(Wow... it's chapter twelve already? This is just too damn cool...

This is definitely one of the longer chapters. How can I tell?

There's doodles all along the margins of the pages I wrote on.

Just as a warning: anyone who hates yaoi, this chapter may offend you!

Of course, why would you be reading this then? Whatever... you were warned!

Let's begin.

All characters except the darkness © Nintendo

Darkness © Me)

The Temptation of Darkness

Chapter Twelve: Greed

For ages, the seals remained stable, safely keeping the darkness away from the realm of light. The tales the goddesses had spun ensured that no foolish mortal would threaten the safety of their world; peace reigned supreme...

Until the flood of Tellius. (1)

The eerie silence that had settled over the lake was broken only by the quiet splashing of miniature waves breaking against the shore...

"...ngh..."

Light sapphire eyes opened, their owner floating in the cold water as he was greeted by near-total darkness...

"...wh-- gah!"

With a sudden cry, Link dove underwater; an invisible blade sliced at where he had been just moments before, cutting through the water like a sword through air.

The Hylian's head poked back above the surface; a ghostly blue light, trapped in a lamp, floated just out of his reach, a haunting laugh ringing in pointed ears. (2)

"Go away!" he barked, quickly searching the water for Marth--

The Altean prince had floated ashore; he lay on his back in the damp dirt, the silent waves continuously soaking his clothes.

Link swam off, abandoning the mystic light; a few minutes later, he staggered onto solid ground, walking a few short steps before collapsing to his knees.

"Marth... Marth, wake up."

"...nh... ow..."

With a low groan, Marth cringed, slowly opening his dark blue eyes.

"Wh... where are... what happened...?"

"...the stupid bastard got to the seal before us, that's what happened," Link growled, shivering as a chill wind blew over his damp body. "Damnit... he was probably waiting for us..."

"Well... what do we do now?" the Altean queried, sitting up as he tiredly rang the water out of his damp hair.

The Hylian paused, thinking.

"...a land lost to time..."

"Hm?"

Link's stern gaze shifted ever so slightly towards Lanayru's shrine...

"...how's a swim across a haunted lake to find out more information sound to you, Marth?"

Marth groaned.

"You are good at figuring out all of my lifelong dreams, aren't you?"

"Either we swim for twenty minutes or we walk for fifty. Pick."

"We're swimming."

Link waded back into the water, taking off like a rocket; Marth muttered quietly to himself before following in his friend's waves.

Dawn broke just as Link and Marth stepped out of the shrine.

"Okay, so... the land lost to time is the old Hyrule, and the way there is through the Temple of Time. Obvious enough..."

The Altean prince remained silent.

"Lanayru said that the Master Sword was the key to the past... hm... ...I drew it from the pedestal with the Triforce design facing me, but what if I tried putting it in backwards? Would that open a new path? ...I suppose we'll find out when we get there, huh?"

"...please stop talking."

Link shot a confused glance at his royal friend.

"Is something wrong?"

"A part of me is dying a bloody, painful death," Marth began. "I am in mourning."

"...what part?"

An exasperated sigh rolled off of the Altean's lips...

"...the part that... that always called you a thoughtless fool. Why must you kill it so... so brutally?"

Link grinned, chuckling lightly.

"C'mon-- we've got a ways to go, and not much time to get there. We must fly!"

"You'd better not mean it literally...!"

A holy place, separated from the carelessness of men by a nearly impassable gorge, further removed by a winding maze that no compass could guide any traveler through... a location permanently left in isolation, unvisited for ages until only recently...

Here sat the gateway to the land lost to the past...

Here he waited for the Hero to open the door.

Ike growled impatiently, drumming his fingers against the stone doorway, ignoring the unnatural silence that had settled upon his arrival.

"Magic," he spoke suddenly, no trace of frustration in his voice, "is one of the oldest forces in existence. In fact... it's almost as old as I am. Can you imagine that?"

The rustle of the wind in the leaves was the only reply he received.

"Of course, I suppose in this body, I'm only nineteen... even by your pathetic standards, that's not very long, is it?" the mercenary shrugged. "Nineteen years pass in the blink of an eye... nineteen years spent dedicated solely to magic would only barely get you accustomed to the basics."

A faint smirk played at his lips; slowly, he stretched his arms over his head as he glanced at a pile of shattered stone, close to where Ragnell rested...

"So how foolish are you, to believe that you could defeat me with a power that I have been practicing since its creation... a power that I helped to create?"

Where his crimson eyes focused, a spectral image appeared...

Ike's spirit glowered at his body from across the clearing.

Now that the darkness held more control over Ike's body, the colorings changed; the dark sapphire locks of hair morphed to a faded black, falling haphazardly around its face while the skin paled to a more cadaverous shade of white. The crimson eyes, the whole time flecked with violet, finally became pure in their ruby hue...

"I'm not a fool," Ike hissed, his faint voice nearly lost in the wind.

"Ha! You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" the darkness scoffed, the tone of the voice so much harsher than it had been before. "Tell me, boy, did you really believe you could destroy me? You, a mere mortal, with no power to call your own?"

"What would my answer matter? It can't change the fact that things have gone horribly wrong."

The darkness shook its head slowly, a faint smirk playing at its pallid lips.

"For a human... oh, wait, you're from Ashera's world, aren't you? My sincerest apologies... for a beorc, you haven't got much of a backbone, do you? Just giving up hope like that..."

Ike scowled, his navy eyes burning with repressed anger.

