[i]It begins again as I walk into the room where my shadow waits.

	I have long since lost count of the number of times I've entered this room.  Hopefully this time will be the last.

	But I should explain from the beginning, from the first time I walked through that door...[/i]

	-----

	I had stopped to rest, there just outside the door.  It wasn't a particularly good spot to rest, but temple mazes didn't tend to have fully furnished bedrooms in them, so I took my breaks where and when I could.  I sometimes wondered at the madness behind the mazes.  That sacred places should be off-limits to the uninitiated made a certain sort of sense.  But the places could be death-traps even without the darkness-spawned infestation of monsters they all currently held.  It seemed a bit extreme.  I wondered what divine insanity had prompted the building of the first one.

	Of course given everything I'd been learning about fate and destiny, I could well be the reincarnation of the guy with the idea, doomed to suffer because of my past mad genius.

	I shook that meandering thought off and got to my feet.  It was time to find out what lay behind the next door.  Some hideous monster out to kill me, no doubt.  I stepped through the door, and it closed and locked itself behind me.  With a sigh I resigned myself to yet another battle; that always meant there was something for me to fight and kill.  The room itself was something new, though.  I found myself standing on a little platform before a fairly large open space, that faded into mist around the edges in a way that suggested it was outside, though I knew perfectly well it was not.  The floor below my platform was covered in water, so everything was doubled, reflected in that smooth surface.  Ahead a little island rose up, with a dead snag standing on it.  Another platform and door was just visible through the mist beyond it.

	I moved forward cautiously, stepping into the water and finding it not even knee deep.  I splashed my way across to the dead tree and investigated it briefly, but there seemed to be nothing there.  I continued to the far door.  It too was locked.  Puzzled, I turned around, just in time to see a shadow coalesce on the island at the center of the room.  It leaped at me, and despite still being apparently nothing but blackness, its feet splashed through the water just the same as mine.

	Its sword seemed to be the same as mine as well, though it was pure jet black.  It met my own blade with a clang of steel on steel, and I swiftly realized that this apparition was a twin to me in every way.  I was fighting my own shadow.  The shadow seemed a match for me, too, every move I made it knew the perfect counter.  I wasn't going to beat it sword to sword.  Which figured.  Nothing could ever be simple or easy anymore.  Fortunately the shadow let me have a little space when I backed off, so I could sheathe the sword and pick another weapon.  On a whim I pulled the hammer from my magical pack.  That seemed like the sort of thing that would be hard to counter.  I certainly didn't know how to.  Nobody learned hammer fencing.

	This proved to be the correct move, for my first attempt to hit the shadow with the hammer sent it sprawling in the water with a cry of pain that startled me.  I wouldn't have thought that animate shadows could feel pain, but apparently this one did.  I resolved to finish it off swiftly.  It seemed to have other ideas, though.  It put up a furious defense, and even went on the offense several times, making it difficult for me to get a strike in with the slower hammer.  The first good one I thought I got, the shadow caught it on its shield, though that nearly drove it to its knees.  I grimly used that opening to hammer it right in the head, and that was it.  The shadow collapsed instantly, silently, into the water and faded away.

	And then the world faded away with it.

	-----

	I returned to being, feeling confused and disoriented, and found myself standing outside the door I'd entered not so long ago.  I blinked at it with a strange sense of deja-vu.  What had just happened?  How had I gotten back here?  Had the fight been some kind of waking dream or vision?  I felt physically rested, not winded as I'd been only seconds ago, which made the fight seem strange and unreal.  And yet it had been completely vivid, unlike any dream I'd ever had. 

	Somewhat hesitantly I stepped towards the door.  It opened, and inside everything was just as I recalled it. When it closed behind me I jumped at the sound.  The inexplicable repetition was eerie.

	With my sword already out I slowly stepped into the shallow water.  As I approached the island, a shadow stepped from behind the tree.  It was already ready for me this time, it seemed.  The way so much was the same, yet some things were ever so slightly different was putting me off-balance.  Even the shadow was a little different.  Before it had been utterly pitch black, save for blank red eyes.  Now its eyes seemed almost human, though they were still red, and it was rendered in dozens of shades of gray.  

	The fight was a little bit shorter this time.  I didn't bother with my sword, I sheathed it as soon as I saw the shadow, and pulled out my hammer instead.  The shadow seemed to have learned as well, it dodged my blows much more assiduously, but in the end it once again fell to lie in the water.

	Then it and the world once more faded away, and I was standing in front of the door again.

	-----
	
	"What in Din's name is going on here?" I asked the empty air, but it had no answer.  I considered back-tracking rather than repeating the same fight again, but I [i]needed[/i] to get past the room with the shadow to reach the end of the Water Temple and free the sage there, else I couldn't face Ganondorf and all my questing would be in vain.
	
	So I stepped through the door again, hoping that this time something would be different.  The only difference was that the shadow seemed less of a shadow and more of a person.  His eyes were very like my own eyes, save that they were ruby red, and his skin was a light gray now, while his clothes and sword remained jet black.  He seemed to be becoming more real, and it felt strange and disturbing to once again kill this shadow person who so resembled myself.
	
	I was getting better with the hammer, but the shadow was getting better at dealing with it.  The battle thus was really about the same length as the previous ones had been, and I once again was the victor.  I watched the shadow's body fade away, and then the world faded away too.

	-----

	I stood in front of the door and cursed at it.  What was going on?  Defeating my shadow should open the way forward, not send me back to where I'd been.  Yet once again it had.  I stormed angrily through the door, hammer already in hand.  The shadow was once again there, though he seemed even more human than he'd been.  His skin had a touch of color to it now, and his clothes were very nearly ordinary clothes in black fabric, not dark inkblots of shadow.  His snarl of anger matched my own as we met in a clash of weapons.  My hammer skidded off his shield and his sword left a bloody line along my forearm before we both backed off, settled ourselves, and resumed our battle with less wild abandon. 

	It seemed that he felt the same frustration I did at our repeating clashes.  Our similarities went beyond merely appearance and ability with the sword, apparently.

	Still, I had the advantage of the hammer, and I once again emerged victorious.  His cry of pain as he fell haunted me, even as I found myself once again lost in a world that faded to black all around me.

	-----	

	And there I stood, before the door.  How many times had it been now?  I was starting to lose count.  Three, at least.  Four, perhaps?  It might have been five.  No, surely it was four.  Inside the room the mist, water, and tree were all as they had been.  My shadow seemed fully human now, with skin the same warm tone as my own, though his black clothing made it seem perhaps a bit paler than it really was.  His ruby-red eyes were full of frustrated anger.  His sword was out, and I almost wanted to draw my own, to meet him sword to sword and just duel evenly.  Yet I had to somehow get past him.  I didn't know how, just killing him again was almost certainly futile, but he launched himself at me with rage in his eyes, and answering that attack with my own was the only solution I had.  Perhaps this time would be different.  Perhaps this time I would pass through the door that teased me from beyond his black-clad shoulder.

	But no.  Once again I was the victor, but once again the world dissolved around me, and once again, maddeningly, I found myself in front of that same damned door.

	-----

	I pulled out the hammer and slammed it into the door as hard as I could.  This did nothing whatsoever, but irrationally I felt slightly better.  Still holding the hammer in my hand, I stepped through the door again.

	The shadow was still there, but this time he was sitting down on the little island.  I splashed over to him, hammer at the ready.  He looked at me, then fell over onto his back, arms spread wide, sword still in its sheath on his back.  "Just kill me then, and get it over with," he said.

	I blinked down at him.  "You can talk?"

	"Come on, what are you waiting for?  Put me out of my misery."

	I scowled at him.  "If I kill you, I'll just be standing outside the door again."

	He looked up at me, and something in his eyes turned thoughtful.  "So this isn't just my own personal hell, you're repeating everything too?"

	I looked down at him, suddenly curious.  "Yes.  Every time I kill you everything fades away and I'm suddenly standing outside the door to this room."

	He sat up.  "Interesting."

	"What about you?  Who are you, anyway?"

	"I'm you," he said with a little shrug.  "I remember being you, at least.  But I also remember Ganondorf.  He created me to kill you."

	My eyebrows went up at that.  "He's not doing such a great job, then, considering I've killed you, uh... five times now?"

	"This will be number six, yes."

	"Assuming I kill you this time, which is feeling increasingly pointless."

	"And yet if you don't kill me, we're both simply trapped in this room."  My shadow glanced at the door behind him, then at the one behind me.

	I sighed.  "Yes.  So what do we do now, then?"

	"I don't know.  I feel a very strong urge to kill you, I think my creation includes a compulsion, which is why I attacked you immediately, even before I was fully formed.  But I don't really [i]want[/i] to kill you.  Not, ah, personally.  I don't know of any way to open the doors, though."

	I put the hammer away, though I was ready to pull it out of my magical pack again in an instant if needed.  "This is bizarre.  I've never run into anything like it."

	"Me neither, but then the only memories I have before arriving in this room are yours."

	"I guess that does make you me, then."  I rubbed my forehead.  I was used to puzzles, but this was an entirely new level of puzzle.  "Though I can hardly call you Link."

	"No.  Shadow Link, maybe.  Dark Link.  Sure, call me Dark.  That works."

	"Dark.  I suppose it does work.  Ganondorf didn't give you any clues about what's happening here when he made you?"

	"No.  I remember... I remember just being a sense of purpose, waiting.  Then you arrived and that purpose suddenly started happening.  I remembered you, especially all the fighting you've done, and my purpose drove me to attack you.  I was very surprised when you won, and even more surprised when I found myself standing in this room again, waiting for you to enter.  I'm not sure this has anything to do with Ganondorf.  He wasn't playing games with time.  He just wanted me to kill you, that's all."

