Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of these people, places or things. Heck, even most of the verbs belong to someone else. :-) All characters and settings © Nintendo. Hey, they've earned it.

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Chapter Four: Minuet of Hope

Zelda awoke to darkness.

She couldn't see, all she could hear were strange echoes, and her body would barely obey her. Only her psychic senses remained truly effective, and even they were muted by her extreme lack of mana. There was no pain, mercifully, a small comfort given her situation.

Letting her mental awareness ripple slowly outward, Zelda carefully felt the area around her for signs of life. At first, she sensed nothing, but soon, she noticed several contradictory presences. They seemed one, but many at the same time. Most of it was dim and porous, but there was a solid core of something at the heart of it. Around that core, two forces circled one another. It felt like Ganon and Link locked in mortal combat.

"mmm!" she wept, thrashing for half a second, before she realized that what she'd sensed was metaphoric. Dark Link, she realized, forcing herself to become composed. As composed as I can be, wrapped up like this. Turning her examinations to her more immediate situation, she felt a surprisingly comfortable cot beneath her, which was resting on partially worked rock. Cave? Nearby, she detected a meager lava flow, which was odd given the coolness of the chamber. Caverns. Cheeky. Somehow, though, I doubt Link's Shadow forgot to take the Gorons into account. Twisting on her cot, she found to her dismay that her Shadow wrappings were very thorough. Feet, ankles, knees from below to above, arms folded behind me and pinned to my body, fingers practically welded to my elbows...Ganondorf has far too much time on his hands. Even my Sheikah training's not getting me out of this.

She froze at an astonishingly gentle touch, fingertips caressing her cheek. "Shh, shh, it's all right, Zel," her captor said, voice the equal to his touch. Of course. There's still some Link in there. In defiance of all good sense, she felt guilty, but she whimpered into her gag anyway. "I'm sorry, Zel, I can't..." Zelda shifted on her cot and pleaded wordlessly. "Sear it. You haven't the mana to use Farore's Wind, and even if you could move your fingers, those bonds won't allow you to slide through Shadow." He touched her blindfold and gag, and they vanished. Zelda blinked, but the room was dark enough that her eyes didn't need to adjust greatly.

Link had always described his Dark counterpart as solid Shadow, but the man who stared into her eyes seemed real enough. His skin was an unhealthy shade of gray, his sword and shield remained solid Shadow, and his mana felt fouled with Dark Fire, like a stagnant, poisoned lake, but this Shadow Link was flesh and blood. His eyes could have been a Sheikah's, a touch darker than usual perhaps, but not beyond the Tribe's variation if she remembered Impa's descriptions right.

Just then, his eyes were the most intense part of him, flickering even as he stared. Shadow's entire body quivered like a bowstring just released. He licked his lips nervously. Gods, let that be nerves, Zelda thought suddenly. "Better?" he asked, voice suddenly gravelly.

Zelda nodded. "Yes, thank you," she whispered. "Please, you don't have to do this--"

He covered her mouth with his hand. "You don't understand, Zel," he said, his soft, gentle voice returning, but his eyes blazed with a strange fire. "I do have to." He let her go, stood, and paced manically. "It's them, don't you see? That gods-forsaken Hero and his Din-seared Enemy. They're inside me," he rumbled, voice shifting again to a deep rasp as he tapped his forehead forcefully, "both of them, them and more! It wasn't so bad when there wasn't as much of a me to notice," Shadow hissed, "but they were driving me insane!"

"Sh-Shadow, we can help you," Zelda replied slowly, carefully. "What you are, what you've been turned into, that's Ganondorf's work..." she felt into his core. "...no, this 'you' that you've discovered, Kotake did that, didn't she?"

Shadow Link nodded. "Oh yes. She had a soul she'd been saving for a very special project. My soul." He ran his fingers along his chest in wonder and disbelief. "I used to be nothing more than a hole, a void created in mockery of the Hero's epic substance. It was so easy, then." He looked at Zelda, eyes now focused and clear. "Back then, I just wanted you. Ganondorf's hate and Link's desire were easy enough to reconcile. But she'd been preparing me for years for this, and when Link defeated me in Zora's Domain, she decided my time had come." Shadow took a deep, shuddering breath and looked away. "Now, I can feel love, know what it is." He glared at Zelda again, his gaze almost accusing. "Do you have any idea...any idea...how much that accursed Hero loves you?!"

