rely on, because it always exhausts her, and if she hasn't recovered, and I mess up again..."
"I'm different," Navi said quietly.
Link nudged her with a gentle shake of his head. "You're special."
"Like you?" Navi and Zelda said in time with each other. They grinned.
"Impa and Saria?" Link said quickly.
Zelda bit her lip, and was immediately glad she hadn't had to appear in court since Link's disappearance. "Speaking privately upstairs. Sage business. I suspect they are concerned about the other Temples." The energies in the wounds seethed quietly, but Zelda was already seeing the blend of Fire and Wind that Ganondorf's avatar had used, and the Dark Fire that had bound them together. The princess let mana flow into her fingers, and slowly drew the energies away, letting them dissipate.
"Ooo. Oh, that's better," Link said with a sigh of immense relief, beginning to relax. "That's a good idea, though, working out what to do with the rest of the Temples. If they can make it work, I'd be just as happy to never fight Bongo Bongo again." The Hero slowly rolled onto his stomach, and Zelda leaned over to reach the wound more readily. "Zel, do you understand all that stuff about time and twin souls and all that?"
Zelda paused in her work briefly. "I think so," she said slowly, returning to her healing. "Think of it like a parallel dimension -- like the Sacred Realm, the Twilight Realm or Termina."
Link nodded, almost fully relaxed. Then his head bobbed up an inch. "Twilight Realm?"
"Don't worry about it," Zelda said firmly, pulling at a particularly stubborn bit of power. "We may have been one world once, one stream of time as this Arbiter put it, but now we're two different worlds, two different sets of souls." She let her fingers brush against the skin just beyond the wound opening. And this one owes everything to you, she thought distantly. The bloody lips of the wound slowly closed at her ministration. Link trembled. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"Fine," he replied, voice cracking badly. "Fine."
Zelda giggled. "Ah, puberty. You didn't go through that last time, did you?"
"So," Link said with the force of a man desperately changing the subject, "parallel dimensions."
Zelda's giggles turned to genuine laughter. "Oh, Link." She forced the good humor back with a bit of will. "So. There's two of me, two Impas, two Sarias and so on. Two Ganondorfs as well, but the one you already bested has been sealed away in the Evil Realm. The differences in worlds makes us each unique individuals now, with unique souls."
"Only one of us, though," Navi said sorrowfully.
The humor vanished in truth. "That is a problem," Zelda agreed. "I have no idea how that could be, or how it can be undone." She exhaled heavily and leaned back. The foul energies were gone and the slash had been healed, Nayru willing, though it would most likely leave a scar. "You should be fine now," she said as brightly as she could, and leaned back.
He sat up and pulled his shirt off. Zelda blinked and licked her lips as he examined the Kokiri tunic. "Hm. Usually, the Kokiri magic is enough to repair any damage," Link muttered.
"Th-the energies that kept your body from healing," Zelda said quickly, trying to force her heart to beat normally and failing, "probably did the same thing to your tunic. Here, I'll take it to the tailors," she added, snatching it from his hands and walking briskly to the door.
"Hey!" Link blurted. "What the heck was that all about, Navi?" he asked as Zelda fled with as much dignity as she could manage.
Navi giggled. "I don't know," she lied shamelessly just before the door closed.
Zelda leaned against the door for a moment and caught her breath. No twelve year old, she thought, not sure just how annoyed she was, should have a body like...like that. Din, Nayru and Farore. Of course, constant training and battle easily explained his conditioning -- Marth had spoken in hushed awe of the Hero when they'd first returned from slaying Medeus, and Marth was never in awe of anyone, even her father -- but explanations didn't make seeing it any easier when she was only twelve herself. More to the point, even if she now knew they were another Zelda's memories, she remembered most vividly seeing him at seventeen. She forced her mind away from such thoughts, but that only brought her to a depressingly familiar train of them. Din, Nayru, Farore, please, he's been through so much.
No shaft of light answered her silent prayer, no music of the spheres played through the mana. None ever had. Occasionally, she thought she could almost feel the goddesses' sorrow, their regret, but Zelda had to wonder if those were the gods' feelings or her own. Either way, apology was all they could give him.
Zelda's face became a mask of determination. Well, the gods may not be able to do something, but Din sear it, I can! Sheik was there for him before, and I swear by Nayru, she will be again, if I have to drop Impa into the Chamber of Sages myself!