Living With Myself

Chapter 24

Link didn't drink much. He only got smashed once a year, on the anniversary of the battle with Ganon. So he always kept a few bottles hidden around the house, to tell himself that he wouldn't do it the next year, but being ready just in case.

Dark rummaged under the dresser until he felt cold glass on his fingertips.

"Why does he do that?" asked Oni, appearing behind Dark.

The shadow looked up at him from the floor.

"Because he loves being ridiculous when it comes to himself," he said, and strained to reach the bottle. The bottle rolled just beyond Dark's reach. "Are you doing that with your weird god magic? Stop. I'm not letting you burn this one. It's mine, you hear me?"

"I could consider sharing it if you answer my question."

"Don't think so, Mr. moon walker," grunted Dark.

Oni stepped on Dark's back. "I could also consider crushing you under my foot."

"I don't think Link would appreciate that, you know?" laughed Dark, despite the sharp terror that flared in his chest. He was still bickering with a divine being, and wasn't sure of his powers.

"He would not. But neither of you would die, so I could inconvenience him a little."

"W-what?" cried Dark, feeling Oni press his boot down harder on his back.

"As long as you both are separated, he cannot die. Nor can you. I told him the other day. Neither of you can leave this world without the other."

A silence fell between them for a couple moments, as Dark pondered this new information. And more importantly, the fact that he hadn't noticed this new bit of knowledge lying around Link's mind, which meant that he had actively kept it away from him.

Oni stepped on Dark's head. "Speak, Shadow," he ordered.

Dark yelped, holding his nose. "Stop that you asshole!" he yelled, and tried to stand up, but Oni stepped down on him again and he fell back on the floor. "What is it now?!"

"I am finding this very funny," said Oni with the same emotionless tone he had used to explain their technical immortality.

Dark rolled on his back to glare up at him. "I'm starting to see why your godly pals decided to put you in mask jail. A thousand years of mask dungeon for being a fucking jerk."

Oni lifted an elegant gray eyebrow. It was the first expression Dark had seen on him. "They did not imprison me for being what you would consider a 'jerk'," he said.

"Then why?" asked Dark.

"Because I stole the moon."

Dark opened and closed his mouth a couple time. He tried to say something, and was torn between 'Whaaaat?' and 'How the fuck did you do that?' but the words wouldn't come, so he just stared at him in awe. Because he believed him. He knew he had, because he had seen Link's memories of the battle on the moon, and he had seen the absolute whiteness of his temple.

Oni nudged him with the tip of his boot. "If you answer my question, I will tell you how I did it," he said, and Dark could sense a tone of arrogant pride in the deity's voice.

"Well, fuck me running, I think that-" started Dark, trying to get up, but Oni stepped on his chest, pushing him against the floor again.

"Silence," ordered the Deity. "It's Nayru."

"What?" whined Dark, until he felt it.

There was a bright presence outside the house, and someone knocked the door.