Harsh Reality
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By Zel the Stampede
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Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda.
Forgive me all, but I've been in a very uncreative mood for this story as I've had a kind-of rocky last six months or so where I really haven't written anything. Then one afternoon, in order to keep myself from thinking terrible thoughts such as the UPS man ate my Trigun DVDs, I decided to work on some stories ^_^ and got a ton of ideas for this one.
So, without further adieu, I give you Chapter 14.
Kudos to:
Heads Up - @.@ This chapter has an insane amount of dialogue . and the largest number of unacceptable words to date, so ^.^ Look out!
R&R!
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Chapter 14 - Poison
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"Thank you, Trian," Soara said thoughtfully, spreading a sandy-colored blanket over Link's body as Sheik carried the limp corpse of the Gerudo girl outside into the dry air, "my only regret is that I could not give her freedom in life."
The stiff girl fitted ideally over Link, even leaving room for the coffin-lid to be nailed snuggly.
"You're welcome, Malachai," Trian said earnestly, "I only wish…"
"No time," Sheik said, "regards can be given later, we have to get him to the Temple of Time before it's too late."
Soara nodded, tightening the last of the rigs to her demon of a horse, "Let's be off."
- - -
"A dream?!" Jean asked, "That's ridiculous!"
"But we're not real," Navi tried to explain, "because you see-"
"That's not true either," the dark stranger said, "you are real but not in any sense that you can understand."
"What are you saying?" Jean demanded.
"See?" the stranger said with an exasperated sigh, "you can't understand even if you wanted too. The Hero of Time, him,"-he pointed to Link, "has been magically poisoned by a very, very nasty spell and you two, along everything around you are all part of the venom."
"Who's Nimbus then?" Jean shot.
"Nimbus is the greatest carrier of the toxic agent, he hid himself in the Princess's image," the man said, sheathing his sword, "because, though Link might not even realize it yet, the Princess holds a great influence over him. With the false princess, Nimbus planned to destroy this boy from the inside out. I had hoped, that by killing that lie, the poison would leave his body, but nothing's changed."
"Who are you?" Navi asked, "you feel like Link but…"
"I am Link as much as I am not Link," the stranger said with a cryptic smile, "I am Dark Link."
"…Dark Link? What's that supposed to mean?" Jean pressed.
"It means I am the Other, the Hero of Time's baneful twin," Dark Link said, "I met my 'brother' in the Temple of the Water Sage, we sparred, he won, I lost, so I returned to the place from where I came, his soul. Only to find it…" Dark Link glanced around the room carefully, "Not as I left it. Infected, changed, very frightening for the only evil bit of the Hyrule's destined Guardian. And then I met you." Dark Link gazed down his nose at Navi, "I met you that rainy night several days ago and unlike so many others I've stalked in these terrifying halls, you felt safe. I wanted to touch you then Link came and I hid. I sought you out again and I purged your friend Malon of her own poisonous substance just like I've purged the both of you. Nimbus can't control you anymore which is what he tried to do with Navi earlier. That was Nimbus's anima that tried to kill me, not Navi."
"The shadow," Navi gasped, having recovered from her shock, "the cold, dark thing-but you look so different now!"
"I know," Dark Link said dryly, "I found the Good Witch's ghost, her servant, originally sent to kill Nimbus. I touched it and was healed. It gave me purpose, it gave me a face, and now, I have to finish its mission."
"I don't understand-" Jean began.
"You're not meant too," Dark Link finished, "now, Dr. Kit gave you the keys to her car, kindly give them to me and free Link from that dreadful machine, we're going for a ride."
- - -
"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Kit," Mr. Wood said discreetly, "I know this must be a very painful time for you."
Malon nodded, sliding into the hunter-green booth at the coffee shop, "It is, Mr. Wood, but I'm trying to cope since after all, the World's not going to stop turning anytime soon!" Wood smiled at her optimism, the smile fading as Malon's face fell, "I only wish Aydin might have said something to me, I'd have done anything to keep that from happening."
"It's not your fault," Mr. Wood said, patting her hand gently.
"I appreciate that," Malon brightened as a waitress set down two paper-mugs of steamy, flavored coffee-"Thank you-but, Mr. Wood, what is this about?"
"Well, Mrs. Kit, it's about you, me and well, us," Mr. Wood said uneasily. Malon arched an eyebrow, puzzled, "Us? Mr. Wood-what are you talking about-?"