	"Time."  I frowned.  I was the Hero of Time.  Had something about my meddling with the flow of time in Hyrule caused this?

	"It's possible that all the time travel you've done has fractured time somehow," said Dark, mirroring my thought.

	"Yes.  If there's a fracture in time... I don't know.  I don't know enough about it.  I've followed the course of destiny, and that gave me time magic, but it's always been very limited.  All my magic has been limited.  I don't really understand how it works.  It was just a tool."

	Dark nodded.  "Yes.  Though I suppose it doesn't matter why, what matters is how, especially the how we get out of this room.  Any ideas?"

	I sighed and shook my head.  "No.  Which is very frustrating.  I'm supposed to, well, you know..."

	"Free the sages, open the black tower, fight Ganondorf, fulfill your destiny, yes."  He had a somewhat strange expression on his face as he said that.  If I had to put a name to it, I would have called it shocked.  Then he shook his head as if shaking off some thought.  "So we really need to think of a way to get you out of this room.  And me too, of course.  Even if I don't have the same burning need to reach the end of the temple, I don't want to spend eternity stuck in here!"

	I nodded.  "I am drawing a blank on what to do, though.  I've solved a lot of puzzles, but this one isn't terribly straightforward."

	Dark rubbed his forehead, an echo of the gesture I'd used moments ago.  "We can't get out of the room though the far door until I die.  But you start outside the the other door when we start over.  Perhaps you could stand in the doorway, and we could both get out through it?"

	"It wouldn't solve my problem entirely, but it would be a start.  But for me to be outside the room..."

	"You have to kill me, yes."

	"Goddesses."  I'd already been feeling strange about killing my shadow before this.  I wasn't particularly keen to kill him now.  "I'm not really fond of that idea."

	"You've killed me five times already.  Six should make no difference."

	"I..."  I didn't know what to say in response to that.  He was right.  I knew perfectly well I'd have said the same in his place.  "All right."  I pulled the hammer out again.  

	Dark flinched just a little.  "Can you use something else?"

	I looked at him, then nodded.  "Of course."  I stowed the hammer and took out my bow instead.  

	He gave me a slightly strained smile.  "Thank you."  Then he turned away from me.  I hesitated a moment.  I wasn't fond of the idea of shooting him in the back, but then nodded to myself.  Of course it would be easier for him if he didn't see it coming.  

	I pulled the bow back in a full draw and shot.  

	The arrow flew true.

	He faded away, and once again the world faded with him.

	-----

	I stood outside the door, my stomach churning.  It was irrational, that this death should bother me so much more than the previous five.  Yet it did.  Still, we had agreed on a plan, and I wasn't going to let my shadow down.  I stepped up to the door again.  It slid open before me.  This time I stayed there, waiting.  I saw Dark approaching out of the shadows and mist within.  He walked up to the door and then rebounded, as if he'd walked into a pane of glass.

	"Thrice damn it!" he cursed, and I felt his frustration.  

	"You're stuck in there."

	"It seems so.  I suppose Ganondorf didn't want me wandering off."

	"Or whatever's causing this repetition is behind it."

	"Perhaps, but if that was the case, surely you'd be trapped with me, and you're not."

	I wanted to rub my forehead again.  Goddesses, this was confusing.  "Okay.  So... I guess you're stuck in there, but I'm still out here for now.  I probably shouldn't go in, or I'll just be stuck with you.  I need to go out and see if I can learn anything about this."

	Dark nodded.  "I think so."  He looked back over his shoulder with a small sigh and said, "I guess I'll just... wait here.  Explore the room, maybe, make sure we haven't missed anything in here."

	"I could bring you something, maybe? Food?  Something to occupy yourself with?"

	"Don't waste the time, I'll be fine.  Find out what you can, as quickly as you can."

	I nodded.  "I will."  Then I stepped back and the door slammed shut between us.

	The trip out of the Water Temple was simple enough, I'd spent enough time running around the lower levels to make my way to the exit without any trouble.  It was early morning when I emerged from the remnants of Lake Hylia.  The moment in time I kept returning to must be near sunrise.  From the lake I made my way to Hyrule Field, where I whistled up Epona.  On her back the trip was as swift as it could be, but it still took most of a day to get to the ruins of Hyrule Castle; the sun was setting as I arrived at the ruined castle gates.

	I was seeking the Temple of Time, and the mysterious Sheikah I'd met there once already.  As far as I knew there was no Sage of Time.  But Sheik seemed to know things, and he was the closest thing I could think of to such a sage.  I hoped that by returning to the temple I might find him again, and ask him about the repeating fragment of time in the Water Temple.

	It was full dark by the time I reached the Temple.  The ruined castle and town around it were dangerous by dark, but I didn't want to wait for sunrise.  I could deal with the dangers if I had to.  Inside the dim gloom of the temple, though, I found nothing but the empty pedestal where the Master Sword had stood before I drew it.

	"Sheik?" I called out.  My voice echoed back to me, but there was no other reply.  "Sheik?  If you're here, I need to ask you something about time.  It's important."  Still nothing.  I waited for a few minutes.  "Sheik?  Please, it really is important."  Again, nothing.  I gave it another ten minutes or so, then heaved a sigh and left.

	As I climbed off of the ruined drawbridge and walked out onto Hyrule Field I heard a voice behind me.  

	"Link."

	I jumped and spun, drawing my sword as I did so, then smiled when I saw it was Sheik, perched on the edge of the drawbridge where I'd been mere seconds before.  "Oh thank the three."  I sheathed my sword at my back and relaxed.

	Sheik chuckled.  "You sound glad to see me, Hero."

	"I am.  Is there a Sage of Time?  There's a Temple of Time, and all the other temples seem to have sages.  Something... strange is happening that I think is a kind of time magic."

	Sheik's expression, what Link could see of it, sobered.  "There is no Sage of Time.  I am quite likely the closest to such you will find.  What has happened?"

	"There's a room in the Water Temple where I have to fight my shadow," I began, and then told Sheik everything I could think of about the situation.  When I was done Sheik looked thoughtful.

	"I heard a story from a teacher of mine, years ago, about someone who'd been trapped in a similar loop of time.  For her, however, the loop began again whenever she herself died.  It was a kind of immortality, as well as a kind of trap.  Whether it be of violence or of old age, each time she died she would awake again at a particular moment in her youth, to live her life over again from that point."

	"And she never escaped?"

	"No.  She will repeat her fragment of time endlessly, or so the story goes.  I don't know if it's true.  It may be that it has nothing to do with your situation, given that you return to the same moment after killing your shadow, not after dying yourself.  But I know of no solution for you."

	I wanted to curse.  I'd hoped Sheik would know of some way out.  "If I can't break free of this loop, Hyrule is in trouble.  I need to free the Sage of Water before I can even reach Ganondorf, but to free the Sage of Water I must reach the inner chamber of the Water Temple, and to do that I must kill Dark.  If I return to the moment before each time I do, I have no way to advance and no way to fulfill the destiny everyone keeps telling me is mine."  And that wasn't even bringing up the fact that I no longer really wanted to slay my shadow.

	"If it is your destiny, and I believe it is, there will be a way.  It's merely a matter of finding it."

	"I see."

	"I'm sorry I have no more wisdom to offer you, Link.  Your task is difficult.  But don't give up hope.  I trust you'll find a way." He took two rapid steps backwards and vanished into shadows that were suddenly thicker than they'd been only moments before.  I blinked at the empty space where he'd been, then sighed and turned to find Epona.

	I rode on until I was dozing in the saddle, then stopped and set up a simple camp, bedding down beside my horse.  I trusted Epona to wake me if danger approached, but I didn't sleep soundly all the same.  In the morning I rode on.  The sun was nearing the horizon by the time I finally returned to the Water Temple.  I prepared to wade out into the water and make my way back to the room where Dark waited, but as I took my first step on the muddy lakebed, the world suddenly faded to black and I found myself opening my eyes once again outside a far-too-familiar door.

	-----

	"What happened?"  I knelt next to Dark, who was sitting with his back against the dead tree, his arms around his drawn-up knees.  He'd been that way when I'd once again stepped into the room, and he hadn't so much as looked up at me as I approached.  He didn't immediately answer my question, either.  I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder.  "Dark?"

	"Apparently Ganondorf didn't make me to last," he said into his knees, still not looking up.

	The bitterness in his voice was profound, and if he meant what I assumed he must, I couldn't blame him.  I sat down beside him and touched his arm gently.  "Tell me about it."

	"How long were you away?  It's hard to tell time in here.  Nothing ever changes."

	"From just after dawn on one day to just before sunset on the next.  Not quite two days."

	"Well apparently that's as long as I can live, not quite two days.  At first nothing changed.  I explored the room and found nothing of note.  I slept for a while.  Then..."  He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and looked over at me.  "It was probably several hours before everything started over again.  I started feeling strange.  Hungry, I guess?  I'd been feeling hungry all along, of course.  There's no food here, but you know what it's like. Going a day or two without food isn't really that hard, so long as you're not otherwise starving."

	I nodded agreement.  Skipping several meals in a row wasn't exactly fun, but it had happened several times over the course of my adventures.

	"This was different, though.  More...intense.  It didn't fade away, it just kept getting worse.  And it somehow wasn't about food.  It was a hunger, but also a hollowness.  A need... I can't explain it."  His eyes, looking into mine were intense, haunted.  "At some point after that I started turning back into a shadow.  I could see all the color leaving me, and then everything faded away.  Again."  He heaved a sigh and put his head back down on his knees.  His voice was slightly muffled as he added, "At least it didn't hurt this time."