The world seemed to stop. Zelda could feel her heart pounding, and helpless as she was, there was no escape from it. He...he... Another person might have feared a lie, but her psychic awareness denied her perverse self-doubt that excuse. Gods. Oh, gods. Even the reflected love emanating from Shadow's eyes was unfathomable, overwhelming. And that's just a fraction of... Again, Zelda forced herself to take a long, deep breath. I will make it up to him. Somehow. Gods, help us. She met his gaze. "I had some idea, yes, but obviously I underestimated the Hero." The princess smiled wryly. "He gets a lot of that."

"Not from me," Shadow hissed. Zelda swallowed. "The problem with that 'Hero,'" he snarled, spitting out the word as if it were the foulest curse imaginable, "is that he can't do what he must. Most of us are a mixture of Light and Shadow, generosity and need, compassion and...desire." Shadow half-choked on the last word, then strode to Zelda and knelt, facing her. He caressed a strand of hair away from her face. "He can't protect you as you need, because for all that he is driven to keep you safe, the Light in the 'Hero' thinks he must let you run around free, lest shelter destroy you."

Zelda's eyes widened in fear. "He's right...please, he's right."

"No." Shadow stroked her cheek again, desperation quivering in his fingers this time. "You'll change, true. Soften, weaken. I can protect you, though. From Ganondorf, from the court, from Kotake," he said, growling the witch's name, "from anything. Needlenose thinks I work for him, but he couldn't be more wrong." All at once, he smiled beatifically. "You'll be happy. You'll see."

"What about Link?" Zelda whispered. Gods! I can't let this happen!

The smile vanished, and he bared his teeth in a vicious rictus of pure hate, leaping to his feet and pacing again. "Link. LINK! The bloody Din-seared 'Hero!' I HATE him!" He waved his arms around wildly. "He haunts me, Zel! Even before I had a true soul, he tormented me! So good, so perfect, so 'pure!' It's sickening!" Shadow stormed across the chamber. "He knows you don't love him, so he lets his desire consume him!"

"I do love him!" Zelda replied emphatically. "More than I could ever say!"

Shadow stopped as if turned to stone. For several seconds, he stood there, jaw slack, not even breathing. Finally, his head turned, the rest of his body as still as it had been, save for the faint working of his heart and lungs. "You...no, you can't. You would have said something. He knows you would have."

Is this what being tortured by Kotake is like? Zelda wondered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I...I was too afraid. I didn't want to risk our friendship. I thought...how could I be worthy of the Hero? All he's done, and I could never make it right for him..." She bit her lip, only able to see the stunned look on Shadow out of the corner of her eye, too ashamed to look at him. "...I was going to tell him, just the other day, but we were interrupted by Sakon..." Her eyes narrowed then, and she did look at Shadow, an accusation of her own in her eyes. "...and you."

"That was...I wasn't in control yet," Shadow replied, looking away himself. "Don't look at me like that! I didn't even exist yet. I was still pieces -- a soul in need of blood, and two shards of Shadow from Link and Ganon..."

"Of course," Zelda said, realization hitting her at once. "The soul. You wanted our help."

"It's too late for that," he said suddenly, voice hard and cold. He gestured, and the gag returned. Zelda grunted in frustration. "We were separate before, but now there's just me. The Shadow. He's coming for me, and I have to kill him."

NO! Zelda screamed, but nothing came out but muffled outrage. "I'm sorry, but I have to. Mandrag hates him, and Kotake hates him, and Link's own Shadow hates him, and this sorry excuse for a soul doesn't count for much against all of that." Zelda thrashed in a panic, but the Shadow bands were anchored to the cot at her ankles and back. "Then..." he looked at her, eyes a mass of conflicting emotion, "...we can finally be together. Forever." Shadow Link stepped out of her line of sight and vanished into the darkness.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Link grimaced at the opening to the Cavern. Four Shadow-covered Dodongos were guarding the entrance, hissing at the Gorons that glared at them, but they ignored the Hero entirely.