"Just hear me out," Wood said sharply, lightly grasping her wrist, "and look at me." Malon was generally creeped out but this was only a prelude, as Mr. Wood reached to remove his shades. Malon jolted, flew out of her seat, knocking the coffee over as her knee struck the table, 'No!-Good God, no.'
"Aydin?!-No, you can't-Aydin's dead!" Malon stammered, "what is this?! Some kind of sick joke?!"
'Wood' put his shades back in attempt to calm her and took her hand carefully in both of his, "No, it really is me. It's Aydin, Malon."
"No, no-you're dead-I saw you-you died!" Malon stammered helplessly, coming to tears as Aydin got up and touched her shoulder.
"I'm not dead, I'm right here," he said warmly, "I'm so sorry to have had to trick you-"
"Trick me?" Malon said suddenly.
"I had too, Malon," Aydin said deeply, "if I didn't do anything, you were going to die. If Link continues to exist, we will all die."
Malon pulled away, "What's so important about Riles? He's been coming up a lot lately and how do you know about him?"
"Nimbus told me," Aydin admitted, "Nimbus told me all about Link."
"What about Link?"
"How he's not from around here and the World will be destroyed if he continues to exist."
"Don't talk crazy-"
"I'm not crazy, I'm very sane, Malon, if I didn't act, everything would die, I'd lose you and I can't bear that thought."
Malon felt very uncomfortable and the surrounding coffee shop seemed disturbingly empty.
"Aydin, I-"
"Help me, Malon. Help me get into the Asylum, help me kill Link so we, together, can be safe."
"How?"
"Nimbus will make it possible because Nimbus is all-knowing, all-powerful-"
"Aydin, you're scaring me."
"I know it's hard to understand right now but, you'll see soon," Aydin stroked her face, the closeness terribly unsettling Malon as she longed to escape. Her eyes grew dark with wisdom previously unknown.
"That's not true, Aydin," Malon whispered deadly, "And don't touch me."
"What?" Aydin looked surprised, "What did you say?"
"Don't touch me like that," Malon said strongly, tugging her hand free, "Aydin, this may be hard to believe but, this World only started a week ago. Everything before, never happened, those are fake memories. You're not my husband, Aydin; this is the first time we've ever met. I don't know you."
"What are you talking about?" Aydin asked, "Malon, you love me. You married me. I love you and I want to protect you. I don't want you to die-"
"Stop lying, dammit!" Malon shot viciously, "None of that is true! Don't you get it?! We're not real…Link is the only real-"
Aydin grabbed her fiercely, and hissed, "How do you know? How did you find out? No one is supposed to know that."
Malon smiled wryly, "Nimbus told me." She snatched her purse off the table and escaped, dashing down the street as the world started to breathe again around her.
Mrs. Kit is corrupted. The darkness has taken her. I am sorry, Aydin, but you must fulfill your trust to me. Kill Link. Follow her. The voice echoed all around, coming from the walls, the tiles, the windows and the clerk behind the counter.
Nothing can be done. Drastic measures must be taken. Nothing can be done…
- - -
"Wake up!" Dark Link struck his twin's sharply across the face, "wake up, dammit! I'm not stupid, I know you can hear me!"
"What's he doing in there?" Navi asked, newly dressed in a too-big T-shirt and jeans hanging way past her ankles. She was sitting with Jean at the table in Malon's lemon-and-chocolate kitchen, the both of them sipping hot cocoa filched from the good doctor's disturbingly neat pantry.
"Waking Link up, I think," Jean answered.
"It's taking a long time," Navi said. "Should we help?"
"Get up, you lazy ass! I mean it!!" Dark Link interjected.
"…Maybe not," Jean sighed, refilling Navi's cocoa mug.
Back in the family room, separated from the kitchen by a very handy wall, Dark Link was stressed. Shouting was proving to be a rather ineffective method and he was running out of ideas.
"Look, you have to wake up, I don't care how damn peaceful it is in there, people still need you out there!" Dark Link crawled onto the couch, punching Link kind-of-not-really-lightly in the stomach before sitting on him, "I'm only going to say this one more time-Hyrule is real. Zelda is real. The Sages are real. Sadly, even Ganondorf is real. And you are real! I know a lot of time you wish Hyrule wasn't real, because 'real' hurts, but there's nothing you can do about it except try and change it so reality doesn't hurt as much anymore!" Dark Link stood up again and grabbed Link's shirt, tugging the unconscious teenager up to face-level, " And you're sure as hell not getting anywhere by sitting here and thinking that it really isn't real and it all has finally gone away! Don't be stupid, Link!" Dark Link flung his twin back on the couch and waited, nothing. No stirring, no sighing, Link didn't even snort, it was like yelling at a dead man…or a wall.
