The slam from the door echoed off the walls that were dripping with malice. The floor was lined with it, too. Link made sure to be careful where he stepped. The malice hung from the ceiling as well. It all moved around their respective surfaces like snakes slithering over one another.

As he moved closer to the middle, the master sword shined its blue light, the same way it had done when he fought the Calamity and during his first encounter with Dark Link.

"That thing really does know when darkness is near."

All the torches on the walls lit up in an instant. At the far wall stood Dark Link. He had blended in with the malice behind him. He walked forward, stepping in his own creation.

"Hello, Link."

Link scowled.

"Coincidence meeting you here."

Link continued to stay silent.

"I must admit," Dark said, "I completely underestimated you. Having an army ready right when we were going to attack was brilliant. I guess we can thank Princess Zelda for that, though. A dream right before it was all going to happen? The Goddess must really like her."

He looked down at his black and red version of the Champions Tunic. He pulled down on the ends, making it straighter.

"What do you think of me, Link? Pure evil and hatred just like Ganon was? Or do you see some of yourself in me?"

He was trying to get Link mad and he knew it, but he kept calm and waited for him to stop talking.

Dark laughed. "Of course you don't. You have no idea what it's like to have the power I have. To have Ganon's wrath flow through you. To not have attachments to anyone or anything. To know what it's like to be your own person."

Dark was now in Link's face. The blue from the sword shined on both their faces.

"I'm you. But better."

He started to walk away from Link.

"I really do wish we didn't have to do this," he said. "I don't want to kill the man everyone cares so much about."

He turned over his shoulders and smiled. "You know, we could work together. I was born from your body...using the malice Kanto possessed."

A flash of wonder sparkled in his yellow eyes. "What would happen if we came back together? The Hero of Hyrule who could control the power of the malice and have the spirit of Ganon dwelling in him."

Dark Link held out his hand.

"We would be unstoppable."

Link gripped his sword harder.

"No."

Dark Link tilted his head. "What was that?"

Link repeated. "No."

Dark Link sighed. "So be it."

Dark held his hand out to the side and from the malice shot his sword. It flew from the wall and directly into his hand.

Then he charged Link.

Link sprinted at him, too. Dark jumped into the air with his sword raised high. Link held up his shield as he came down and banged his sword onto it. Link shoved him off and slashed down, but Dark had stepped back. It narrowly missed.

Dark rushed him again. Link wanted to do something. He hadn't done it in a while, but he wanted to try. Right when Dark Link swung at his legs, Link jumped back and everything slowed down. Dark's sword stopped moving as Link hovered over it. He had done it. It was time for a flurry rush.

Link quickly dove to Dark's back and had begun to bring his sword back to unleash a whirlwind of attacks, but Dark Link, in the blink of an eye, turned around and caught the sword with his.

"Nice try."

Link flipped back and landed in some of the malice. It instantly burned his body so he jumped out of the way. His feet felt hot in his boots.

He took out his bow. He drew back and fired three arrows at him. Dark only saw one of them, and moved out of its way, but one of the others lodged itself in his shoulder. He grunted as he realized there had been more than one and sharply pulled it out of him. A small amount of a pink liquid trickled from where it had been. He threw it on the ground and the malice that was there sucked in all three arrows.

Dark Link ran across the floor to Link. The hero held his sword with two hands and pointed it at the approaching evil. He shot a brilliant blue beam from the tip. It hit right where Dark Link had been. After the blue particles cleared he was nowhere to be found. Link's eyes shot back and forth. He then heard something land behind him, and it cut his side: opening up the same wound he had gotten in the Sheikah Dungeon.

Link swung behind him and caught Dark Link's sword. They slashed and swung at each other again and again and again, but just like their first fight, they completely mirrored everything the other did. Link needed something that Dark didn't.