"Are you sure about this, Brother?" Darunia asked. The Fire Sage was still limping, and his eyes remained a bit unfocused, but Link found some small relief in seeing that his Sworn Brother would recover completely. "If he is your opposite, he cannot have any honor at all."

"He's not an exact opposite," Link explained slowly. "In some ways, he's the reverse of me. In others...we're very much alike." The Hero shuddered. Farore. I can feel him in me. He could sense Shadow's vile hunger and relentless hatred. Link wanted to shower for a week. He also wanted to sleep for a week, the Triforce's ability to sustain him long since past its limits, but the Hero resolutely ignored that part. "He wants to test himself against me. In his mind, there can only be one Link, Light or Shadow, and sending an army of Ganondorf's monsters wouldn't prove anything."

Darunia snorted in frustration. "Very well, Hero, but be careful all the same. I cannot imagine this creature of Ganondorf's won't use the princess against you."

The Cavern echoed with the sound of roaring lizards. Link shuddered, though the haunting cries had nothing to do with it. "He already has, Brother." Without looking back, Link strode past the fiery lizards and into the Cavern. #Navi?#

#I don't think you're going to need my help to find him,# Navi replied quietly. Link looked up. The mighty Dodongo skull's jaw was open, and a great arrow of Dark Fire pointed down its 'throat' from within.

#No kidding.# Link followed, then saw an arrow pointing left from the central room. #At least we don't have to fight our way through the entire Din-seared Cavern again.# The Hero walked on, the weakness in his legs beginning to show in his stride. #Farore. He doesn't want to do this around that lava pit, does he?#

#I think the Gorons sealed it,# Navi replied.

Link frowned. #Yeah, I think you're right...# One of his ears flickered up like a cat's. #Did you hear that?# Muffled grunts, the scraping sounds of helpless struggling and tearful frustration trickled faintly from the arrow's direction. He ran towards the sounds, then froze when he got to the open doorway.

Zelda looked up at him with horrified, tear-filled eyes, shaking her head no, and struggling with heart-rending weakness.

Grimacing, Link scanned the room quickly, looking on either side of the doorway and the ceiling. Though the room was much more poorly lit than the last time he'd entered, there was no sign of danger. Running in an arc to avoid the sealed pit in the room's center, he dashed towards Zelda, who was still trying to warn him of something. I'll deal with--

#Watch out!# Navi cried.

Link backflipped, narrowly avoiding a plunging blade and Shadow Link. Farore, that was close, Link thought, shaking slightly as he readied his sword and shield. Shadow grinned hatefully at him. "What's the matter, Hero? A little tired? A little...weak in the knees?"

"Not as weak as you are, Dim!" Link retorted, stabbing. #Navi, what in Nayru's name happened to him?#

#He's real now!# Navi warned. #That's a body, flesh and blood! Maybe this has something to do with what Impa meant about a sacrifice!#

Link stumbled backwards, barely avoiding a riposte. Impa's Dark Sheikah. Me. Farore. He rolled out of the way of a slash, then leaped away from an arcing head strike. At least he's not as fast as he was when he was pure Shadow. Gods, he's fast enough as it is. Zelda thrashed even more wildly, muffled cries frantic, while the Hero continued to play defense. Almost automatically, he blocked another blow with his shield, then rolled away. "Nayru's Love," he rasped, and the azure field spun around him.

"The same trick twice?" Shadow laughed, easily evading a stumbling slice. "You should know better than that. Nayru's Love!" he cried, and the same field sprang up around him. Link grimaced, then leaped towards Zelda. Shadow slammed into him, and the two went sprawling. "Don't," Shadow growled while Link stumbled to his feet again, his dark counterpart rising easily. "We don't want her to get hurt, now do we?"

"You..." New strength flowed through Link's body. "I'm going to kill you."

Shadow laughed again, more mocking than ever. "Kill me? Hero, you can barely stand upright without shaking. You've fought more battles today than even you have ever faced before, and I was completely reborn after your fight with 'me.'" Shadow circled him, a cat preparing to finish off a particularly stubborn mouse. "I'm stronger than ever. What do you have left? 'Love?' Hah!"

