Living With Myself

Chapter 9

Dark's smirk vanished as he saw Link's surprised face.

He turned around and saw Sheik lying on the altar. Thinking the same thoughts, they both jumped to the ground and ran towards him. Link slowed down a few steps away from the altar, unsure of what to do.

"What is Zelda doing here?" he asked, remembering that the friend he had trusted wasn't real, but only Zelda's alter ego.

"Think I should hide?" asked Dark.

Link bit his lip and nodded. He didn't like the feeling of being alone once Dark vanished into his shadow, but he didn't want Zelda to wake up suddenly and arrive at the wrong conclusions. Or the right conclusions, for that matter. There just wasn't a good way to explain the fact that he had kept a being of darkness with him.

Link took a few steps and tried to touch Zelda, but his hands suddenly burned and he retreated with a yelp. For a few seconds he saw something flash all over the altar, a kind of shield.

"Zelda?" he called, determination finally settling in. "Zelda, can you hear me?"

"Of course she can't, asshat" said Dark from his shadow "If she could she would have already said something. You need to destroy the shield"

"But I might hurt her," he said and leaned in as close as he could, looking at the only visible eye beneath the locks of golden hair; closed as if in deep sleep.

"The energy on the shield feels familiar, but new..." mused Dark.

"I know, it's like a combination. There's Nabooru's spirit energy ...and Rauru's light energy, I think," said Link, waving his palms over the energy shield enclosing his friend. "Maybe they're doing some kind of new technique? We should probably not interfere."

Dark came out of the shadow, reforming himself next to Link. "I don't think so. Look," he pointed to the thick layer of dust on the altar and the floor around it. Dust that would have needed months, even years to settle.

"What is going on in here?" growled Link, starting to get angry.

He opened his pack and took out the spirit and light medallions, not caring if the sages sensed their energy. If they did, all the better. They would have a lot to answer soon.

"Hold this and stand at the opposite of me" Link ordered to Dark as he stood near Zelda's head

"Uhmm, maybe I shouldn't stay here if all hell breaks loose. I don't really like friendly parties, and I'm sure your friends won't like me," said Dark, suddenly very nervous.

"I don't care. They have a lot to explain, and I'm free to do whatever I want. If they ask, I separated from my shadow to have someone to talk with, and that's it," said Link with a tone of finality.

Dark closed his mouth and frowned. Link was settling back into his old "Ruthless Hero" act and one didn't want to be near him when he did that. Dark knew it by experience, Link had almost killed him when he did, back in the Water Temple.

They both stood opposite of each other and held out the medallions. The light energy burned at Dark's hands, but he said nothing and covered his feelings so Link couldn't sense them.

The shield around the altar became visible. Swirling energy of light and spirit, draining it's power from the past and present, from one extreme of Hyrule to the other. Link growled and unleashed the power of the medallion, Dark moved too, as if he were a mere mirror image of the hero. Dark smiled at the thought of it, knowing that it was true.

The shield started to dissolve as it's energy flowed through the medallions, slowly it thinned until the last particles vanished. Inside, Zelda drew a long, deep breath.