Breaking Away from the Darkness

part two: breaking away

Whoops. I got waaayyy too lazy and busy. This part is long overdue. Sorry.

(I now have an Archive of Our Own account for my newer stuff/rewrites, but I'll be posting everything from there here as well.)

part two: breaking away

"Shadow Link!"

I had learned from the first time I chose to ignore my master's calling. I was just a bit younger than I am now, and I didn't know any better. I didn't know why I was created, or who pulled me from the darkness. How was I supposed to know what this new person wanted from me? I had been brutally whipped for it, however helpless I was. From that point on I did whatever what was asked of me by whoever happened to be standing by, the potential consequence of a beating like my first always looming over my head.

I sat up sleepily and mumbled a loud reply. "Yes, Lord Vaati?"

The wind mage appeared in the doorway of my room, looking deeply angry at me like always. "What are you doing asleep, you little brat? Get your *** off the floor!" He marched over to me and stood over me threateningly as I scrambled to follow his orders. This was totally unfair - he was acting like he had told me last night that he expected something of me this morning. But, per usual, he didn't warn me at all beforehand. He was totally unpredictable. He probably doesn't tell me on purpose, just so he can have another excuse take all of his anger out on me.

I managed to pull myself up after suffering a kick to the stomach. "What is your desire, O Master of Winds?" I hated calling Vaati pompous titles like 'Lord' and 'Master'. It was the bane of my existence. But if I didn't, he would, of course, beat me. It was honestly ridiculous. I considered leaving the honorifics out once or twice, but I suffer enough daily, so I would swallow it down and use them anyway.

"I want you to go check on something for me." Dusting myself off, I gave him a look that I hoped translated across as "Please, continue".

He did. "There is, I hear, movement of the four Links across Death Mountain. Find them and destroy them without relent. Don't stop to talk to them, or goddesses know you might get attached to that purple boy again. When you report back to me, I will visit their bodies myself to ensure they are truly dead." He gave me a wicked smile and then glanced down at his long fingernails, as if what he had just requested was perfectly casual, like an errand to the marketplace. "If you fail your job in any way, you will suffer in their place."

I nodded slowly, trying not to show my the terror that filled my mind. He gestured for me to follow him and led me to the palace library. On the center table was a diagram of the mountain, spread out. "This is where they should be." He pointed about halfway up.

"Yes, master." I gritted my teeth. "I do have one question though."

He lifted an eyebrow. I prayed that I wouldn't be hit after speaking. "How...how am I supposed to get to the Light World? Aren't we...sealed off?"

I did not like the grin that followed. "Ganon and I managed to find a strange loophole around the seal."

"What?" Wait...does this mean...does this mean I might have a chance? A chance to get away?

"Something happened with the seal; it took several experiments, but if an extreme amount of power is collected, small, powerless things can be sent through the barrier between the light and dark worlds."

But if they gain more power, then...a whole repeat of what just happened could follow...As much as I wanted my freedom, I would rather stay here than let darkness have another chance at taking over Hyrule. Even if it meant I could never see them again.