"Fine, if you won't listen to reason, then…" Dark Link wrenched his sword sloppily from the scabbard, "you made me do this! I'm going to send you back to Hyrule, the only way I know how…" He readied the dark blade and slid it over Link's forearm, drawing blood slowly as it sunk through muscle, grinding against the bone.
"If you don't wake up, Link, I'm going to cut your arm off. And then, I'll cut your other arm off, and after that, your legs too, and if you still don't wake up, I'm going to cut your head off because you must be dead!"
- - -
Link startled as the entire angel around him shuddered, the quiet clouds of light settled on him suddenly very heavy, No, you must sleep. To keep you safe, you must be asleep.
"WAKE UP!" roared the pain in his arm, as flesh, muscle and tendons shattered in red fireworks.
"Stop…you'll drive the angel away," Link muttered, lifting the uninjured arm slightly. Dark Link halted, 'Angel?' he smirked, "There we go! Now, we're getting somewhere!"
"Leave me alone," Link muttered tiredly, blood leaking sluggishly from the massive gash discoloring his arm, "I want to sleep…"
"I can't do that," Dark Link said, "you have to get out of this place! Link! Link! Listen to me! What kind of Angel tries to kill you?!"
"I trust him," Link moaned, drifting in and out of sleep, "he needs me to trust him."
"'Trust him'? What kind of Angel needs you to trust him in order to protect you?! I'd think that would just come natural, don't you!? Now wake up! This world isn't real! Wake up!"
"Then what is real?!" Link rocketed up at Dark Link and gripped his coat, "Who are you to tell me what's real and what's not?! Can't I make that decision for myself?!"
"You can't!" Dark Link growled, shoving Link, "You can't because you don't know! As you are now, you can't know because you don't want to know! So you must be told! Link, this world and everything that has happened to you inside it, is not real! You're dreaming it all up-"
"How do you know…how do you know that Hyrule isn't a dream? And maybe this place is…real-"
"Because I've seen them both," Dark Link told him, "Hyrule is more real than this flawed place could ever be! And you're running out of time, the poison is coming to deal the final blow soon, you have to wake up!"
- - -
"That was easier than I'd expected," Trian breathed, the horse and cargo safely beneath the portcullis on the north end of the Gerudo Sand River.
"Don't relax yet," Soara said, patting the horse good-naturedly, "we still have a ways to go, right, Sheik?" The tall Sheikiah nodded solemnly as the party moved through the Gerudo camp. The two men were watchful of the soldiers walking the sandstone barricades as they slunk by hidden in black cloaks, Soara the only one allowed to walk in the open.
"Many of the officers have been called away to Ganondorf's headquarters," Trian said, "these girls are all privates-"
"Malachai!" as a young, frightened, female voice dashed out of the fortress and seized Soara's arm. Trian jumped and Sheik suffered a tiny heart attack.
"Thank Goddess, Malachai!" the girl said, relief melting her to tears, "It's Dierna! All the healers are away, we sent a messenger-goddess, I didn't think you'd get here in time!"
"Hold up," Soara said, freeing herself from the youngster's grip, "What's wrong?"
"Dierna's having her baby!" the girl scolded, as if it were the most obvious knowledge of all time, "we have to hurry!"
Soara grimaced and touched Trian's shoulder, "I'll be a minute, don't let anyone near the cart."
"Yes, Malachai," Trian said.
"Where's she going?" Sheik asked, "we have to-"
"To deliver a baby," Trian deadpanned.
"…That'll take a minute?!"
"This way, Malachai," the girl-child said, ducking into a shaded room crowded with blankets, perfumes, a pregnant woman and one very useless nurse.
"Evening, Malachai," the swollen woman said weakly.
"Evening, Dierna," Soara returned, touching a practiced hand to the rise of her belly, "I can't tell you how inconvenient a time this is to have your baby."
Dierna grinned, "You're telling me-I had a Royal Flush-"
"Gambling isn't good for the baby, Dierna," the younger lectured as Soara smiled slightly.
"Oh hush up, Linna, cards are teaching my girl risk!" Dierna said defensively.
