Since you came along

Switch

Y/n felt her hands go clammy, and her heart picked up. May looked unstable. "You know, I should go."
"Where are you going?"
"Home." She was going far from Castle Town. She'd rather banish herself to the Twilight Realm than stay there. She stood up from the couch and sidestepped May, quickly making her way to the door. "I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me." May's sweet voice rang through her ears like a screeching bell, and she stopped. "Please, sit. Let's talk. It's been so long since we've seen each other; let's forget what happened." She looked at her over her shoulder, and she looked...fine.

Completely fine. As if she were never upset, never in a fit of rage.

Like a switch was flipped, and she was back to her cheery self.

It terrified Y/n more than her fury.

"It's fine. I really do need to go. I have to go see the Princess."
"What for?" She tilted her head, her smile never changing. 

'What the fu-'

"Link. As much as I appreciate him helping me, I'm worried something is...wrong with him."
"I see. Well, goodbye. Can you come back to see me?"
"Yeah. I will, later." She twisted the doorknob and went out. When the door was shut, she exhaled shakily. She began to walk back to her home briskly when she spotted Link speaking to a guard. He noticed her and was about to wave her down when she jerked her head in the direction of the Castle. He bid the guard goodbye and followed, keeping a wide distance between them. Once they were safely in the Castle, Y/n didn't stop walking and led them straight to the library. Link followed suit and shut the doors behind them. "Is everything alright?"
"No, everything is not alright! Oh, it's not right." She sank into a chair, and her hands covered her face as she attempted to make sense of everything. "Y/n?" Link knelt in front of her and rested his hands on her knees.

"There's something wrong with May." She placed her hands on his and proceeded to tell him about her visit to her; alarms went off in Link's head as she recounted it. "Do you think she had something to do with all of this?"
"No! I don't know! I just..." She looked down at her hands, and a tear fell to them. "I don't want to believe she's capable of that."
"We never know what people are capable of. We never know what lurks beneath their facade."
"She's my best friend, Link. How could she do that? I can't bring myself to believe it."
"Well, we don't know for sure, yet. Let's keep an eye on it, ok?" She nodded slowly and tried to calm herself. "Honestly, I'd have expected Jay to do something like this..." Link contemptuously muttered under his breath.
"Link, be quiet." She laughed at his disdain for Jay, but it died down when something in the back of her mind nagged at her. 'Jay...hadn't he known something about dark magic?'

~

"Jay! Is that all?"
"That's all! I'm good to go, thanks!" Jay jogged over to Y/n once he finished putting down a couple of boxes in the back of the shop. Y/n had come to help him stock the store before she left for Castle Town. "Going back to Castle Town?"
"Yes. I know May is capable of holding down the fort, but I worry. Plus, there's been an interesting customer hanging around lately. I think I'd like to get to know him more."
"Just be careful. Hyrule has some weird creeps." He nudged Y/n, and she rolled her eyes.

"Alright, I get it. You were right about Harley, but I got a good feeling about this one."
"If you say so." He shrugged, grabbed his bag, and began to dig into it before a journal fell out. It landed on its spine and opened up to a random page. Various writings and drawings were displayed all over the pages. "Woah! Since when do you do detailed research?" Jay whipped his head over to the book, slightly panicked. "I don't!" He snatched the book up. "Umm, I mean, I don't usually. Just some musings about ancient magic. Shad got me into it."
"You met Shad? He's a nice guy. I'm glad you two seem to be getting along."
"Yeah, nice guy. Well, you should be off before it gets too dark!"
"I'm going! Write if anything goes wrong!"
"I will!" She hurled a goodbye over her shoulder and walked out.

"Ancient magic? Didn't Shad say that was about the Interlopers? Ah, whatever. Not my business, sounds complicated."

~

"We should stay here for the night. I don't think us traipsing around Hyrule is any good unless we know what to do." Link was surprised at her statement, he figured she'd want to leave immediately. "Let's speak to the Princess. Maybe she can shed some light on this." Link led her to the Princess, who was currently in her drawing room. "Link, Y/n! How lovely to see you both! What brings you here?" Y/n was quick to explain what had happened and then allowed Link to take over, explaining what occurred when Y/n's memory was gone.

"You saw the Shadow?" Link nodded, and Zelda's face paled. "He was human-like? He mirrored you?" Link again nodded, and she looked around her desk frantically. "That's not possible. It shouldn't be." She sifted through papers and flipped through books nervously, and Y/n began to feel the anxiety emanating from her. "Princess, what's the matter?" She continued mumbling something under her breath until she spotted what she was looking for in a book she had left on the side. "This is what he looked like?" A drawing of one of the Interlopers was shoved in Link's face. It was eerily similar to him and the Shadow. "Yes." Y/n answered, though.

"You're sure? Absolutely sure?" They both nodded, and Zelda began to anxiously bite her lip. "While it shouldn't be possible, it seems one of the Interlopers is here. Loose in Hyrule." Link began to open his mouth to protest, but stopped when he thought back to when the Mirror of Twilight was still in existence. "The Interlopers were from ages ago. How could that be?"

"You are correct, however, it's possible for this one to have taken on a similar form of Link. Link, as you know, they became the Twili Tribe. However, if they managed to somehow escape the Twilight Realm, they came into a land where that kind of magic knows no bounds. The form it takes on of Link could be for a reason, whether that be out of spite or for use."

"You're saying it's mirroring Link as a joke?"
"It's possible. Maybe this one still harbors resentment toward Hylians, still. They used to be Hylians, they were banished. Yet, they still have a connection to us. With Link being not just the Hero of Hyrule but the Hero of Twilight, they see him as their biggest opposition. The true enemy." Zelda hesitated to say her next words.

"It could also be a warning."
"A warning?"
"That it plans to kill Link and use his appearance or possess him. A mortal host." Y/n took a seat as she processed the revelation, but Link stood firm, his expression steely. "Do you have any idea as to how it could have possibly crossed over?" Link's now odd formal tone put Y/n on edge. For her, it meant things were even worse than she thought. "I'm not sure. We could only find out through the Shadow." Y/n immediately had a thought. "There had to have been something he told me. If I could remember what happened when he had me, I might have a clue on how he got here."
"I don't recommend you try too hard to recover those memories. They may be detrimental."
"They might also reverse things. We're not doing that." Link was quick to shoot it down after Zelda, and he gave Y/n an angry look. "Link, I'm trying to help you."
"I don't need you to help me that way. Help me by working with me to figure out where he is. He has to be hiding out somewhere nearby."
"Why nearby?" Zelda questioned Link.
"He's got a thing for Y/n."
"So Link says." Y/n scoffed at his statement and crossed her arms over her chest. " So I say because he essentially told me. Who else goes out of their way to kidnap someone who has no use to them? Someone who's obsessed with them." Link's words rang out ironically to him.

'I feel like I can hear that snarky laugh.' Link's annoyance grew at the thought of the Shadow and his odd connection to him and Y/n.

"Link, it's the only way we'll know for sure. Maybe there's a way to stop him or get rid of him." Link shook his head and clenched his jaw. Y/n sighed in defeat, she knew he was set in his decision.

"Princess, I'll see what I can uncover. I'll write to you."
"Where are you two going to go for this?"
"Kakariko. I have a feeling someone there knows something about this."

updating, again, for my lovelies. there is so much going on in my personal life that the stress is i n s a n e
bad for me, but good for you, because i write most when i'm stressed out 
next chapter will be up soon if i can finish up the one that follows it in time
let me know if you all want to see anything in the story, more fluff, angst, whatever you feel is lacking, and i'll try my best to deliver!