"I beg to differ--"

"Begging's the one good skill you have--"

"It would take a lot of guts to face the unknown-- to face a force so powerful, it can steal the light out of living beings. How many 'mere mortals' have you seen even try to destroy you?"

There was a quiet pause as the darkness pondered briefly over Ike's words...

"...tell me-- what made you and your friends decide to even try facing me?" it asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Surely you had some idea that your journey wouldn't be a walk through the park..."

"You know the answer to that, don't you?" the mercenary scowled, his misty form fading in the obscured sunlight. "You've been in my head... you've seen my thoughts. Why do you even bother asking?"

"Because that's only partially true," the darkness sighed, slowly approaching the ethereal manifestation of its host. "Unfortunately for me, I can only read the strongest thoughts... and you really don't do much thinking at all. So, please, enlighten me; what could possibly be your motivator?"

"Pit's my--"

"Oh, don't you even try to feed me that 'He's my best friend' bullshit, I've heard it thousands of times," the darkness snapped. "Not even twin brothers would so foolishly sacrifice themselves as you have. There must be another rea--"

It paused...

The wicked grin that spread across its face greatly unnerved Ike, who rose slowly to his ghostly feet.

"What...?"

"That twerp is pretty attractive by mortal standards, isn't he?" the darkness chuckled, idly strolling over to Ike, walking in slow circles around the mercenary. "Bright blue eyes, dark hair... maybe a bit short, hm? But you don't seem to care much..."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Oh... such a fierce reaction... that must be it, then. You want him, don't you? You want him all to yourself... and I've taken him away. That's it, isn't it?"

"He's my friend!" Ike snapped, quickly sliding away from the darkness. "If I want anything, it's just for him to live!"

"So he can see another day?" the darkness smirked. "Please. You want him to live... so he can keep giving you those looks, smiling that special smile, laughing in that way that makes your world go upside-down... so that you can keep hoping that some day, he'll fall for you... and then, he's yours, and yours alone."

"You sick sunuvabitch..."

"Me?" it scoffed, turning away from Ike as the harsh tone of its laughter filled the air. "Yes, I'm the sick one-- that's rich, considering who it's coming from! The greedy bastard who'd lay down his life just so that he wouldn't have to live without his precious angel!"

"Shut up!" the mercenary bellowed, his translucent face red with fury. "Even if it were true, I'd still be better than you-- at least I don't take innocent lives just so I can achieve world domination!"

"Domination?"

The darkness turned, approaching Ike, only scorn in his scarlet eyes...

"Why would I want that?" it asked, its voice low and threatening as one of its pallid hands rested on the mercenary's shoulder. "Tell me-- why would I want to run the risk of having some foolish being go and try to destroy me, like you... or like the Light did, back before even your goddess could draw breath? No... I will have nothing to do with any of your light worlds."

"Then why even bother attacking us?" Ike growled, trying to jerk away but seemingly rooted to where he stood. "Why bother, if you want nothing to do with us?"

The thin smile on the darkness' face vanished, replaced only by a burning glare...

"You don't get it, do you?"

Its fingers clawed into the mercenary's semisolid shoulder; Ike hissed, the pain an unexpected sign that he could still feel...

"All those ages ago, I used to call this place my home," the darkness began, hatred blazing in his expression. "Then that Light came... and shoved me into that hell, the place now known as the Realm of Shadows. I tried to come back... and it locked me back up and damn near threw away the keys. After thousands of years stuck, thousands of years locked up in that nightmare... what do you think I want?"

It didn't even wait for an answer; Ike's navy eyes widened in horror as he stood perfectly still, fearing the hand that had tightly grasped his neck...

"I want to get the fuck out."

The darkness' expression only grew more foul as Ike refused to panic...

"And you're going to continue to help me... whether you want to or not. Got it?"

"Even if you do get out," the mercenary growled, struggling to remain calm as it became increasingly more difficult to breathe, "it'll be for nothing... The Great Illumination got rid of you once before--"

"Yeah... when it was awake."

Its hateful expression simmered down to mere loathing; nevertheless, Ike continued to find breathing quite difficult...

"Only the goddesses together can awaken the Light... and yours is sleeping. Furthermore, they can only petition the Light for help once all the seals have been broken... and by then, it will be too late for anything to happen. All the chaos in the worlds... even now, my strength is greater than it has been before-- I am only subdued by the limitations of your feeble body. Just imagine... a little more... and you'll all be gone..."

Ike gasped quietly for breath as the darkness finally released him...

"...and I'll be home once again."

It turned away...

"You... will never return here."

Unnatural silence loomed between the two beings as Ike glowered at the darkness.

"Before that happens," he hissed, pointing, "I will destroy you myself... I will find a way to crush you with my own hands!"

"Try!" the darkness snapped, whipping around to face the mercenary--

Only a faint outline remained as Ike disappeared in the sunlight.

Dark locks of faded black morphed back to sapphire; color barely crept back into the pallid skin, and violet once again stained the pure crimson eyes...

"Ike" shuddered briefly before growling in disgust.

"Let's see you try to destroy me... don't forget, it's by my decree that you still exist."

Only the wind dared to respond to his words.

(End chapter twelve.

(1) There was a huge flood near the beginning of time for Ike's world that destroyed lots of stuff.

(2) That's an Imp Poe. They're bitches, because you can only defeat them while transformed.

Okay... right now, this is my favorite chapter. Like, really. The second half of the chapter turned out much better than I had originally planned.

Please review!)