	"I'm sorry," I said.

	"Don't be.  I'm you, remember?  I know why you killed me those other times.  And the arrow didn't hurt at all.  That was very clean.  Just... Not even two days.  That's my life now.  Trapped here in this room, fading away even if you don't kill me, endlessly repeating, and you're trapped here with me as well.  We're in some special kind of hell, Link, and I hope to the Three that you found something while you were out, but I don't expect you did.  A day and a half isn't that much time."

	"It isn't."  I considered that limitation.  I'd thought to share what little I'd learned and then set out again, perhaps stopping to get some sort of food or other supplies for Dark before going on.  But with a time limit of not even two days such delays were out of the question, and even with no delay it limited my options severely.  I could reach all but the furthest corners of Hyrule itself in that time, but there was no way I could seek an answer beyond its borders.  If Sheik didn't know anything about our predicament, nobody else within Hyrule was going to either, so that limitation was going to be trouble.  Still...  "I did learn one little scrap," I said.  Then I told him what Sheik had told me, about the story of the woman trapped in a time loop.

	He lifted his head again with a thoughtful expression as I finished.  "Interesting."

	"I'm not sure it's relevant, though.  It's not an exact mirror for our situation."

	"It's not a mirror for [i]ours[/i], no.  But it's a mirror for [i]mine[/i]."  Dark's eyes flicked back and forth.  He was obviously thinking hard.  "I reset to the start of the loop whenever I die.  The difference is that you're being pulled along too."  He got to his feet and started pacing back and forth as he continued to speak.  "Perhaps it's because I didn't actually exist at the beginning of that first cycle.  Ganondorf's spell created me from you when you entered the room the first time.  There was no 'me' before then.  So that makes a certain kind of sense.  This whatever it is looping you back as well, because at that point in time I [i]was[/i] you."

	"That may explain it," I nodded, "but it doesn't tell us how to fix it."

	He heaved a sigh.  "No, it doesn't."  His eyes scanned the room again, taking in the misty walls and shallow water that had made up the entirety of his existence so far.  "Though it does make me think.  If anything I do is undone as soon as I die, it doesn't really  matter what I do, does it?  I could do anything I wanted, within this room, and then simply kill myself and make it never have been.  There are no real consequences to anything."

	"Uhm.  I suppose that's true."

	He licked his lips, taking a step closer to me.  His eyes had gone a little bit wild, and I found myself taking a step back without really meaning to.  "There's something I desperately need to do.  I don't exactly [i]want[/i] to do it, I hope you understand, but it's been driving me half-mad the entire time we've been speaking.  But maybe if I finally do, the urge will leave me alone.  I'm sorry."

	Before I could figure out what he was talking about, he'd drawn his sword and lunged forward in one single smooth, swift, expert motion.  The blade hit me nearly in the center of my chest and sank in with the ease of razor-sharp steel.  

	It was a shock more than a pain, a strange flash of lightning that went through my whole body.  I felt weak and faint and as Dark pulled the sword back from me I dropped to my knees on the sandy ground.  Dark's crimson eyes were fixed on me, but even as I felt myself falling forward they began to fade, the whole world darkening towards black, and I'm not sure if I heard or only imagined him repeating, "I'm sorry" before it all went away.

	-----

	I stood in front of the door, whole and feeling no pain.  My hand went to my chest, where a massive wound had been only moments before, but my unmarked shirt covered my equally unmarked flesh.  I swallowed.  That had been more than a little disturbing.  Still, I stepped forward into the room yet again with only the smallest of hesitations.

	Dark was standing on the island again, and even as I entered the room he splashed over to meet me.  He stopped outside a sword's reach, his hands raised in a gesture of placation and surrender, and said, "I really am sorry."

	I gave him a small smile.  "I've killed you six times now, if my count is correct.  I can't even say we're even, the balance is still tipped your way."

	"Hah.  I guess so.  Just... Ganondorf's compulsion to kill you has been driving me crazy."

	"Is it gone now?"

	"Not entirely.  It's much less intense, though."

	"Well, if it bothers you again you can always kill me and then yourself to reset if you need to, I guess.  Though I'd prefer it if you warned me first, next time."

	Dark chuckled.  "Fair enough.  Our connection in this weird loop is even stronger than I'd assumed, though.  I didn't need to kill myself to reset, everything blacked out as soon as you died."

	I blinked at him.  "Really?  Interesting."

	"Isn't it?  I'm not sure it changes anything, but it's good to know."

	"Yeah.  This is really frustrating, though.  I mean, I guess since time restarts every time we die and loop back, that it really doesn't matter how much time we waste puzzling through this, so long as we solve it eventually.  But I'm supposed to be defeating Ganondorf and saving Hyrule, not playing around with pointless time magic."

	"Destiny...."  Dark heaved a deep sigh, looking suddenly melancholy.

	"What is it?"

	"I thought, for a while there, that I was free of my destiny, because it was now yours and not mine at all.  I imagined escaping this room and going out to see the world beyond Hyrule, perhaps, or doing, well...anything.  Anything I wanted, because I'm no longer the chosen hero, you are.  But if I only have two days to live, then it hardly matters if I have a destiny or not, does it?"

	"I'm sorry.  But surely if we can solve this time loop, we can solve that problem too?  I mean... If you were made by magic, there has to be some way to sustain that magic, surely."

	"I'm not going to hope too much," Dark shook his head.  "Hoping to change one's fate is a good way to get one's hopes dashed."  I wanted to say something in response, but everything I could think of sounded pointless and trite.  I put my hand on his shoulder again.  He looked up at me with a wan smile.  "For now, I think I need a rest.  I'm not physically tired, but..."

	I nodded.  "Yeah.  Why don't we sit down and eat something?  It's just trail rations, but it's better than nothing."

	"Thanks."

	We sat together on the little island and shared a small snack.  Neither of us was particularly hungry yet, but the mundanity of it was somehow relaxing.  Dark leaned back against the tree again.  I sat cross-legged beside him and regarded him, taking this quiet moment to really look at him.  He really was my twin, just painted with a different brush.  Besides the obvious difference of his black clothing and sword, his hair was black as well, and of course his eyes were red where mine were blue.  His skin seemed perhaps a little paler as well, though maybe that was just in contrast to all that black.  Certainly my own skin was quite fair.  Feeling a little curious I put my hand next to his.  His was just a little lighter, seen side by side.

	"Comparing our colors?" he said.

	"Yeah.  And wondering, a bit, what it's like to be you.  You were me, not so long ago, but we've already diverged quite a lot, it seems."

	"I don't [i]feel[/i] like I'm a different person than I was before.  Not exactly.  I guess I am already, though.  Would [i]you[/i] have been happy to find out you no longer had a destiny?"

	I blinked, considering.  "I'm not sure it would change anything for me, to be honest.  If I don't do these things, who will?  Someone has to."

	"Indeed.  And that someone is you!  It's not just that, though.  You could be the free one, and I could take over the destiny, after all.  But Ganondorf's compulsion... It was like the worst possible version of that destiny.  A total lack of choice.  I had to kill you, whether I wanted to or not.  It was all I could think about, in those first few cycles.  I don't want that, and I don't want destiny.  Not anymore.  I want whatever freedom I can claim, however small."  His eyes turned dark again, and I tried to think of some way to change the subject. 

 	Apparently Dark had a similar idea, for he suddenly smiled broadly and said, "To be honest, I'm delighted you're around to take care of things.  You can save the world and marry the princess."

	I blinked at him, then put my head in my hands.  "Oh goddesses.  You would have to bring that up."

	He laughed.  "I'm the evil twin, right?  Gotta get some evil in somehow."

	"Yes.  Yes you are.  Ugh.  You know perfectly well that I don't want to marry [i]any[/i] princess."

	"What, not even Ruto?" he teased.

	"Thrice.  No, [i]especially[/i] not Ruto."  I shuddered, and it wasn't just theatrics.  The thought of being shackled by destiny to Ruto was not one I fancied at all.  "It's probably going to be Zelda, though," I added.  "Small blessings, I suppose.  Zelda I at least like as a person.  Ruto would be torture."

	"I know.  I remember."  He flashed me a grin.  I tried not to roll my eyes in return.  Ruto's bizarre affection when I—when we—had been a boy had been a large factor in my realization that I wasn't really interested in princesses, girls, marriage, or romance.  Even with Zelda, who I thought fondly of, I felt no attraction.  I knew there were people like that, who felt no attraction, or who directed their attraction towards the same sex.  I thought I might be the latter.  I could picture a few men I'd met on my quest who at least looked attractive to me, where I'd  yet to feel any spark of attraction towards any woman, however objectively beautiful she might be.

	In fact, perhaps it was narcissistic of me, but looking over at Dark and seeing myself as a separate person, I couldn't help but find him fairly handsome.  Although as I looked at his broadly-grinning face with more attention than I'd paid his features before, I finally  noticed something that took me aback a little.

	"Dark?  Do you have...fangs?"

	He ran his tongue over his teeth as he nodded.  "I seem to, yes."

	"That's weird."

	He shrugged.  "Tell me about it.  I can't think of any meaning to it, though.  Some effect of the spell that made me, I suppose."  His smile faded a bit.  "And if you want to talk about ways we differ, knowing I'm Ganondorf's construct is probably one of them.  It's more than a bit unsettling, if I'm being honest."  He looked away from me and gave a little sigh.  "Though I don't know what else I could discover that's worse than a two-day lifespan."