Link bared his teeth and snarled. "Shut up."

"Oh, it's too late for that," Shadow said with amusement, and Link winced. He spared a glance at Zelda, who looked away as much as she could, trembling. She knows. Zelda, forgive me.

Then her eyes went wide, and she started rubbing her gag on something. Thank Nayru! I've got to keep him busy now... Link locked eyes with Shadow. "So you told her," he said, letting his loathing for the creature before him flow freely. He blocked as much of his connection to his Shadow as he could, realizing with relief that he'd reduced it to a trickle.

Shadow bowed with a flourish, then looked up at the Hero with sadistic satisfaction. "It was so much fun, watching her realize just how 'pure' her precious Hero's devotion really was all this time." Link's foe straightened again, stepping back and switching to the Megaton Hammer. "Oh, and your little Sheikah mind filter won't save you. Remember this trick? Let's see how well that shield of yours works now!"

"There are a lot of things about me that are impure, Dim," Link said furiously, "but my devotion to Zelda isn't one of them!" He held up his sword just as the spell vanished. Shadow cried out in triumph and leaped, but Link dodged to the side, then jumped backwards and readied himself. That gave Shadow's spell enough time to wink out, and Link countered with a spin attack just as Shadow charged at him again.

"Aargh!" Shadow roared, stumbling back. His wound didn't bleed, cauterized as it was by the attack's fiery ring, but Link suspected with relief that his enemy wasn't helped much by that. "Miserable dog of Farore! You'll pay for that!"

"You keep talking about how I can't possibly win," Link replied, grinning coldly, "but I just drew first blood. Uh, flesh." He pointed vaguely at Shadow's wound with the Master Sword. "Maybe you should reconsider this."

"Never!" Shadow screamed, dispersing the Hammer and summoning his blade and shield. "I'll cut out your heart and eat it!"

"That's not how you increase your life energy," Link quipped. Shadow snarled wordlessly and charged again. I might actually win this fight.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Zelda ignored the trickle of blood on her cheek and kept scraping. The sharp end of the nail she'd found wasn't having much of an effect on her gag, but all she needed was enough slack to make herself heard. He has to know, she thought with grim determination. I have to warn him!

Link had finally regained some momentum in his duel with his Shadow. While they weren't moving as exact mirror images of one another, Shadow Link seemed to have some idea of what the original was about to do. Fortunately, Link looked like he'd picked up some of the same trick. The problem is, Shadow's right about one thing, Zelda thought, forcing her fear back. Link can't keep this up forever. He was already slowing down again -- just a fraction, but it would only get worse.

Something gave way in the Shadow band silencing her. Zelda shook her head sharply, but the band remained stuck to her mouth. No! Gods, what do I do now? Again, she struggled, but Zelda was as spent as Link, without the benefit of battle's rush to sustain her.

#...won't fail her...# she heard distantly.

#Link?# Zelda 'pathed suddenly, desperately. Is that what came loose? Please! She forced all her remaining energy into forging the connection. #Link! You have to hear me! You have to! LINK!#

#Zelda?# Link replied finally, rolling away from Shadow and drawing a Light Arrow. Shadow Link vanished into the ground, laughing again. He put the bow away, reabsorbing the arrow's mana, and pulled out the Master Sword. #Thank the gods! Are you all right?#

#Only as long as you still are,# she 'pathed firmly. #There's a chance in all of this, but...Link, it's bad.#

He nodded grimly, then gasped and jumped away when Shadow rose from the floor, spinning at him. #I noticed!# Their swords met in eerie synchronicity, then Link jumped backwards again, just evading another slash. #What in Farore's name happened to him? I mean, aside from the obvious.#

#He has a soul,# she said, hoping that brevity would help. Link did freeze for a fraction of a second, but still managed to duck another slash. At least it didn't hurt. #Link, remember what we heard from Sakon? The different voices?#

Link thrust, rolled and slashed, but before he could get behind Shadow again, the dark figure laughed and leaped away, almost floating through the air before landing halfway across the room. #Vividly,# Link replied. #Wait...is the soul the voice that was asking for help?#

#I'm sure of it,# Zelda 'pathed. #I think...I think you might be able to sever the other pieces of Shadow, yours and Ganondorf's, from him. You'll have to use the Eye and the Master Sword, but you should be able to see the separate pieces in his aura, if they are still separate.# Zelda couldn't bite her lip again, so she just gritted her teeth and prayed. Please, let me have guessed right.

