The Revival of Shadow Link

10:

I woke up restrained to my bed now.

I stared at what was binding my wrists to the headboard and tried not to panic, or vomit, or faint, or all three.

I was okay, right? I was safe? No one was going to hurt me?

"Didn't he hurt you?"

I don't know where the voice came from. I strained myself to try and find the source, I found nothing.

"Vio hurt you. He almost broke the Dark Mirror. He hurt you."

I tried to calm my breathing, but realizing you are hearing voices is not calming.

"He probably hates you. He brought you back because he pities you, not because he loves you, you're evil, he'd never love you."

"Shut up." I would have ran a hand through my hair if I could have moved my hands.

I heard the door open and two out of four of their Links walked in, their father in tow.

Vio sported a Black eye that just looking at put me in pain. Green looked really confused, head turned like he had been talking to his father before silencing the conversation. Maybe that was what had happened and the truth was they were silent now because I was in the room.

"Why am I tied down?" I asked, noting my voice was hoarse.

"We..." Vio started. "...Don't know exactly what happened, but you started freaking out. You bruised Blue's shoulder—he's fine—and punched me in the face."

"I...What?"

"We don't know what provoked you, but the minute you stopped, you passed out."

"Vio...I'm so sorry. I don't know what..."

Vio smiled tiredly. "It's fine. It doesn't hurt that bad. We just didn't know if it would happen again."

He untied me and then backed away as if I'd attack him again. Had I...actually done this? Maybe I wasn't actually out of my cell, maybe I was slowly having another nightmare, one that was going to comfort me with thoughts if returning to a place that held nothing against me while everything slowly went to hell.

Everything was either confusing here—because I made it confusing—or too good to be true.

"So, you're Shadow Link," Their Father said.

There it was, the guilt I knew I was going to feel a lot of for a long time. I had attacked Hyrule Castle and then trashed the throne room before pretending to be Link, injured, dying, unresponsive to the man's pleas to his son to wake up.

And then I put him in the Dark World.

I don't think I did, or do now, understand death. Something that everyone here seemed to fear. The only reason I was even at all reluctant to die was because everyone seemed to hate the idea of dying, while I had nothing to fear. If always be brought back to life but now...

...Now, death meant I'd be going back to that cell. Back with Vaati and the rats in the Dark World he had been sealed to. Back away from the light, away from Vio.

"Yes...I—"

"I don't want to hear it," he said, his tone lacking emotion.

He hates me. After what I did, he can't forgive me. I can't forgive myself. He knows this is my fault.

"I do not need to hear your apologies," he said and then smiled after his next sentence. "I heard quite enough from the other Four when they had to explain everything to me."

He hates you so much that your face makes him smile. You've made him insane with anger. He's going to tell you what he's been thinking this whole time.

"Vio explained everything about you in great detail." His smile was warmer.

"I still know nothing!" Green said, surprisingly cheerful.

Any minute now, his smile won't be warm, it'll be full of red hit anger and he'll slay you like the demon you are.

"I think I'd rather have all five mouths to feed than just four out of five; at least now, I collected the whole set."

"I collected the whole set."

"...collected the whole set."

Either, Vio did not tell him everything, or he was perfectly okay with having a fifth son, one that was much more demonic than the other four.

"I..." I trailed off and ten just squeaked out a thank you.

Oh my Goddesses, he doesn't hate you.

Vio smiled softly and sat at the edge of my bed, taking my hand. He just have told them, because no one else seemed to care that we were holding hands and that Vio...

They left and he pressed a kiss on my cheek and before I knew it, I was holding both of his hands, squeezing tightly and wondering if oxygen was really necessary. He pulled away panting and then let go of me all together.

He wiped the saliva off of his mouth with the back of his hand and frowned. "I can't."

"Can't what?"

"Do this to you. Shadow, I..." he trailed off. "Take off your tunic, I need to see if your wounded."

I noticed, finally, that my sleeves were ripped off and around my neck were stitches. On top of that, all sorts of bruises and such were over by chest.

"What happened to me?" I asked, totally forgetting I had been making out with Vio just a minute ago and now that I was shirtless, I could easily seduce him.

He laughed nervously. "We don't know. Actually, your heart stopped and we had to resuscitate you, we totally cracked your ribs and if it weren't for that potion we had on us...I don't think you would have made it."

I tried I entertain the thought of death. But I didn't know what it was actually like.

"What is death?" I said aloud.

Vio looked at me for a brief moment.

I think I gave him an existential crisis.