	"I don't know either.  I suppose that makes this loop a blessing for you.  Hell, if not for the loop, I'd have killed you and moved on, me never knowing you were anything more than a mirroring spell and you never having had the chance to live at all."  I smiled, and found him smiling back at me as I spoke.  "Frustrating as this situation is, I think I'm glad of it all the same."

	Now it was he who reached over and touched my arm gently.  "I'm glad of it too."

	We sat in silence for a while after that, but it was a good sort of silence.  I found I liked my other self.  That was probably narcissistic, also.  But it was impossible not to empathize with his situation.  It could have been me because it was me.  And yet of course it was not.  We'd become separate people mere days ago, but we were separate people, and he'd suffered far more through these time loops than I had.

	"What now?" asked Dark.

	"I have no idea.  I suppose we should test the limits of this, and see if we can think of some way to get both of us out of this room, preferably on the other side of that door," I waved a hand towards the exit, "but right now I'm honestly still feeling worn out.  Not physically, but mentally."

	"I know what you mean.  I already spent yesterday just sitting around, though.  Since you're here, I'd rather do something."

	I gave him a quizzical expression.  "Do something?"

	"Talk.  Spar.  I don't know.  Something other than sit around staring at the mist."

	"Sure."  I climbed to my feet, then reached out and offered him a hand up.  He smiled and took it.

	"If we do spar, I will try very hard not to kill you."

	I chuckled.  "Well, for the time being at least it doesn't seem to matter much if you do.  So let's."  I reached back and drew my sword.

	"Yes."  His eyes lit and he drew his matching black blade.  I spared a moment to wonder about it.  Did it share any of the Master Sword's magical power, or was it a duplicate in appearance alone?  Whatever it was, it was as strong, for our blades clashed with a clear ringing.  We both went at it with enthusiasm.  It was good to just fight.  No worries about hurting each other, but no need to either.  And little chance to, it seemed, for of course we each knew each other's moves so well that we countered each other almost before any given sword stroke had begun.  Still, he was apparently feeling as playful as I, for he threw in a number of showy moves, with backflips and rolls that were ridiculously impractical in this sort of duel, and I did the same, sending us tumbling and chasing each other around and around in the shallow water.

	Quite a long time later we both sat, somewhat out of breath, on the little island.  I was soaked to the skin from the amount of rolling around in the water I'd done, and he was the same.  It wasn't cold, exactly, but I couldn't help but feel a little chilled as the warmth of my exertions faded.

	"Probably should dry off," said Dark, echoing my thought.  I nodded and set about removing my gear.  He didn't have as much to take off, he had only a sword and shield, with no pack or other equipment.  I had my magical pack, that let me carry far more than should have been possible, but that was quickly shed, as was my baldric, sword and all.  The shield too I let fall, and then I started removing my boots.  His were already off.

	We both stopped and exchanged glances at that point.  But prudery seemed pointless, so after that brief hesitation I stripped off my tunic, undershirt and breeches, keeping only my undershorts on.  Dark did the same.  Feeling a sudden curiosity I snuck a look at him.  I'd never seen my adult self shirtless, an occasion to do so really hadn't come up.  Mirrors weren't terribly common, after all.  I—he—looked very good.  It wasn't surprising, I suppose.  I'd been swinging a sword since the moment I'd awoken from my peculiar slumber in the Temple of Time, and it showed in a build that was both strong and lean.  Something that I couldn't quite call narcissism made my heart beat a little faster at the sight.  It wasn't just that I looked good.  He looked good.  Very good.

	I yanked my mind away from that bizarre train of thought, just in time to realize that he was looking at me, grinning just enough to show the tips of his fangs.  "We're in pretty good shape, aren't we?"

	I coughed.  "Uh.  Yes."

	He chuckled.  I noticed his pale cheeks were flushed slightly.  "Sword swinging will do that.  Though I think the Sage of Light cheated a bit when he was keeping you in the Sacred Realm.  Just lying still for seven years, dreaming of might-have-been lives, doesn't leave a body looking like this.  Not even given all the time that's passed since then."

	I laughed.  "I suppose not.  Those were strange years."

	"They were.  But if you hadn't dreamed a life for those years, if you'd just slept, dreamless, you would have awoken still a child, only ten years old, whatever the body you wore looked like.  I think the sages knew that the Hero would face things a child wouldn't be able to face."

	I nodded, sobering a bit.  "Yes.  Not that my childhood was without darkness, but...yes."  I thought of those dreams, then.  I'd dreamed of growing up with Zelda.  At times it had been like having a sister.  At other times, as we grew, she'd looked at me in ways that were not at all sisterly.  I'd never returned those looks in the dreams.  I wondered if she would look at me like that when I finally met her again.  I wondered if destiny had arranged to put her in the dreams, so I would know what to expect.  They hadn't been consistent, we'd been in her father's court at times, among the Kokiri at times, and in other, less likely places, some familiar and some utterly alien, but Zelda had been a constant presence, whatever else changed.

	I looked over at Dark again.  He was once more leaning back against the tree, his favored pose.  He'd been there too, in a way.

	Then I yawned.  "Speaking of dreams," I said, sitting down beside him, "once we're dry I'm going to fish out my bedroll and sleep.  I'm not sure how late it is, but I'm tired."  I glanced over at Dark and smiled.  "I can divide up the blankets so we both have some."

	"Thank you."

	I drew up my knees and rested my head on them, and we sat together in silence.  Eventually I went to my pack and pulled the bedroll from it.  I pulled out some food as well, and we shared a simple meal before I turned my attention to our spartan sleeping arrangements.  There was a quilted pad, a warm blanket, and a thin blanket rolled up together.  I considered as I pulled them apart, then handed the pad and the thinner blanket to Dark.  He accepted them wordlessly and laid them out beneath the tree. I wrapped myself up in the thicker blanket and lay beside him.  The island was small enough that we had to lie close together, else the corners of our bedding would be in the water.  I didn't mind, though.  He was me, after all.  There was no reason to keep my distance.

	Admittedly, there was probably at least a small chance that Ganondorf's compulsion would make him try to kill me in the night, but in this strange circumstance, that would do me no harm.  So I slipped off to slumber in the unchanging gray twilight of the room with no trepidation.

	If I dreamed any dreams I didn't remember them on waking.  Dark hadn't killed me in my sleep, either, since I woke still on the island, and not standing outside the door.  Dark was stirring beside me.  We dressed in silence, and had our simple breakfast with a minimum of speech.  I felt a little less exhausted than I had the day before, but I also felt a certain sort of melancholy.  Dark's not quite two days were more than half over.  I didn't like the idea of his life being so short.  If we solved this loop, he would be gone, with no returning, and that was starting to bother me a little bit.  Yet I had to solve the loop and escape if I was to fulfill my destiny and save Hyrule.  Could I chose one life, weighed against Hyrule and all the lives within it?  Surely not.  But I didn't want Dark to die.

	"Next loop you should probably stay outside again.  You'll want to try some experiments."

	I nodded.  "Yeah."

	We were both silent again for a while.  Then Dark rose and drew his sword.  "Care to spar again?"

	"Sure, why not?"

	Our battle was less wild, less exuberant this time. We were both just killing time until Dark faded away, and that sobering thought seemed to color his mood as much as mine.  Our fight was more serious.  Not because we were trying to kill each other, but we dueled as if the outcome really mattered.  One of us winning would only cut short our wait, it would change nothing, but in the end we both once again stepped back, panting, declaring a wordless draw.

	"What would you say," began Dark as he sat back down on the island.  His pants were a bit damp, as were mine, but neither of us had gotten soaked this time.  He settled himself down and repeated, "What would you say if I asked to borrow your hammer?"  There was a glint of curious mischief in his eyes, and I finally cracked a smile for the first time that day.

	"I'd say yes, of course."

	"You trust me, then?"

	I smiled a little wryly and shrugged.  "It doesn't really matter if I trust you.  It would just be another reset, that's all.  I don't think you could keep it, I'd end up with it again."

	"You probably don't want to die like that.  It's... not pleasant.  But I suppose you're right.  Does that mean you don't trust me then?"

	I shrugged.  "I trust you.  I don't trust Ganondorf, though.  As long as you have that compulsion..."

	"It's not bothering me very much right now, but it's still there, yes."

	"Then I trust you, but only so far."

	"Fair enough."

	We sat and talked for a while longer, speaking of nothing of substance, merely reminiscing, if it could be called that, about our shared memories.  Time passed at an unknown pace.  We ate again, and spoke more, of Zelda, and dreams, and childhood among the Kokiri.  Dark grew more and more quiet as the minutes ticked by.  Finally he said, "I can feel that hunger again."

	"I see."

	He sighed and put his head on his knees again.  I reached over and patted his shoulder, offering what little comfort I could.  I felt his shoulders move as he sighed again, drawing in a long, deep breath before letting it out.  Then his head came up and he turned to look at me, a puzzled expression on his face.  He tilted his head, then sniffed at the air.

	"Dark?"

	"I can smell... This is going to sound insane.  I can smell your blood, and, uh, it smells amazing."

	I blinked at him, then looked down at myself.  There was a thin line, well scabbed over by now but still there, across my upper arm.  He'd gotten that close while we were sparring.  I knew I'd left at least one similar mark on him.  I looked back up at him.  "My blood."

	"Yes."  He licked his lips.  "I... I have a sudden, strange, but very strong urge to bite you."

	"That's pretty strange alright," I said, removing my hand from his shoulder.