Link focused, the Eye forming on his brow. #I...yes, I see them. They've spread some, like ink in water, but I think I can do what you're talking about.#

Zelda collapsed into the cot. Thank you, Nayru, she prayed in gratitude. Now, please, help the Hero. Whatever I can give, it is his. Please.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Link firmly walled off his private thoughts from his connection to Zelda. Oh, sure, no pressure. All I have to do is stab very specific spots in Shadow's aura, getting past the defenses of the fastest -- well, second-fastest -- enemy I've ever fought, without getting carved open. He stumbled on a rock, and barely blocked another slash with his shield. Oh, and I've got just about nothing left. He gritted his teeth and glared at his foe. Enough whining, Hero. Time to do your job.

Navi loyally returned to her spot above Shadow's head, and Link used her guidance to leap at him. He slashed at the poisonous cloud that had to represent Ganondorf -- Farore, it has to, that can't be from me -- but Shadow blocked with his shield and danced away. "Getting sloppy, Hero." Shadow looked up in annoyance. "Then again, you do still have something I don't."

"Believe it -- AAH!" Navi screamed when a bottle of Shadow imprisoned her!

"That's better," Shadow chuckled, tossing the bottle aside. Even he gasped at the sight of Link's face, a mask of fury, when the Hero charged at him with speed that he simply shouldn't have had. Shadow blocked and parried wildly, Link slashing and lunging with furious determination. All at once the Hero backpedaled, then thrust his sword to one side. The Shadow bottle burst like a balloon, and Navi shot up Link's arm to hover around his hat again.

"Power to Repel Evil," Link rumbled, stalking towards Shadow again.

"That...fairy," Shadow growled. "Obviously I was too nice the first time." Again their blades met, the cavern echoing with the clash of enchanted steel and pseudo-metal.

This isn't working. I have to use my head. Link grimaced, locking his hilt against Shadow's. Shadow grunted in annoyance while he tried to free his sword. He moves like I do, seems to anticipate...wait...moves like I do... Link grinned. Think like a Hero. He pushed away from Shadow just as his dark counterpart did the same, freeing them both. Link released the mind block, letting the dark side of himself harmonize with his enemy. #Link?# Navi sent worriedly. #What are you doing?#

Shadow looked at him oddly. "Giving up? That's not like you."

#Trust me, Navi.# Link smiled confidently, then gestured for Shadow to come at him. "Only one way to find out."

"Fine. Die, then!" Shadow charged. Link lunged. In his mind, Zelda and Navi screamed as one.

Each of their blades was thrust through the other's shoulder. They mirrored each other perfectly. Except only one of us, Link thought, still smiling, has a piece of Ganondorf living in his right arm. Shadow screamed. Well, the aura in that part of the body, anyway. Red-violet energy rippling with Dark Fire burst from Shadow's wound, and the blot of cursed mana dissipated into eternity. They stumbled back in unison, blades drooping and shields all but collapsing, hanging from limp, near-useless arms. "I..." Shadow gasped, falling to one knee. "...I..." He looked up at Link, shaking badly. "You freed me. You...why? Din burn you, why?!"

"I don't hate you any more," Link whispered. "We can end this peacefully, if you want."

Weakly, Shadow rose to his feet. "The curse is in your Shadow, too. I have to finish this."

Link nodded in understanding. Shadow hissed and lunged. Link slid away, slicing at Shadow's left shoulder. He missed Shadow's body, but that wasn't what the Hero was aiming at.

The replica's aura opened more readily than his body. Link shuddered as his own dark side absorbed the part that was like him, of him, though the cursed energies simply wailed and burned away at the Blade's touch. The Shadow entity, Shadow Link no more, collapsed into a ball and shuddered, body shifting and changing. Link and Zelda stared, eyes locked on the sight.

