MistressOfTime1218: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Just as I promised, for my birthday you guys are going to be given a new installment of 'To Aid A Hero'. Think of it as a reverse birthday present.

K-Chan: I almost feel like that's some sort of 'Alice in Wonderland' reference.

MistressOfTime1218: Hope you guys enjoy it. Though I should warn you. It is a lot shorter than the last one, and only has one main focus. I do this for a reason, as I specifically want you guys to concentrate on one very important point here. You'll see why as you start reading.

K-Chan: Or you'll be like me and have to ask why after you're done.

MistressOfTime1218: Which I don't mind answering.

DarkMist: So anyway, let's get this show on the road, shall we?

StormBlitz: MistressOfTime1218 does not own any of the characters, places, or weapons involved in this story. She now owns a Link hat-

K-Chan: Compliments of me!

StormBlitz: But that's about it.

MistressOfTime1218: On with the story!

His body was numb. Completely, entirely, and so tragically numb. There was no sensation that could reach him. Heat, chills, pain, it was all the same to him now. His skin was too tired to make distinctions between one or the other. The very cells that once told him what he had touched could no longer handle the torment they were receiving. So they simply stopped working altogether.

Link knew that this was only the beginning. The beginning of his suffering, the beginning of Soul Edge's revenge, and the beginning of the end of this current life. The clock had started ticking the second the portal to Siegfried's world was closed. He no longer knew what day it was, what season it was, or even what hour of the day had gone by. Time could no longer be measured in such methods. It now had to be calculated in his body's natural ability to remain functioning well enough to be considered alive. In that sense, time was starting to run out.

He could no longer feel. That meant his body could no longer regulate its natural temperature. If certain areas started to chill, he was no longer able to tell. As a result those areas would not get the warmth they desperately needed. If he were to get too warm than was considered normal, perhaps because of a fever or a virus, he would not be aware of the dangers that were plaguing him until it was too late. Not to mention that since he could no longer feel pain, he no longer knew how close his body was to deteriorating. Because he did not know such a crucial bit of information, he did not know how to properly keep himself alive.

The food he was receiving was beginning to dwindle in content. Soul Edge was trying to break his spirit, tame his soul into some pitiful little thing he could control. He would begin with the physical. Weaken the body, and the mind would eventually follow. Three days without water. One week without food. Seven nights without blankets followed by seven days without a means to cool himself from the heat. Lather, rinse, repeat. That schedule had been repeated to Link so many times he could match it syllable for syllable whenever someone would say it to him again.

To an extent, those methods were starting to work. His body was slowly shutting down. It would not be long until he started hallucinating, his tired husk going on autopilot in order to survive. At this rate, he might even start trying to change into his wolf form to hunt some of the local rodents for a decent meal. But that would be a last resort. His body may have been showing signs of surrender, but his mind was still working at a hundred percent efficiency. It would keep him grounded.

Link would never allow a sword of all things to conquer him. Not in his own homeland. Not with his own power. He had yet to be defeated by any mortal enemy in any life he lived in. He was not going to be outdone by his own flesh and blood now. If he had to, he would force himself to survive the ordeal. If it took biting his tongue until he bled, or screaming the truths of reality until he cried, then so be it. He was not about to lay down and die. Not now. Not here. Not without seeing Siegfried one last time.

The knight would come for him. He had never let Link down before. He would not start now. No matter how much time had passed in that world, if Siegfried was still alive he would come for Link. The Hylian had a hard time feeling certain about anything these days, but he knew that to be true. Siegfried was moving heaven and earth to come to his aid. He just had to be patient.

If there was one thing he was thankful for down in these dungeons, it was that he was now literally in the correct position to be so. In the beginning of his imprisonment, Soul Edge had him chained to the wall as he was standing. When his legs began to quiver, and his arms began to slouch, the sword had seen fit to take pity on his prisoner. He elongated the chains so that Link could now sit on the floor, arms free to move about or remain motionless at his side, with his back against the dirty stone walls for support. The position helped him rest a bit easier when it was time to sleep, and it lessened the amount of his discomfort a great deal.

Link knew, however, that this was in no way a sign of mercy. Soul Edge was testing him. He either wanted Link to reach a breaking point in the form of a desperate surrender, or see how far to death he could bring the boy before he had to stop and treat the wounds before reopening them again. It was all a game. A sick twisted little game that the former Hero of Time would not very well claim he had an advantage in.

Soul Edge knew how to torment. The warrior would give him that. He knew how to rip apart a person's sense of self better than anything else in this world. And he knew how to do it from in the inside out, in very creative and unorthodox methods.

"Don't you look comfortable?" One such method was now standing before him carrying a small tray of rations.