	He looked over at me and gave a little laugh.  "Link... I think the fangs have a use after all.  I think I need blood.  Very specifically, I think I need your blood."

	I swallowed.  "That's, uh, a little bit creepy, Dark."

	He grinned toothily.  "I know.  Believe me, I know.  But the more I think about it, the better the idea sounds.  And it makes a certain kind of sense.  I was made from two things, you and Ganondorf's power.  When the power ran out, I faded away.  But if I could get more of it, somehow...  Well, I don't have access to Ganondorf.  Maybe his blood would smell good too, I don't know.  Maybe his magic would.  But blood is powerful stuff, magic or no magic.  I think your blood might keep me from fading away."

	I swallowed again.  "I see.  Well... If that's the case, then you can have it.  Or at least some of it."  I managed a smile, still feeling a little creeped out, but also wanting to do what I could to help him.  "I do need to keep some for myself."

	He looked at me, and his smile shifted to a serious, even solemn expression.  "Link... Thank you."

	"Thank me after, if it works.  And speaking of working... What exactly are we going to do here?  Do you want to bite me on the neck like some kind of...storybook vampire or something?"

	He chuckled softly.  "No."  He ran his tongue over his teeth, thoughtfully, then he reached out and took my hand, turning it palm up.  "This will do, I think."  He lifted my hand, and I felt his lips against my wrist.  Vampires in stories were dead, clammy creatures.  But he was alive and warm, and the touch was almost a kiss before he bared his fangs and bit in.  

	The bite was quick and hard, to be as painless as it could be.  I gasped in a shocked breath; it hurt all the same, but it wasn't unbearable.

	Dark didn't just leave his teeth sunk in me, though.  He lifted his head ever so slightly, pulling the fangs free, then lowered it again, drinking from the wound he'd left.  That hurt too, a stinging pain, but again not at all unbearable.

	I looked down at his dark head, bowed over my wrist, and felt very strange.  It was creepy, and it hurt, and yet...  I was helping him, giving him part of my own essence in order to save his life.  It was something I could be proud of doing.  There was something intimate about it, too.  My life's blood going to him, the warmth of his lips on my wrist... It was almost pleasurable.

	He drank for a very long time.  Given the small size of the wounds he'd made I wasn't too concerned about blood loss, but I was starting to wonder exactly how much he would need by the time he finally lifted his head.  He let out a long, blissful sigh and smiled up at me.  "Thank you, Link."

	"Feel better?"

	"You have no idea.  That was amazing."

	I chuckled.  "If you say so.  But do you think it worked?"

	"I'm almost certain.  The hunger—the hollowness—it's entirely gone."

	"Then I guess you don't have a two day lifespan after all," I said.

	He looked over at me, his eyes going wide, and suddenly there were tears in them.  "Link... Truly, thank you."

	"Heh.  Thank me if you ever get out of this room, maybe.  More time trapped in here isn't necessarily a good thing."

	"I... Maybe not.  Maybe...goddesses."  A shudder went through him.  Acting on an impulse I didn't really understand, I put my arm around him.  He leaned into the embrace.  We were the same height, but he slid down slightly to rest his head on my shoulder.  Tears were still leaking from his eyes, not in a flood, but in a steady trickle.  "I don't even know what to feel right now.  If we get out of here... I'm so sorry, Link.  Your life would be a lot easier if I had never existed."

	"Hey, don't say that.  That's not true."

	"Yes it is.  I'm tied to you now.  Like a millstone.  A burden you're going to have to carry forever."

	"You don't know that."

	"I think I do.  I need your blood.  I... Goddesses.  I hate this.  I remember thinking that the future was just duty and destiny, when I was you, and that was all right.  I didn't have a real choice, but I knew that I was doing the right thing, so it didn't matter.  Then it was nothing but hate and fighting, for that brief span.  Then I realized that I was free of destiny, and maybe if I got free I could go anywhere, do anything, be anyone!  For a moment I was so free... Until I discovered that I wasn't made to last, that if we did get free, I could do anything for about two days.  It wasn't even worth thinking about the future, then, so I put it aside.  There was no future.  Now, suddenly, I can hope for the future, yet I've lost that freedom, because I'm tied to your destiny again, and I've tied you to my destiny too, if there is such a thing.  Everything is such a tangle.  I don't even know how to feel anymore.  I'm sorry."

	"There's no need to apologize."  I tightened my arm around him, just a little, and rested my cheek against the top of his head.  There was something comfortable about having him close like this.  "Destiny will play out as it must, but I don't mind having your life tied to mine.  As far as I'm concerned you can come with me all the way.  And when it's over, well... I guess Zelda had better get used to having you around too, that's all."

	He laughed at that, an involuntary, almost hysterical sort of giggle.  "Oh thrice, Zelda.  What is she going to think of me?"

	"Whatever she thinks of you," I said instantly, "she's going to have to accept you, because as long as you need me, I won't abandon you."

	"I... Thank you, Link."

	"You said that already," I said with a gentle smile.

	He sighed.  "It's worth repeating."  He lifted his head suddenly and rubbed the remnants of his tears from his eyes.  "And if you're going to give me life, I want to do something with it besides sit in this room.  Let's start really working on this problem."

	I straightened next to him, taking my arm back, though I didn't scoot away from him.  I could see his determined expression, and I set my own in a matching look.  "Alright.  The eventual goal is getting both of us on the other side of that door."  I pointed.  "But just getting you out of the room at all will do for starters."  I frowned.  "You know, I haven't checked if there are any weak spots in the walls.  I have a couple of bombs in my gear."

	"There probably won't be any.  But we can try again as often as we need to.  Maybe if we put several at the same location?  Maybe if we try bombing the doors?  Would they be weaker or stronger than the walls, do you think?"

	I regarded the doors with their steel bars.  "Not sure.  We can try both ways.  I think I just have three right now, but two days is at least long enough for me to pick up a few more and get back before you reset the loop.  I should properly map out the temple, too.  There might be some other point where I can skip ahead.  It's not likely, I don't think I missed anything, but you never know."

	"Right.  Let's try the bombs you have now, and then we can see about resetting things and getting more."

	We decided to try the bombs on the door, and set off all three in quick succession, with no result.  I  hadn't really expected any, they were weak things, generally only useful on something that was already crumbling, but it hadn't hurt to try.  If I was to go get more, though...  

	"I need to be outside the room, so it's time for a reset," I said with a sigh.

	"I guess you should get your bow again then," replied Dark.  I nodded and pulled it out, but I handed it to him rather than drawing it myself.  

	"Here.  You've died seven times now, to my one.  So I think it's probably my turn."

	He blinked at me for a moment, then smiled.  "One wouldn't think you could surprise me, given that you are me, or I'm you, or whatever.  But you do.  You're sure?"

	"To be honest, shooting your bothers me a lot more than being shot."

	"Heh.  I can't quite say the same.  That compulsion is still there, so shooting you seems like a [i]great[/i] idea."

	"I guess I can do all the dying then.  If it prevents you from wanting to kill me at other times, it's probably a good idea."

	"Killing you once definitely took the edge off, so yes.  Presumably doing it again will weaken the compulsion even more."  He shook his head.  "This is a really weird situation."

	"Tell me about it.  But we can talk more later.  I'd like to get this over with for now."

	"Very well."  Dark nodded and took a step back, drawing the bow as he did so.  I followed his earlier example and turned away from him.  The arrow's impact was a shock, but it didn't really hurt, and a moment later the world once again faded away, to be replaced by that damnably familiar door.

	"You aren't going to win," I told the door.  I knew I was being a little bit crazy, but the whole world, or at least the portion of it around me, had gone crazy, so why not.   Then I set out to get as many bombs as I could carry.  It was time to see if we could blow something up.

	-----

	It turned out that we couldn't, of course.  As if it could possibly be that easy.  I spent a completely unknowable amount of time ferrying batches of bombs into that thrice-be-damned room, as well as to selected other parts of the temple, where a wall might perhaps border on an area I hadn’t reached yet, but no number of them I could carry had any effect on any wall, or on either door, and no other path opened up elsewhere either.  And of course the process wasn't without hiccups.  The first batch of bombs I brought into the room without thinking, and after using them up Dark had to shoot me again and reset so I could go get more.  After that I just pitched them inside through the door and let him deal with them.

	Setting up bombs can be finicky business, though.  Dark managed to blow himself up and reset everything twice during the process of testing each of the walls and doors.  Each failed attempt tempted us to escalate more, to try a larger number of bombs.  But finally, after a difficult setup that had needed me to step inside to help, and an explosion that had so thoroughly engulfed the room that it had almost certainly reset the loop by [i]both[/i] of us dying at once, we gave up on bombs.  The room was obviously reinforced by magic as well as by mere walls.

	"So brute force isn't going to work," said Dark, lying sprawled on the little island.  We'd rested for a time, after that last disaster, but now apparently it was time to consider our predicament once again.  I was leaning against the tree this time, and I tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling and sighed.

	"Looks like."

	"If not brute force, then it has to be some kind of finesse."

	"It doesn't [i]have[/i] to be anything, we could just be trapped here, for eternity."

	Dark, still lying on his back, lifted his head to give me a little smile.  "Then what about your destiny?"

	"Hah.  Destiny can't be stopped, but maybe it can be indefinitely paused."

	"There has to be a way out.  The door can be opened."

	"Sure, by me killing you.  And then we reset."

	"Hmm, now there's a thought."  Dark frowned faintly.  "What if it's not you killing me, what if it's you defeating me?"

	I blinked.  "Huh.  That is a thought.  So... what are you thinking, a card game?"