When it was done, a lithe young man with white hair and the light armor of a Sheikah looked up at them. His red eyes had lost that indefinable element that had them not quite seeming Sheikah. For a moment, Link thought he recognized the boy. All at once, it hit him. Impa. He looks like Impa. He wasn't an exact match, of course, but the nose, the arms, and especially his eyes...Link smiled again. "Go home."

'Shadow' vanished. Link felt the lad's energies race off. #He's safe, Link,# Zelda 'pathed. #He's going to be all right.#

Zelda's voice drew Link to her with a power the Triforce itself couldn't match. Their eyes met. Those eyes. He ran, stumbling, to her side, and slashed away the bonds anchoring her to the cot. Then he dropped to his knees, finding himself close enough that he could feel her breathe. The Hero yanked on the gag, which snapped where she'd cut it, and it pulled away harmlessly. He trembled for a moment, then gathered his wits. "Just give me a minute, Zel. Cutting you free is going to be a little--"

She kissed him.

Time froze and shattered. Space boiled and erupted. The universe came to a stop. Nothing existed but Zelda, and she went on forever. Lightning ran through the Hero's veins, a rush of joy that consumed his weariness.

Eventually, even such an eternity must end, and Zelda leaned back, looking up at him again. He was amazed to find her cradled gently in his left arm, the right one still limp. "I love you," she said.

"Wh -- what?" Link gasped. I didn't hear that. I'm dreaming. I have to be. He moved his mouth, but nothing came out at first. "Z...Zel..."

Zelda smiled at him, tears streaming freely again. "I...love...you." She leaned toward him, but her bonds kept her lips from reaching his. "I wanted to tell you for so long, but I was so afraid." She leaned into his chest, closing her eyes. The feel of her breathing there was better than any potion, any fairy magic. "I'm not, though, not any more. How can I be?" Again she looked up at him, and he lost himself in her gaze. "After that...even for you, that was a thing of legend...how can I doubt that you love me, unworthy as I am?"

His mind came back to life. "Unworthy!? You?!" Link wanted to slide away from her suddenly, the thought of tainting her with his touch anathema, but if he moved he'd drop her on the hard stone. "You're the greatest leader Hyrule's ever known! For the love of Nayru, you're the Princess of Destiny, the Sage of Time, the Keeper of Knowledge! And that's just the start! I could go on for hours, for Din's sake! Me, I'm just...I'm..."

"The Hero of Time, Juror of Courage, and savior of Hyrule more times over than anyone will ever know." Zelda shook her head, still smiling. "Always so proper." She looked back up at him, staring irresistibly into his eyes. She's the one in the bonds, Link thought madly, but I'm the one helpless in her grip. "Well, you've suffered my cowardice long enough."

"Call yourself a coward again," Link almost growled, "and...and..."

Zelda laughed. She's laughing! Link thought wildly. Has she no idea what I am?! "And what, Hero?" She leaned up at him again, her grin changing, taking on a quality Link didn't recognize. "What are you going to do, silence me? With your lips, perhaps?"

Every beat of Link's heart was an explosion. "Zelda...you don't know. You...I'm not as proper as you think."

"Please, Link," she said, but it was only half scoffing. It's like she really was asking me for something, he thought, disbelieving the notion even as it struck him. "I've seen you as Onigami. I've met your dark side." She bit her lip. "In all our battles together, after everything we've faced, do you know what's still the hardest thing I've ever done?" Link, dumbfounded, shook his head. "Telling you to take off that Mask!" Her gaze wavered, and she trembled against him. "I didn't want you to stop. Farore, I couldn't really fight Shadow, and he was only a touch of you."

"Zelda..." Link licked his lips desperately. It's not a dream. My dreams aren't this impossible. Even with her eyes moving, he was paralyzed. "...all my life, there's only one thing I've ever wanted for -- for myself." His jaw shook. "Y-you."

At that, she relaxed, her eyes steadying. "You have me," she whispered. "You always did."

Link couldn't help it any longer. He kissed her, the relief and joy and desire and sheer, inescapable love overwhelming him. She whimpered and leaned into him, pressing her lips against his. When they came up for air, there was only one thing he could say.

"I love you too, Zel."