Link set eyes on a carbon copy of himself. One dressed in black where green should have been. Cold red replaced what should have been warm blue, and what was golden on one had been dulled to an eerie silver on the other. Link knew this individual well. How could be not be familiar with his own dark side?

"Hi Dusk. Your day's been pleasant I hope?"

His counterpart scowled and dropped the tray on the floor. What little water there was, which had been placed inside a broken tin can, was splashing about, spilling on whatever pieces of food he was graciously being given that day. Dark Link kicked the tray over to his lighter half, only half heartedly watching to make sure it slid somewhat smoothly to its destination.

Link smiled when it reached him. "Thanks." Better to show as little negative emotions as he could manage. It was not the other's fault, anyway, so copping an attitude would only fuel the assumption that he was starting to crack. Couldn't have that now, could he?

Again, Dark Link scowled. He did not appreciate the lack of a proper response. "You shouldn't be thanking me. That breads gone stale, the cheese has been sitting out in the sun for days, and that water used to be fresh until it was purposely placed in a rusted old can. That meal could kill you."

Link shrugged. "I take my chances with the cheese, but the bread will only cost me a few teeth at the worst. Most of the water should still be good to drink, and even if I ingest some rust, my body can process poisons pretty well."

"Even when it's severely beaten up and too tired to stand?"

The blonde gave him a wink. "We'll see." He brought the can to his mouth and swallowed the contents in one long, savoring gulp. He could taste no copper on the tips of his lips. That meant the darker Hylian had been lying about any possible rust contamination. He had only been trying to scare him. "I think I'll be alright. Thanks for the concern, Dusk."

"You really shouldn't call me that." Red eyes narrowed. "I'm Dark Link."

"But that can get so confusing. Link, Dark Link, how is anyone supposed to tell us apart?"

The other growled. "My existence is not meant to give you a playmate to show off to your little friends."

"No, you're right. Your existence was created to eliminate mine at the Water Temple." Link found that the bread was not too stale. A bit crusted over, sure, but still salvageable. At least he could eat it without breaking his jaw. "Yet here you stand before me. Not as a shadow, but more as a twin of sorts." Link looked up at Dark Link, eyes all knowing, yet still very curious. "I wonder why that is."

"You know why." A hand clenched, and seconds later it smashed itself against a cracked brick in the wall. The dark leather surrounding it was cut, as was a small portion of the skin beneath it. A trickle of blood started to flow from it. "The new bastard took hold of the one's power. Ever since then everything you've ever feared has been recreated and let loose in this castle for his personal amusement alone."

Link's gaze was somber. It was as calm, as cool, as his dark side's voice. "You don't say."

Dark Link narrowed his eyes at the blonde. A slow, simmering rage was beginning to fester in those harsh red irises. "Everything hero. Armos, Beamos, Stalfos, Floormasters, ReDeads, anything and everything that ever gave you nightmares as a child is back. This time with twice the powers of their originals, ready and willing to serve their new master with deadly accuracy."

Link could hear a slight panic in that voice. He could see the slight tension of the shoulders. He could ever smell the small sweat forming on the other's brow. "You seem concerned."

Link kept his mouth shut, remarkably well in his opinion, when his head was suddenly slammed up against the wall behind him a second later. His eyes, he found he could not stop them from closing, opened slowly, taking in the sight of an enraged dark Hylian swordsman. One hand held onto the neck of the hero's tunic while the other crushed his shoulder into the wall to hold him steady. Link had forgotten that speed and strength. He had forgotten that soldier of darkness who had given him the ultimate test of endurance back in the Water Temple of his past.

He realized it would be best to remember it from this moment on.

"Don't misunderstand. I could care less about what happens to you." Dark Link snarled. "You have been the bane of my miserable existence since the day I was 'born'. I do not care one way or the other if you die."

"Then why are you here Dusk?"

The grip on his tunic was tightened. "Whether or not I like it, your fate has been intricately tied in with mine. That thing you brought into this world has created a hell not even Ganondorf could have unleashed. He gave life to things that should not even exist,"

"Including you." That was why the other was there. That was why he now had human form. "Are you scared Dusk? Are you afraid of what might happen if he were to die? Or are you more frightened of what would happen if he were to live?"

Dark Link was taken back for moment. His composure was regained seconds later by hissing and wrapping his hands around Link's throat. They encased, but they did not strangle. The elf was still able to breathe. "Do not take me for a fool."

"Shall I take you for a coward instead?" Now he was certain. His darker half would not harm him. Just like Soul Edge, Dark Link was too afraid to send him to the grave. Not just yet.

"How dare you?"

"Am I wrong?" Link raised an eyebrow. The question was unneeded. He knew the answer already. "You're afraid, Dusk. Afraid of living and afraid of dying."