	"One of us would have to die for you to go out and get some cards.  I'm not in the mood right now."  He flashed me a toothy grin.  "What about a wrestling match?"

	I chuckled.  "We're going to be evenly matched, so I don't know if I'll be able to win."

	"I can try throwing the fight if we can't get anywhere after a few tries.  I'd rather you go for an authentic win first, though.  Better chance of it meeting the door spell's conditions."

	I nodded and got to my feet, my hands going to the baldric of my sword to remove it.  "Let's give it a try, then.  The island as our ring."  We both removed sword and shield.  I took off my boots, and he nodded and removed his as well.  Then we faced each other, across the small open space of the island.  We moved forward as one.  Neither of us were experts at wrestling, but it was simple enough to shove each other around the little patch of land.  I nearly pushed him into the water early on, but he managed to shift sideways enough to evade my grip just at the last moment.

	For a long time after that we were locked in a stalemate.  Neither of us was stronger, neither of us was more skilled.  We grappled and rolled around with neither coming out on top.  I have to admit, though, that he nearly got the upper hand several times, because I was finding the close physical contact increasingly distracting.  His strong, hard body under my hands, pressing against mine, was causing certain reactions.  Though I had a feeling, given the few times when I nearly managed to get some sudden advantage over him as his eyes came slightly unfocused, that he was having the same problem.

	This thought suddenly gave me an idea.

	It was probably a very stupid idea.  But given how alike we were, he would at least find it even more distracting, and that might be enough.

	The next time we drew apart from each other and circled, I laid my plan.  We once more rushed at each other at the same moment, grabbing and shoving, each of us seeking to push the other out of the ring, or force the other over.  But as we strained, our faces mere inches apart, I suddenly grinned and closed that distance to kiss him, hard.

	He froze, completely and utterly.  Then I kicked his feet out from under him in that moment of shock, went down still grabbing him, and by the time he'd recovered his wits I was sitting atop him, my hands pinning his shoulders to the dirt.  He twisted under me, but I'd finally gotten sufficient advantage and he couldn't immediately free himself.

	"I win," I said, grinning.  Then I sobered and gave a little sigh.  "And the door didn't open.  Figures."

	Dark stared up at me.  "What in Din's name, Link?"

	I climbed off of him, smiling a bit.  I was disappointed that this hadn't been the solution we'd hoped for, but something about my victory was keeping me cheerful.  "It seemed like I needed a distraction to get the upper hand.  That's what came to mind.  Don't tell me you weren't thinking about it either."

	Dark coughed, his cheeks reddening slightly.  "Yes, I was thinking, uh, something like that, but I wouldn't actually do it."  He climbed to his feet, still blushing.  I had to admit my own cheeks felt a little flushed.

	"Well, it was the only way I could think of to win.  But it didn't work."

	His blush faded and his expression sobered.  "No.  So it's not merely any sort of defeat."

	"Card games are probably not worth bothering with, then."

	"No."

	There was a long silence.  I was the one who finally broke it.  "I have to admit, I'm out of ideas."

	He sighed.  "We're trapped, then.  Destiny on hold forever."

	"Yeah."  I echoed his sigh.  It was a pretty depressing thought, to stay in this room for eternity.  I gave him a small half-smile.  "I guess it could be worse.  I'm not quite sure how, but it could be."

	He smiled back.  "Well, we could still be resetting every two days."  Then, a little hesitantly, he added, "Speaking of which..."

	"Hungry again?"

	He nodded wordlessly.  I went over to him, ready to offer my arm.  I was fairly used to it by now.  I'd had to feed him quite a few times in the process of accumulating bombs for our explosive experiments.  Even if he hadn't intensely disliked fading away, it reset the bombs too, so he had to be kept fed to give me time to gather enough.  Most of those feedings had been rather awkward, since if I fully entered the room I'd be trapped, but he couldn't leave it.  I could put my arm in and still withdraw it though; as long as the door didn't shut behind me I could exit.

	Now, though, there was no need to keep such distance, and indeed he stepped even closer.  But this time he didn't reach for my hand to bite my wrist.  This time he slid his arms around me and tilted his head to put his lips to my neck.

	I froze, my heart suddenly pounding.  "D-Dark?"

	"You started it," he murmured against my neck, and then bit down, swift and hard.

	I gasped, a shudder going through me.  Dark let out a soft humming sound of pleasure as he started to drink.  His body was tight to mine, and my arms came up around him almost involuntarily.  My heart was still racing as the pain—familiar and yet suddenly new—shivered through me.  I held him and he held me as he took my life's blood, and something about it was no longer pain at all, it was pleasure, an intense intimacy and warmth that I couldn't even describe.

	So when Dark lifted his head at last, the soft sound I made was of regret as much as anything else.  I didn't want it to stop.  Dark kissed the spot that he had bitten.  Then, before I really realized what he was doing, he'd lifted his head and his lips met mine.

	He kissed me deeply, and I kissed back, holding him tighter, opening my mouth to his probing tongue.  Mine probed in turn and I tasted a faint hint of copper—the flavor of my own blood in his mouth.  Another shudder went through me.  Why should that be exciting?  Yet it was.

	When he finally pulled back I was breathing faster, as was he.  We stared at each other, and I think he was nearly as surprised as I was, even though he'd initiated things this time.  Finally he loosened his grip, and I let my own arms fall.  We both took a step back, wanting a moment to breathe and think.

	It was Dark who finally broke the somewhat awkward silence.  "I have an urge to say that I'm sorry, though I really couldn't tell you what for."

	"I don't know what for either.  I..."  I shook my head, having no idea what to say.  "This is so strange."

	"No kidding.  If I felt about anyone else the way I am beginning to feel about you, I would know what you call it.  But you're me, I'm you.  It's so..." he trailed off, making a vague waving gesture with one hand.

	I smiled wryly.  "Yes.  What does it say about me, if I'm falling in love at last, or at least in lust, and it's with myself?"

	"Exactly.  It is something sick?  Is it merely natural?  Is it only because we're trapped here together?  And... Is it just lust?  [i]Could[/i] it be anything else?"

	I looked at him, his uncertainty written plainly on his face.  I knew exactly what he meant.  Of course I did, that was the root of the conundrum we faced.  Yet... "Does it really matter?  We feel what we feel."

	"And just what do we...what do [i]you[/i] feel, Link?  Are we different enough to feel different things, or is it exactly the same?  Tell me what you feel."

	I looked him up and down, trying to put my thoughts in order.  He wouldn't have asked if he didn't want to know the full truth.  "I feel that you're somebody who's already suffered more than I have.  I feel a certain amount of guilt for being responsible for your predicament.  I also feel that I admire how well you've handled unfortunate hand you've been dealt.  You're so strong!  Maybe I'm that strong too, I suppose I must be, but I haven't faced what you've faced.  I've never been one to give up, but I've never been under an evil compulsion, or trapped in somebody else's destiny.  I never minded my own destiny.  But my destiny isn't yours anymore.  And...it's hard for me to imagine wanting free of that destiny, yet I know you do.  It's another thing I'm sorry for, that your need for my blood may well trap you in it again."  He remained silent and let me talk, though I knew he might well have things to say in counter to what I was saying.  

	"Beyond that... On a purely physical level I do find you attractive.  You're me, but you're also different enough.  The differences are...interesting, especially the fangs."  I cleared my throat, feeling my cheeks heat.  "I think I said I found your vampirism creepy at first, but, well, I'm starting to enjoy some aspects of it, strange as that may sound.  And physical attraction plus personal admiration comes close to something that might be love.  I don't know."  I hesitated, then added, "It's more than I've ever felt for anyone else, I know that much."

	"Yes," he said, almost a whisper.  "Yes.  I only have your memories of failing to love, failing to find that connection, even when destiny said it should be there.  But yes, this is more.  And yet..."  He folded his arms, folding in on himself, his body hunched up in misery.  "You say you feel guilty... Goddesses...  I can't even imagine why you would!  It's I that should feel guilty.  I'm the one cursed with evil.  I'm the one that has to prey on you to survive.  I'm the one who should still want to be a hero, but doesn't.  I don't!  I want to run away from it and hide.  I want to leave Hyrule forever, and go somewhere so far away that they've never even heard of the Triforce.  I want to be free of it, and I can't."  He shivered.  I wanted to put my arms around him and comfort him.  "I want to find a hole to hide in, but there are no holes anywhere.  Only this damned room.  And yes, I admire you.  Of course I admire you!  You're everything I should be.  Everything I was once and can't be anymore.  I stopped being you such a short time ago, and yet I've already fallen so far..."

	I ceased resisting the urge and stepped in to put my arms around him.  He stiffened for an instant, then relaxed into my embrace, burying his head against my shoulder, once again crying.  I held him tightly, one arm around him, the other lifting so I could stroke his hair softly.  "It's okay."

	"It isn't.  It will never be.  We'll be trapped here forever."

	"We're here together, at least.  I'm here.  You're here.  That's infinitely better than being stuck like this alone."

	"Yes.  I... Yes.  I'm glad you're here."  He gave a little sob and clung tighter to me, and I clung to him too, holding him as tightly as I could.  Suddenly he lifted his head and kissed me again, fiercely, almost frantically, tears still in his eyes.  I made a little startled sound, I couldn't help myself, but then I kissed him back with fervent passion.  I felt suddenly on fire with something I'd never known before.  We'd both admitted to how we felt, and those feelings led here, to this kiss, to the heated desire filling me.