Link jumped back, giving himself distance from Dark. Dark ran again, sword in hand, ready to strike. Link sheathed his sword and grabbed the hookshot from his belt. He shot it at Dark, and it latched onto his torso. Link then reeled it back in and threw him against the wall. He made sure to aim him at a part of the wall that didn't have any malice on it.

Dark crashed against the wall. His body slid down as he glared at Link through his gray hair. He then grit his teeth and pointed at the hero. The malice on the walls spit the arrows out it had sucked up earlier at Link. He quickly dodged two of them, but the last one went into his left thigh. He yelled and yanked it out as fast as he could. He took it and shot it back at Dark Link, but all three missed. The malice quickly sucked the arrows again.

Not again.

Dark Link threw his sword into the wall and the malice quickly consumed it. Then, Dark sunk down into the ground and became one with the malice there. Link could see a bulge on the ground where he had gone down. It began to move around the floor, like a Molduga swimming through the sand. Dark went up around the walls and then to the ceiling.

Link looked up at Dark when he heard the malice spit out an arrow. He jumped out of the way of the arrow and Dark Link jumped down from the ceiling. Link heard him fly down and met his sword with his. Again, they slashed and swung at each other's sword. One swinging hard, the other swinging just as hard.

Dark quickly went into the malice again. Link's eyes stayed glued on the mess of malice that slid across the room. Another arrow shot at Link, but he was so focused on Dark that the arrow flew right into his left arm. Blood immediately started to drip from the wound when Link yanked it out. Hearing faint laughter behind him, Link swung his sword around and caught Dark in the side. The same pink liquid spilled out.

He quickly went under again. Link heard another arrow fly behind him which he blocked with his shield. He quickly turned back around and tried to find where Dark had gone. Then he felt an immense pain in his side again. Dark had come up behind him once more. Link turned around and swung down, but like always, Dark was there to hit it away. Link then heard the last arrow get spit out from the malice behind him. He waited and waited until he jumped out of the way and the arrow went straight into Dark's stomach.

Dark fell to the ground and so did Link. Both of them breathed hard and coughed from the effort they put forth. They were very even, they were almost the same. Link's tunic had become spotted with red from the arrow and sword wounds. The bandages that Zelda had carefully wrapped around him were gone, and now an even bigger gash was there. Link squeezed his eyes as he pushed himself back up.

Dark clenched his teeth and pulled the arrow out. His inner malice was leaking out, much like Link was with blood. He had never experienced such a sensation of pain before. He looked up at Link, who was barely standing. Dark then used his sword to help him stand up again.

"I guess I was wrong about me being stronger, hero," Dark panted. "We are truly evenly matched." He pointed to Link's shield and hookshot. "You have weapons that I don't, and," he motioned towards the room of malice, "I have weapons that you don't. The next incarnation of the hero could come and we would still be fighting."

Link's body moved with each breath. There was some truth in what he said.

"Link," Dark said. "The only way this will end is for us to come back together. My darkness and your light, working together to become the most powerful person in the kingdom. We could make a new kingdom. A fair kingdom for all to love and cherish. Just imagine it."

Link panted. "You want evil."

"I want Hyrule," Dark corrected. "And I can get it... that is, with you." He held out a limp hand. "Link... we're tired. We're injured. We're evenly matched. Whatever you do with your sword I will just copy. Let's end this fight."

His hand was still extended.

"Join me, Link."

Link knew Dark was right. There was no way he would win doing the same things he was already doing. He had tried to outsmart him, he had used tools Dark didn't have, he had tried everything. Link was, in fact, tired and injured. He had multiple arrow wounds and numerous burns from the malice.

But he knew that Dark Link needed to be gone. If he allowed himself to become one with him, all the hatred, evil, and malice would reign over Hyrule. Link had to keep going. He had to keep fighting...

...and do something he would never expect.

Link dropped the hylian shield and it clanged on the floor. Blood trickled down his left arm and landed on the scarred shield. He then slowly took the master sword in both hands and held it in front of him.

