Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda

Shadow

A Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Story

I am not Link.

I am not the brave hero in his shinning green garb ready to save those in need. No, my tunic is as dark as the hidden corners of the hero's mind. My skin is stained grey with my sick thoughts and feelings. While his eyes shine a brilliant blue, mine glow red with stolen evil. We look alike, and yet we do not. He does not look like me. I look like him.

I hate him. I hate his courage, his strength, his voice, his power. But I share them. I hate his light, his goodness, his emotions, but they are the contrast that defines me. I want to feel him break between my hands and bleed beneath my sword, but I would be destroying my own flesh.

I have no form that is my own. I mimic his shape just to have any shape at all. Even though we look alike, I must run from the light while he may bask in the sun's warmth. But if I run too far, I dissipate into nothing. The light defines me, and it destroys me. I am at the mercy of the sun and moon, for without their glow how am I to have shape? With no light to cast a shadow, I would be nothing but angry whispers on the wind, even more pointless than I am. And if I am to have form, I must take his. I depend on his shape. I depend on him.

I am the anger he feels in battle, the bitterness he feels for his journeys. I am the cruelty in the swing of his sword, I am the evil that sleeps in the heart of every man. My cruelty begins where his mercy ends. My anger and hate only extend to what he can feel. I hate him with all my being, and yet it is he who defines me.

He is the one who gives me purpose; my hate for him drives me forward. I keep moving, searching through the shadowy forests and darkened alleys for a glimpse of him. When we fight, I can feel most strongly, as his anger only feeds to my own strength. I feel the pain of his cuts, the pangs of his hunger, the memory of touch and taste on his skin. When I try to kill him, I feel alive. But I never win. No, how could I destroy him, even with all my hate?

For what am I without him? If he were to die, what would I become? Would I remain, nothing more than the remnants of a dead-man's troubles? With no one left to resent, no one left to mirror, would I simply fade away?

Everything that makes me myself is his. I am he, but he is not I. I was made for distraction, never meant to live past the first battle. But I do live, if what I do could be called life. I am a half-man, never truly real, never truly unreal, but somewhere in a hellish between.

I have his envy, and I envy him for his wholeness. I hate him, and therefore I hate myself. I hate my existence, but I can die? I can't try to find out; I am his selfishness, I fear my own demise, although I long for it. I seek him out for countless battles, hoping for it to be my last and fighting to avoid death.

I share his everything, and yet he is stronger than I. I suffer for his transgressions, but never am I recognized for my pain. If he kills, it is justice. If I kill, I am monstrous. I feel sadness and weakness, which only need to the ever-burning flame of my hatred. The hatred I borrow from a good man.

My life is a joke. The light that burns me away gives me shape, and the man who I hate defines my nature. What am I? I am nothing. I am an imprint, not real, not truly anything. I waver and fade, I grow and deepen, I hate and hate with no end.

I am a shadow.

I am his shadow.

Doomed to fight and rage and hate for the eternity of sin, I will exist past his end, of every hero's end, until there is no more. And I will continue to be. I will kill and torture, and I will laugh with my sick cruelty. When my victims beg me why, I will have no reason.

No, I am not Link. I am his mockery.

A/N: Hey guys. I have recently acquired a Nintendo 64 along with Ocarina of Time. I haven't actually gotten far enough in the game to have fought Dark Link, but I do know the storyline of the game for the most part. I have always found the idea of Dark Link interesting, but sad. What kind of existence is it to be a shadow? The idea of being defined only by someone else is one that I have played with for Dark Link, but only after watching the ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion did it really begin to form into a more solid idea.

I hope you enjoyed my short one-shot, feel free to leave a review whether you did or did not.