Chapter 8 - Face Off

Link stepped back from the warped mirror image. How could that be? How could he come face-to-face with the Fierce Deity, when... He stopped.
He'd never removed the mask, had he? For all that he saw the blue eyes in the mirror each day, the face unstained... below the skin, the other face had remained.
He'd carried the dark powers within him the last two years without realising... and somehow they'd been set free again.

Oni laughed - not a classical evil laugh, as Ganondorf might have used, but one almost of amusement. "Why so surprised at what you see? I'm you, Link. All your dark thoughts, all your cruel feelings. All of what you pretend never existed. I'm nothing but what is part of you. Yet... I am stronger than you could ever be." He stepped closer, and idly swung his sword. "Think about it. The light cannot exist without darkness to show it up. And you cannot truly claim to be the hero... if you do not know what it is like to be the villain.
"How about a game, little boy? Oh yes. I know everything you do, Kaelon," he spat. "How about it? Good guys against bad guys, remember?"

...The same place, twelve years ago..."You're the bad guy. And when you're bad, you just run. That's fine, right?"... And then the nightmare that wasn't a nightmare began...

"NO!" Link shouted. "This time, I'm not running!"
"Well, how about that. Finally ready to face your fears?" The painted face twisted into a grin. "You won't win, you know. And then, it's back to the old days - and it's not like that would be a bad thing. Those proud ten years, a warrior to be feared. You were somebody then."
"I was nobody. The somebody I thought I was was living another life as a kid on a ranch. Damn it! You," and Link paused to let it sink in, "you were a soul-less killer."
"Don't pretend. You can't try to claim 'oh, it wasn't me, I was just a boy, you took over my body.'. It didn't matter what happened to that childish mind. What you became was far greater. For ten years, when we were one and the same, you thought of yourself as Link. That is what mattered. You chose that path for yourself, and you cannot deny it..."
He couldn't reply to that. It was true, too true... although it seemed different now, twelve years ago, he had looked to the darkness for himself...

-

The darkness was calling.

No... he wouldn't give up... but did he have a choice?

Was the darkness his destiny? He felt it creeping into his heart, the spirit of the Fierce Deity...

A bolt of light burst through, a heavenly melody - the song of healing! ...She's worked it out!... But surely the light should not hurt as it did? It burned at his heart. Something was being torn from his very soul, and was vanishing into the light.

He was empty.
Feelings and emotions - what were they? They were gone, as if they had never existed. Anything and everything that had made up the child's spirit... gone.
Only his memories remained, and they too were virtually lost without the guiding light. He was nothing but an empty shell, a void waiting to be filled.
The only thing that was left to him, the only choice he could make...

...Turn to the darkness.
...Turn to the chaos.
...It is there for you, waiting...

He reached out for the burning fury and seized it tight, claiming it as part of who he was.
It burst through him... Pure, blinding passion. Pure, blinding rage.
He accepted his fate.

...This is who I am...

Fierce Link climbed to his feet, and saw the world through new eyes.

-

"Perhaps you're right. But that was the past. This is the present. And don't think I'm going to give in and let you take me over again... This is where it ends."
"And how do you expect to fight back? You haven't even got your sword, little boy. Look at yourself. Poor, weak, defenceless... It makes me sick to think that I was once so powerless as you are." Oni laughed. "There'd be no fun in fighting you like that." He snapped his fingers. Link's sword materialised in his hand. He looked at it, surprised.
"Let's go."

The deity and the hero began to circle each other, sapphire and diamond gazes locked together.

Was I ever that terrible?

...Was I ever that weak?...

Link lunged forward first, but his blow was parried easily.
Oni attacked next. In one flowing movement, his sword cut through the air, trailing blue energy.
It struck home. Link fell to the floor, and groaned. Just in time, he saw the fireball coming. He rolled aside quickly.

...Just look at him. Look! Pathetic, to think something like him could bear the title of Hero of Time...

Link struggled to his feet, and unsteadily readied his sword.

Can I really defeat him?
It's the Water Temple, all over again!

An idea struck. Dark Link's response to his lunges had been...

Oni thrust forward, but Link was ready this time. With every last ounce of his strength, he leapt, and landed on the flat of the blade. He balanced, precariously, before stabbing forward.

But, of course, the Fierce Deity remembered that trick too...

...You fool. You're not going to get me that easily...