"I will fight until the darkness has vanished, until the land of Hyrule can be reborn," Link testified. "I, the Hero of Hyrule, the one chosen by the sword that seals the darkness, will fight until my dying breath."

Dark copied what he did. "If that's what you think you want."

Both held their swords in front of them with both hands on the hilts. Link moved his to the left, and Dark mirrored. He moved it to the right, and Dark mimicked. He then raised his sword high, ready to strike him down. Dark held it high as well. Then, Link gripped tight, brought the sword down as hard as he could, and drove it into his own right leg.

Both screamed out in pure pain. Their swords had gone straight through their own leg. Link yelled as he quickly yanked his sword out. It was now covered in his own blood. Dark fell to the ground and clambered to get a grip on his sword.

"Why would you do this?" he screamed at Link. "You've killed us both!"

Link took the hookshot and flew to the far wall. He used his better leg and the hookshot to hang off the wall like a spider to see what Dark did next. Dark slowly pulled his sword out, wincing and screaming through every second of it. Once it cleared his gray skin he yelped in pain. He then looked at Link with the most hatred he had ever seen.

"Ahhh!"

Dark stood up and, despite his now broken leg, jumped into the air at Link. Link pushed off the wall and, in mid-air, shot the hookshot right at Dark Link. It latched on, making more gashes in his body. Link then reeled him in while still in the air. And, with all the strength he had left, used his legs to spike him straight into the ground. The entire room echoed the slam of his body crashing back onto the floor.

Link quickly latched the hookshot back onto his belt and took out his paraglider and floated down to where Dark Link lay, moaning from the pain that surged through his body.

He landed, putting all of his weight on his left leg. He limped up to Dark and pulled out the master sword. It started to hum in his hand. Then, instead of a blue light, the master sword shined a beautiful, bright yellow light that filled the entire room. He looked at the back of his bloody hand and saw that the triforce was now there.

Dark yelled and fought his own pain to stand again. His body was full of bright and dark pink wounds that leaked malice everywhere. He could barely stand.

"You will regret all of this, Link!" Dark yelled. "If you do this the land of Hyrule will never know true power." His voice was shaking with anger.

He ran at Link, despite almost not being able to hold his own weight. Link brought the master sword back, and slashed Dark Link's chest when he got close to him. He flew back and landed on the ground. Dark yelled again, and miraculously stood up. He sprinted towards Link again, and Link slashed his chest the other way, causing him to fly back again.

For the last time, Dark Link painfully rose to his feet. The black tunic he wore was now soaked in pink malice. His arms had begun to melt off his own body and his chest was almost nonexistent. He stood still and looked at the Hero in front of him. Blood dropped down Link's left arm, side, and right leg. His tunic was dirty with blood and malice, and sweat covered his face. Yet he stood with the master sword, the sword that seals the darkness, with the triforce on his hand, with light that was as bright as the Goddess herself.

Dark now limped towards him, trying to go as fast as he could, but falling when he tried to run. Link pointed the sword at Dark Link, and shot an elegant yellow beam. Dark finally closed his eyes in defeat as the beam made contact with his malice filled body, and exploded in a blinding white light that filled the whole room.

Main Quest

DESTROY THE YIGA

————————————

COMPLETE

The room was white for a while, and Link couldn't see a single thing. Then, it faded, revealing that the room had absolutely no malice in it. It had returned to its sandstone floor, torches on the walls, and the metal door.

Link looked at the master sword. His vision began to blur and colors began to blend together.

A loud creaking echoed off the wall as Link looked towards the gray whirlpool of a door. He fell to the ground, letting the master sword slip through his fingers.

"Link!"

Link looked at what was supposed to be a wall. He couldn't be sure of anything right now.

"link"

Everything started to fade: his vision, his feeling, his hearing.

"......"

Everything was black. He could feel everything start to leave. No feeling. No sight. No hearing.

All he could feel was a warmth from the back of his hand.