	His arms were around me, his hands running up and down my back.  His touch seemed electric.  I let my own hands wander over him, feeling, drinking in the warmth of his body beneath them.  I slipped a hand under his tunic, and I felt the little hitch in his breath as I did.  His skin was paradoxically soft under my calloused hands, and he broke off the kiss, panting, as I slid them up his back slowly.  "Ah, Link..."

	"Dark," I murmured, and nuzzled against the side of his neck.  His breath caught again, and acting on a sudden impulse I nipped there softly, which prompted a moan from him.  I bit again, harder, and he shuddered in my embrace.

	"Goddesses, Link.  If you want my blood too, you can have it."

	I swallowed and pulled back slightly, though I didn't let go of him.  "What I want is [i]you[/i].  But maybe that's too much, too soon."

	"I... It might be.  I want you too, but..."

	"But this situation is crazy, and we're both a little uncertain."

	"Uncertain.  That's an understatement."  He sighed and pulled back further, and I let him go.  He flopped down against the tree again and tipped his head back.  "We're both crazy.  In this loop, does it even matter what we do?  There are no consequences."

	I chuckled and sat beside him.  "The consequence in this case would be that we'd both remember doing it.  For good or for ill.  And... I don't know.  Maybe it's just a remnant of my reluctance to accept my probable princess destiny, but I've never felt like I wanted to rush into, ah...you know..."

	He blushed, and I knew I was red too.  "Sex.  Yeah.  And hell, I have no idea how men who love other men even go about it.  Neither do you."

	"No.  I suppose our mutual understanding of what we do and don't know would save some shame as we figure it out but... No, I've no idea."

	Dark sighed deeply.  "Part of me wants to argue that we should try it anyway."

	"Yeah.  But..."

	"But."  He looked up at me where I still stood. "If we stay in this loop long enough, we're probably going to."

	I snorted.  "Out of sheer boredom if for no other reason.  I have no clue what we even do next.  I'm completely out of ideas."

	"Yeah.  I guess..."  He took a deep breath and then blew it out, as if breathing out the feelings that were so distracting.  I looked away from him for a moment and followed his example.   While I was focusing on my breathing, he said, "You've explored the whole temple up to this point.  We've thoroughly checked the room.  I guess you could try finding something outside again.  Maybe... Maybe you could get out of range of the effect, if you just rode flat out for the whole time you have?"

	I raised my eyebrows.  "And then you'd be dead, faded away, and I wouldn't be looping with you anymore, so you'd either be actually dead or completely alone.  And I'd never see you again."  I shook my head.  "I'm not going to even try that one."

	"What else is there left to try, then?  We can't blow the room up, we can't trick the conditions of my death.  I wish we understood how the door spell worked.  Or how this thrice-damned loop works."

	I frowned faintly, having a hint of an idea.  "Maybe we can learn.  Although... Ugh.  It won't be pleasant for you.  But I can go out and see what more I can find out about magic.  I'm no wizard now, but if we have infinite loops, maybe I could learn.  We spent months, I suspect, gathering all those bombs.  We could have years, if we wanted, for me to learn magic."

	"Huh.  That's actually a really good idea."  Dark sighed.  "Though you're right, it'll be pretty damn unpleasant for me.  Because if you're out there learning, I can't feed from you, and that means I'd have to just keep dying."

	I nodded.  "Unfortunately.  But we're at an impasse here.  There's just nothing else I can think of to do."

	"You're right."  He tipped his head back against the tree again and closed his eyes.  "All right.  Let's do this."

	"What, now?"

	"Now, later, what difference does it make?  Time no longer matters, does it?  But I don't want to just sit around, anticipating my eventual death.  So sure, now."  He opened his eyes again and shot me a grin.  "You get to die first, though.  You have to be outside the room, so we have to reset, and if I'm going to die a thousand times so you can have several years' worth of two-day loops to learn in, you definitely get to die this time to start it."

	"Dark... We can wait, and try to think of something else."

	"I'll be doing plenty of thinking while you're out there, trust me.  And if I can't bear it, you can come in and teach me what you've learned, keep me alive for a while.  But it's the best plan I can think of for now, so we might as well go ahead with it until we come up with something better."

	"If you're certain."

	He got to his feet.  "I am.  Now hand over your bow and let's get started."

	-----

	His shot was sure and clean, and once again I faced the familiar door.  How many times had it been?  I turned away from it with a heavy heart.  I knew Dark's logic was right, but I didn't like what this plan would do to him.  Still, I could think of no better option.  So the best I could do was to waste as little time as possible.

	During our attempt to blow up the room I'd memorized the quickest way out of the Water Temple.  It hardly took any time at all for me to be outside once more.  As I made my way along the familiar path, I considered where to begin.  I'd learned Din's Fire from a great fairy.  Perhaps that was the place to learn more about magic.

	I called up Epona and, feeling a sense of urgency as well as an awareness of how the resets would erase everything, I drove her on as I never had before.  We crossed Hyrule Field in record time and I left her blowing hard by the gates of Hyrule Castle while the sun was still well up.  Crossing the ruined town by daylight was certainly easier, and I reached the great fairy's fountain where I'd learned Din's Fire as a child before the sun touched the horizon.

	I played Zelda's song, and the fairy appeared, still as shamelessly unclad as she'd been before.  "Hero!  My, how you've grown."

	"Uhm.  Thanks.  I need to ask you about magic, though.  Can you teach me how it works?  Can I learn other spells, besides just Din's fire?"

	"I am no tutor," she said, and my heart sank.  "Din's fire is the only spell I had to gift you.  But don't despair!  There are two other spells you can gather from my sisters, if you have not already."

	I sighed.  Two spells were hardly the education I sought.  But I supposed they would be a start.  "Where do I look for them?"

	"Seek the Zora's Domain, or the Valley of Spirit," she said, spinning in the air over me.

	"Thank you."

	"Return here if you need rest," she added as she vanished, but I knew I wouldn't be back.  I would rest with Dark, if I needed rest.  For now I wanted to see if I could get to the Zora's Domain before the time loop reset again.  The Valley of Spirit would have to wait, I had a vague notion that it was in the southern desert, but that was likely to be at the very limit of my range.  For now I thought I could at least begin my search for the second great fairy.

	Epona was rested enough to make good time to the canyon where the river flowed out into Hyrule Field, though once again I left her blowing hard.  I felt a certain regret for using her so, but when things reset she would never know.  The canyon had to be traversed on foot, and it was tricky going in the darkness, but I'd been here right before I'd first entered the Water Temple, so it was familiar ground.  I'd been here as a child, too.  I must have simply missed finding the fairy's location on my previous visits.

	I searched the main Zora cavern carefully, but found nothing I hadn't already discovered.  Of course it was always possible that the fairy's fountain was somewhere under the ice.  In that case I could reach it only in the past.

	That sent my thoughts spinning down an entirely new track as I continued to search.  If I returned to the past, what would that do to the time loop?  I would be limited by my child's body, which was one of the reasons why I tried to avoid doing so, but since I couldn't think of any way that stepping back in time could carry Dark back with me, that meant I'd be free of the two-day limit.  I'd have other handicaps, but it was still an option I hadn't thought of, and I really should have.  If I needed to leave Hyrule's borders to solve this problem, my child self might be able to manage.

	My heart lifted at that thought.  I admittedly felt a bit stupid, to have missed something so obvious, but then who knew what other solutions might Dark and I have missed thinking of?  Perhaps we hadn't exhausted our options all that thoroughly after all.

	The sun has risen while I'd searched the cavern.  Yawning, but unwilling to waste time on sleep, I continued beyond to the Zora's fountain, the spring that welled up behind the throne room.  There I almost immediately realized there was one area I'd never really checked.  A low strip of land, seeming to hold nothing of interest, had never caught my attention.  But if I'd missed something in this place, that was the one spot I'd yet to look for it.  A rock looked like it might block something, and since I had a trio of bombs on me, I tried using one to blow it up.

	When the explosion cleared, the rock was still there, but a chunk of the cliff face beside it had crumbled, revealing a hidden passage behind it.  Feeling unreasonably excited, I glanced at the sun.  Nearly noon, but that meant that if this was a great fairy's fountain, I would have plenty of time to learn the spell before the loop reset.

	Inside I found the Triforce symbol, and played Zelda's song yet again, and the fairy immediately appeared.  "Welcome, Link!  I am the great fairy of Magic."

	I felt myself come to attention on hearing that.  Magic was exactly what I needed.  "You can teach me about magic, then?"

	"The bearer of Courage is not destined to be a wizard," she said with a little smile.  "But there is a spell I can gift you."

	I wanted to argue, or explain, or ask for more, but I also didn't want to offend her, so I nodded my thanks instead.  A glow of power blossomed in front of her and rushed into me.  With it came a peculiar knowledge.  Not really a true understanding, alas, but enough to know how to cast the spell.

	"This is Farore's Wind.  It will allow you to teleport to anywhere you've been.  Cast it once and it will fix that point in space.  Cast it again to travel there."

	I blinked at her, my heart suddenly pounding.  "Wait.  This can carry me anywhere I've been?  Can I cast it on someone else and send them instead?"

	"No, it works only on the caster himself."

	"I see."  Well, Dark was still myself, wasn't he?  It might still work.  Or maybe I could teach it to him somehow.  It couldn't carry me forward, but it could get him out of that damned room at last!  "Thank you."

	"Come and visit me again should you grow weary," the fairy said.  Then she vanished back into her fountain.  I wasn't even watching her, though.  My mind was going over the possibilities.  Maybe, just maybe, if we were very lucky, this might be the solution to all our problems.