He swung the great twisted sword backwards and over his head. Link crashed to the ground clumsily, dropping his own weapon.

And then the energy blast struck. Burning, with a cold fire that wanted to eat its way into his heart...

Am I dying?

No! He wouldn't give up.
He couldn't give up now.

The most painful battle of his life had begun.
For all he knew in his mind it could only be a few hours, it seemed like an eternity.
Every attack - blocked.
Every move - avoided.
While his adversary laughed in his face, his every blow striking where it was supposed to.

Link gasped for his every breath.
Oni wasn't even breathing heavily.

He'd thought fighting his shadow was bad.
This was worse. This was hell, it was agony...

The helix blade pinned him to the ground.
"Surrender now, little boy. You know that you won't survive this. Perhaps then, I can promise you an easy death - no. It won't be death, if you accept me."
"Why... should I?"
"It's your destiny..."
"What... do you... mean?"
"You were born to fight, so-called hero. Don't deny it..."
"If I was born... to fight... I was born not to give up!"

He struggled upwards, and looked into his own features, at once calm and full of rage.

"I'm not going to give up!"
"Fine! I'm going to enjoy this!"

...Why does he deny the truth so easily?...

Link saw the final blow coming. The deity sprang forwards, the blades of his sword trailing an ethereal blue fire.
The end was near... or was it?

In the split second he had, Link held out his own sword, and concentrated... Energy flowed down the blade, blue, red... beyond that, into the purest white light.
It was all so clear, now.
He knew what he had to do.

He leapt straight upwards, catching the look of surprise in the white eyes as Oni missed his target.
In midair, he twisted. The sword, shining brilliantly, smashed into the back of the Fierce Deity's neck.
Both combatants collapsed.

If Link had been thinking straight, he'd have expected to see blood. But instead... the warrior was fading as so many of Link's adversaries had, into light and mist.
He spoke faintly. "Perhaps you're stronger than I took you for, little boy. Perhaps... I can be proud... that I am a part of you... now and always. You can't escape me now... good guys... bad guys... what's the difference?..."

And then he was gone. Only a blue energy remained in the air - a light made of darkness, swirling and shining towards Link, and vanishing.

The battle was over.

Painfully, Link climbed to his feet again, and looked around.
No!
He'd forgotten... how could he forget...
"Alena..." he whispered. He ran across to her still form. She was breathing, but shallowly, the sort of breaths that indicate that the breather hasn't many left. "Alena! Don't... you can't be... you can't die on me now!" He lifted her gently. "Please, 'Lena... I... I..." The words came unsteadily, but surely all the same. "I love you!..."
He was no stranger to feelings of rage, but this anger was different. How could this be the end? She hadn't done a thing!

That never stopped you before. His mind played the traitor. There were many others, as innocent as she is, and you...

"No!" Link choked back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him. "That's all in the past. I'll admit it! Yes, I'll admit who I was! But it isn't who I am now! I'll put things right, just give me time... just let her survive... just..."

Slowly, Alena opened her eyes. "Link?" she whispered, quietly. "You... I heard you..."
"Don't try to talk. Just relax."
She smiled faintly, and looked up into his eyes. Even dazed and in shock, she realised something was wrong. "There's... there's something on your face, Link!"
His heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?"
"It looks... there's red marks just by your eyes. And... your forehead..."
"A blue mark?" She nodded. His heart began to race. How is that possible? Did it happen in the fight? Or just now, when I destroyed the Deity... or perhaps I didn't destroy him after all... Now he came to think about it, it did feel strange, he could feel something there, like... a mask. The mask.
Alena reached up to Link's painted face and traced the red streaks back towards his ear. "I don't know... it kind of looks good on you..." she smiled. She ran her fingers on backwards, and paused. "I can feel... there's something by here. Can't you feel it?"
Link paused, then replied in a whisper. "The Fierce Deity's mask... perhaps, I can finally be free of it... Can you pull at what you feel there?"
She nodded, and tugged.
Link felt the pain, as something was ripped away from him that had been there more than half his life. But it was done now.
He looked down, and saw his own face held in Alena's slender hand. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For letting me be myself, again. Come on, 'Lena. Let's go." He helped her to her feet. "Hey, look! The sky. The sun's coming up. Doesn't that look..."
Blue eyes locked on the crimson skies, as the sun rose.

Alena rested her head on Link's shoulder, and whispered softly.
"The dawn of our first day..."

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