Dark Link actually let him go just then. His show of dominance was doing him no good. Even shackled and chained to a wall, Link still had the upper hand. The son of a gun could still find something to give him an edge in whatever fight he was placed in. With Ganondorf it was the wizard's inability to gauge his enemy's true power. With Soul Edge it was the swords constant need of the triforce's power. For Dark Link, it was his own hidden fears.

"The last time you were created, you knew exactly what your fate entailed. You knew that you belonged to Ganondorf and that you had one mission. Fight and destroy me. If you lost you would die. If you won you would live until Ganondorf killed you himself, or until someone managed to kill him and all his servants in one foul swoop."

"What are you getting at hero?"

"Now you're unsure. Your master is different, and instead of keeping you as you once were, he changed you entirely." To prove his point he grabbed hold of the hand Dusk had cut earlier and held it in between the two of them. "You can get hurt now, you can bleed now, you can feel and think and wonder for yourself. You're not a mindless shadow anymore."

Link knew this to be fact. Those eyes were proof enough. They were angry at the moment, and they were filled with intense pent up emotions, but within them was the miraculous truth. Dark Link was no longer an entity made out of Link's inner demons. He was his own man now. He was flesh and blood. He was sweat and tears. He was dreams and hopes. He was regret and fear.

"You've tasted what it feels like to breathe and eat and hear your heart beat. You know what living is like for the first time. You don't want to lose it, and that scares you. Your life belongs to your master, but now you don't want to be tied to him anymore, do you?"

Red eyes were narrowed dangerously, but no words were uttered in response to Link's question.

So he continued. "He dies and everything keeping you stable is gone. You can't fend for yourself yet, and without him you're little more than an infant still dependent on his mother's milk. This time, dying alone would hurt so much worse than it did before, and you fear that pain so much you can barely even breathe."

Dar Link forced his lungs to function correctly.

"If someone were to rescue me, kill him, you'd be in a lot of trouble." Link let out a small empty laugh before smiling at his counterpart. The upward twitch of those lips was knowing, and just this side of accusatory. "Then again, if I were to die, you'd be in even worse of a predicament, wouldn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know very well what I mean. Soul Edge does nothing without meaning too, and he didn't give you a body like that just because he felt like it. Just like he hasn't kept me alive all this time out of the goodness of his heart. He needs the power of my triforce, ergo he needs me. Or rather, he needs me, until he can find a suitable replacement that can hold onto it after I die." He took a quick look at Dark Link, just a swift glance up and down, as though he were inspecting him. "Who better than my own shadow, who has no choice but to answer to the one who holds the triforce of power? And who knows. With time, and with both the triforce of power and courage at his finger tips, he might even be able to fully take over your body."

Dark Link scoffed. "Don't try to scare me."

"I don't have to try. You've no doubt figured this out on your own. I'm just confirming."

Dark Link stood at full height, ripped his hand away from the blonde hero, and glared down at the boy dangerously. "What are you trying to do, hero? Get me to let you lose? Convince me to attack the damn thing? What?"

Link shrugged. "I'm just striking up conversation." He smiled honestly to the other. "I haven't had anyone to talk to in a while."

"That's because you're a prisoner you idiot. Can't you see that? You're stuck in a room, chained to a wall, suffering at whatever kinds of torment Mother Nature wants to throw at you, being killed slowly and without sympathy, and to top it all off, everyone you could have counted on has left you here to die. What the hell are you smiling about!"

Link did not falter. "Someone out there hasn't forsaken me, and he'll be coming to get me soon."

Dark Link rolled his eyes. "Oh really?"

"That's right."

"You're too optimistic. There is no warrior, save for the ones who have long since died, who could release you from here."

"Siegfried could do it."

Dark Link seemed disgusted with the answer.

'No, not disgusted.' Link corrected himself. 'He's jealous.'

"Siegfried this and Siegfried that. I don't know if you've realized it yet, but he's in another world hero! He is light-years away, and that princess isn't all too good at tracking people down. He may never show up."

The smile softened fondly. "He's always been able to find his way to me when I needed him. This time will be no different."

Dark Link growled and slammed him hand against the wall. Once. Twice. Three times. It hurt, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't relish the pain. Pain made sense. It was an obvious problem with several understandable solutions. It. Made. Sense. Link did not. "How can you sit there and act so confident? You're going to die, and I'm going to replace you." His hand quivered against the wall. "How can you not be afraid of that?"

Link felt his heart stop. It had been quite some time since he had seen a warrior so truly terrified of what was ahead of him. And Dark Link was the last person he would have expected to see cracking so easily under the prospect of an unknown future. He was scared. Truly and honestly scared. The one true warrior of shadows was simply terrified.

Link took in a long breath, tilted his head, and tried to look as gentle and as reassuring as he could. "Do you know the true meaning of the word courage?"