"Quiet both of you," Soara laughed, "It's almost time."
Outside in the arctic desert air, Sheik's eyes darted restlessly around the empty stronghold as purple-clad soldiers with clouds of breath puffing from behind their kerchiefs walked the grounds in systematic circles.
"I don't like this," Sheik said in a raspy whisper, "We shouldn't delay-"
"Can't help it, sir," Trian said, "if the Malachai didn't go, it'd look suspicious."
"She has a name, you know."
"Malachai is a title of respect."
"Anyway, can't you feel it though? Something's coming."
Ripples shifted through the flock of watchmen as thief dressed in red appeared from the mangled shadows of the valley, "Riders approach, from the East. We think it's-"
Trian jerked his head up, "What? What did they say?"
"They said 'Corpse Bird,'" Sheik repeated.
"No, not her-"
"Go get Soara. We have to leave now."
Trian nodded and hurried into the fortress, sprinting down sand-colored cobblestones to the private room in the upper reaches where Soara tended to her patient. The dulcet, stingy smell of medicine distinguishable doors away.
"Congratulations, Dierna," Soara said, wrapping a tiny infant in soft things, "It's a healthy baby girl."
"Thank you, Malachai," Dierna said, "I'm going to name her Cynia."
"Very pretty," Soara said quickly, "now I must be going! Tata!" She escaped into the almost-empty hall and slammed into Trian.
"Trian?" Soara gasped, "what are you doing here! I told you to stay by the cart!"
Trian tugged Soara to her feet, speaking rapidly, "We have to go now. The Corpse Bird is-" Soara's eyes grew wide as the Hylian towed her to the nearest exit, thinking dimly, 'Corpse Bird? That's Morcades…Morcades is here?'
The pair burst into the night air, gasps of foggy breath clouding their faces.
"Lady Malachai," a shadow darkened the center of the barren courtyard, even the frail moonlight couldn't touch it. Ribbons of night-colors whispered and flowed in a large cloak worn by a very tall individual, sharp Gerudo features shaped her face but she was remarkably pale with icy-asphalt eyes. A long, evil-looking scythe dangling casually over one shoulder as the woman smiled, "Going so soon?"
"Trian-get back to the cart," Soara ordered and the boy wasted no time racing back to Sheik's side, "Been a while, Morcades, no hello?"
"Hello, Soara," Morcades said grimly, sinking her scythe to the ground before crossing her arms seriously over her chest, "I know what you are doing, Soara, what you are planning to do and what you have done."
"Drat," Soara muttered dryly, "And here I thought I was being sneaky-"
Morcades stalked up the smaller woman, her cloak billowing with long, mystic whorls; "Soara, I've been sent to collect you. The King is sad to say that you have defied his orders and you are a traitor to all Gerudo-kind."
"It was my decision," Soara said, gently resistive, "I did what I thought was right."
"Were those deeds truly just, Sister? Don't you know the consequences-"
"Don't speak to me like I'm a child! I know them and knowing them, Morcades, I still made my decision!"
Morcades fell quiet, feeling the touchy grounds surrounding the discussion, before lifting her face to see Soara fully.
"There is still time for you, Soara," Morcades said flatly, "A very terrible death can be avoided. The King is willing to forgive you and wipe your name clean of the crimes that stand against it. All he asks in return is that you give him the Hero of Time-"
"No!" Soara shot icily, "If I wanted that boy to die I would have left him at the mercy of the Desert but I made a choice and I am prepared to live that choice through!"
Morcades shrugged lightly, "Suit yourself, Soara, I had hoped it wouldn't come to this but as Lord Ganondorf's personal executioner, I cannot promise that you or any of your companions will make it out of this fortress alive."
Soara hardened, "That's just too bad."
"And it is a sad day," Morcades said drearily.
Fin of chapter 14Another one behind me, hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are always welcome and believe it or not, Harsh Reality will have something of sequel but the only relation between the two stories will be that Soara and the other Hyrule-world original characters will be part of the story again. Link's second nap won't really be important and you can pretty much understand the second story without reading Harsh Reality. Expect it sometime in September or earlier unless my muse abandons me again. (. She's really annoying that way…)
Anywho, again, R&R!
Zel(PS - If you were worried, the UPS man did not eat my Trigun DVDs, I finally got them last Monday. Unfortunately my glasses snapped in half the same day…as I was loading the first DVD too!!! . Damn the luck!)