Dark Link looked towards him from the corner of his eye. "What?"

"For Hylians, the word courage is different from the one used by normal Hyrulians."

"Is there a point to this?"

"Hyrulians use courage as a term to describe people without an ounce of fear in their bodies. Hylians use it to describe people who, though clouded by fear and doubt, carry on with their lives in the hopes that they will succeed." His tone was sincere, and his eyes were so warm. Dark Link could hardly believe that glow. "True courage does not stem from the certainty of life. It stems from the hope that something other than oblivion lies at the end of the journey. Courage is the strength you get when you believe in something, someone, more than your own fears."

Dark Link looked confused. He was always confused when it came to Link, but this time the confusion was somehow different in nature. The heart he now had was beating rapidly against his chest, and his stomach was growing warm at the words the elf was speaking. Dark Link could not understand. He could not comprehend it. What was so important about foolish words? What made them so powerful that they could cause his body to react so strongly? Why?

"You can't believe that. You'd be a fool to believe in such a thing."

"I can't believe in much anymore," Link admitted, eyes fluttering closed. "But I do believe in him. I believe that he will be my savior this time around." The smile returned. It was strong, confident, and steadfast. Everything that Link was, it was in turn. "You know, it wouldn't hurt for you to believe in him too."

Dark Link huffed at the mere suggestion. "Something like me shouldn't believe in anything."

"You're not a thing anymore."

That was true. The blood on his hand, the beat of his heart, the thoughts in his mind, proved that much. "I can't believe in him." He said solemnly. "I don't know the first thing about this knight in shining armor of yours. I don't think he's anywhere near strong enough to free me from this forced destiny. There's only one being I could ever find myself trusting with that kind of task, and he's chained up to a wall."

One eye was opened. "But he's not dead yet. He's still got more than enough fight left in him to survive until help arrives. And if he trusts that this savior will come, shouldn't you?"

Dark Link rolled his eyes. "You're such a friggin romantic, you know that?"

Link shrugged.

The Hylian promptly turned towards the exit of the cell. He paused, just as he reached the doorway. "Don't have any more of what's on that tray. I may have over exaggerated, but it really will get you sicker if you eat too much of it. I'll bring you something better in a little bit. Think you can survive that long, hero?"

"I think I can manage."

Dark Link turned to look at his counterpart. He was glowing, even within the dark confides of his cage. Incredible. "Don't look into this too much. I could care less about your wellbeing, but at this point, you and I are painfully connected. I don't have much of a choice but to believe you know what you're doing with your own life."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Dusk. I'll be sure not to disappoint."

"Whatever." Dark Link left the room with a mock salute. Before the door was closed, he suddenly felt the urge to say something, anything, to the boy he was leaving behind. "We'll see if this knight really is worthy of all your trust. Later, hero."

Link did not feel the usual emptiness when the door was closed and locked. In fact, for the first time in what seemed like centuries, he felt relieved. The temperature of the cell was beginning to cool. A breeze was coming in from the window above him, and by the looks of the dark blue shadow, night was coming to pay him a visit. Miraculously, there was a blanket beside him that Dark Link had most likely been ordered to take from him when he went to deliver those rations. However, he had managed to leave it behind. Whether he had simply forgotten or left it there on purpose, Link had yet to determine. Regardless, he knew that this night would be spent in some semblance of comfort. He might even go to sleep with a full stomach.

When another breeze entered the room, he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around himself. There was no guarantee what the next day would hold, but tonight's outcome was certain. He could rest easy.

"Night Siegfried," He whispered as he made himself as comfortable as he could against the wall. "Come and get me soon. Otherwise Dusk will think I'm a liar."

He could almost swear, as he fell into the finer comforts of unconsciousness, that he heard a familiar amused chuckle, and a voice he had treasured for years.

"Sleep well Link. I'll see you soon."

MistressOfTime1218: Alright guys, hope you enjoyed this.

DarkMist: Yeah, we're supposed to be thrilled about Link being held in captivity, sure.

MistressOfTime1218: (Frowns)

StormBlitz: Ignore her. She just wants to rush the plot so Ike can get in there. I think it's a definite improvement to the predicament we saw Link in the last time.

K-Chan: Not to mention that it came quicker than the last one, and is so much shorter and more reasonable in length.

MistressOfTime1218: I apologized already! I'm sorry! Geez, what's with the harassment? It's my birthday!

StormBlitz: That's right guys. You have to be nice to her…and give her birthday punches

MistressOfTime1218: Can we not and say we did?

All three: Nope.

MistressOfTime1218: Aw man. Well, to my lovely readers, hope this holds you over until next time. Have a very merry unbirthday .

K-Chan: Alright, I know for sure that that's an 'Alice in Wonderland' reference!