	I left the fairy's fountain with a light step and considered my next move.  I had a few hours left before Dark ran out of time and reset the loop.  There was a shortcut through the water from here to Lake Hylia, but it was under the ice and therefore out of reach.  With a faint feeling of regret that Dark would have to die at least one more time before I could get him out of the thrice-damned room, I gave up on the idea of reaching the Water Temple.  The Zora's Domain was a cold place to kill time, though, so I made my way back out of it simply to keep active while I waited.  I'd reached the canyon beyond and was feeling much less frozen, by the time the sun vanished below the canyon's rim.  I settled in there to wait, and it wasn't long before the world once again faded away around me.

	-----

	I stood in front of the damn door for what seemed like the hundredth time.  I gave it a glare.  I couldn't help but hate it a little bit, though it really had nothing to do with the trouble I was in.  But once more I stepped up to it and saw it slide open.

	Dark was already wading through the shallow water that filled the room towards me.  I stayed in the doorway and watched him approach.  "Link!  Did you learn anything so far?"

	I grinned.  "Yes.  Just one thing, but there's a chance that one thing will be all we need.  It's at least possible it'll get you out of this damn room."  I explained the spell and how it worked.  Dark nodded along with all my points.

	"So the way I see it," he said after I'd finished, "there are three things that could happen.  One, the spell doesn't consider me to be 'you' enough, so nothing whatsoever happens.  Two, the spell lets me go outside the room, but since you probably have to cast it inside for me to use it, it leaves you stuck in here with no way out other than resetting.  Or three it works, and the room's magic treats you removing me as the same as you killing me and opens the door for you."  He licked his lips with a kind of nervousness and added, "Goddesses, I hope it's that one."

	"I do too!  But I'll take the middle option as well.  In any case, I need to go anchor the other end of the spell somewhere.  Anywhere in particular you want to go?"

	He blinked at me.  "I... Hah!  I almost want to say somewhere outside the temple, somewhere I've never been.  But even right where you're standing now would be somewhere I've never been.  Let's not delay things playing around.  Cast the anchor point right outside the door."

	"Right.  Just a minute, then."  I stepped back, and the door slid shut between us.  I wanted the spell to be completely free of the room, even though that was probably somewhat illogical.  I focused myself and cast, making the gestures I knew were necessary to activate the magic.  A glowing column of green light whirled into life around me, before coalescing to a green point, which hovered in the air just before my eyes.

	I stepped around it and looked at the door yet again.

	I'd lost count of how many times I'd been through it at this point.

	Hopefully this time would be the last.

	Taking a deep breath and walked through the door, to where Dark waited, and it once again slammed shut behind me.  "Here goes nothing," I said, as much to myself as to him, and cast the second half of the spell.  I was supposed to simply cast it on myself, if I wanted to be transported, or on the location if I wanted to create a new warp point.  Instead I cast it on Dark, and watched the column of green magic swirl into life around him.  He watched it too, with hope and wonder shining in his eyes, and I saw triumph suddenly gleam in them as the spell collapsed around him and whisked him away.

	I was alone in the room.

	It had worked.

	And then it was my turn to feel a soaring, exulting triumph, for from the far side of the room came a familiar, amazing, beautiful sound.

	The door's bars slid back, leaving it unlocked.

	"YES!"  I shouted it so loud that the echoes bounced back to me in a deafening profusion.  Even as I shouted, the door behind me unlocked as well.  I spun to it and it opened before me.  "Dark!  It worked!"

	He was standing on the far side, grinning.  I couldn't help myself, I launched myself through the door and into his arms.

	He laughed and swept me up in a hug that was hard enough to make my ribs creak.  "It did!  And I'm out of the damn room!"

	"We both are!  And... I can go on, and free the sage, and find my destiny."  That was  more sobering.  Dark relaxed his grip a bit, and I did as well, though neither of us let go.  "That's what I'm going to do now.  You... I guess you'll need to wait here.  You don't have the gear to get back the way I came, and you probably don't have the gear to go onward either.  I'll come for you when I'm done, though.  We'll get out of here together."

	"Together," said Dark, and then he leaned in and kissed me, softly this time.  I kissed back with gentle warmth before finally breaking free of his embrace.  I hesitated a moment before turning to go, and he laughed.  "Go on.  Find your destiny.  Just don't forget to come back and get me soon.  I'd rather not sit here while you release all the other sages, fight Ganondorf, and marry the princess.  I'd get pretty bored."

	He left unspoken that he wouldn't just get bored, he wouldn't even live that long without me.  I nodded.  "I'll be back," then turned to go.

	-----

	Working my way through the monsters and puzzles in the rest of the Water Temple seemed ridiculously easy.  Every fight felt like a dance, every puzzle was a joy to solve.  Though there was a moment when I was a little careless and the bizarre tentacled creature in the innermost chamber managed to fling me across the room with stunning force.  I realized then that if I died, Dark would die too, with no one to feed on.  I resolved to take greater care, and managed to eventually slay the thing without getting hurt again.

	I was actually impatient dealing with the business of the sages and medallions.  It was necessary, but it was a further delay before I could go get Dark.  I was a bit terse with Sheik, also, when he turned up with more portents and obscure guidance for me.  I was glad when he once again vanished abruptly.

	No sooner was he gone than I once again cast Farore's Wind, setting an anchor point on the islet just outside the temple.  Then I dove into the restored lake, swimming eagerly down to the Water Temple's entrance. 

	I'd traversed it so many times that it took almost no time at all to reach the room where Dark waited.  I once again flung myself into his arms, and he hugged me with equal enthusiasm.  "Ready to get out of here?" I asked.

	"I've never been more ready for anything in my life," was his reply.

	I laughed.  "All one day of it?"

	"Hey, it's probably been at least a month.  All that fuss with the bombs took weeks, I'm pretty sure."

	"I know."  I smiled.  "But now it's time to go."  I cast the spell again, around both of us as I still held him, and a moment later we were standing outside the Water Temple, with brilliant sunlight shining down all around us.  Dark tipped his head back to the light, and there were tears gathering again in his eyes.

	I just squeezed him gently, then stepped back.  He sighed, closing his eyes and basking in the sunlight.  I had a sudden thought about vampires.  It was a good thing he wasn't like the ones in the stories, or he'd have crumbled to dust on the spot.

	"I wondered if I'd ever see the sun again, for a while there," he said.

	"I'm sorry."

	"For what?  You didn't make me.  You didn't create the time loop we were stuck in.  None of this was your fault."

	"It's not yours either." 

	He was silent for a while before replying.  "I suppose not."

	"We're both doing the best we can with this mess."  Then I smiled.  "But we're out of the room, there's a solution to your two days, and I have a destiny to fulfill.  Want to come along?"

	He snorted.  "As if I have a choice.  Though..."  He suddenly smiled.  "I do want to come along, yes.  To the Shadow Temple?"

	"Yes."  I nodded.  "I don't know much about that one, except that it's somewhere near Kakariko village."

	"Well, then we can figure it out together.  I'm thrilled to be doing something other than sitting in that thrice-be-damned room.  Let's go!"

	-----

	I've read accounts that were written much later, about how I fought Ganondorf and saved Hyrule.  It's always odd to read them, because nearly all of them ignore Dark entirely.  There are a few that talk about "The Hero's Shadow" here and there, but mostly the stories read as if Dark had never existed.  As if they came from some alternate reality where I'd simply defeated him and walked out of The Room, as I think of it these days, without any time loops or tangled destinies.

	Such a life would be simpler, I freely admit that, but it would be much less rewarding.  Zelda is a delight, and our relationship has worked out rather better than I'd ever thought it would, but to be without Dark... I can hardly imagine being happy without him.

	But I am getting ahead of myself.  I fought my way towards Ganondorf's black tower with Dark at my side, whatever the stories may say.  Sometimes his presence complicated things; many of the temple puzzles were meant to be traversed with specific gear and there were seldom two copies of any of the rare and magical items I needed.  Other times having a second pair of hands made things immensely simpler.  I can't count the number of times we bypassed some elaborate series of traps simply by having him give me a boost to reach something otherwise unreachable.

	All of which led us eventually to the black tower itself, to the room high above it where Ganondorf sat, hands resting on the keys of his organ.  Where Zelda floated, helpless and obviously frustrated by it, in a crystal prism overhead.  And where Dark and I stood in the doorway, facing down our mutual enemy.

	The Triforce mark on the back of my hand pulsed, the triangle that represented Courage glowing.  Dark had no such mark, one of the few physical differences between us.  Ganondorf's eyes nevertheless fell on him and remained there, suddenly narrowed in rage.  "You," he spat.  "What are you doing here, with him?  Either he should be dead, or you should be!"

	"Things don't always go according to plan," said Dark with a hard smile.  He lifted his bow and put a faintly glowing Light Arrow to it.  He let it fly, breaking whatever black magic Ganondorf was trying to cast.  With a roar of rage the Lord of Power lunged towards us and battle was joined.

	Dark was a very good fighter—of course he was, for I was a good fighter too—and we had Ganondorf outnumbered.  It seemed like this final battle would be easy.

	Perhaps it was overconfidence that caused everything to go terribly wrong.  The first setback happened early, though.  I'd struck at a blast of Ganondorf's magic with my sword, as if to parry it, moving on pure instinct, and found to my surprise that the magic was sent bouncing away.  Yet a moment later when Dark did the same, no doubt on the same impulse, his black sword simply shattered in his hand.

	Dark yelped in shock.  I was shocked too, but I suppose I shouldn't have been.  There was no way his black blade could be a true match for the Master Sword.

	Ganondorf laughed and moved in on him, but I leaped at Ganondorf from the side and drew him off while Dark once again got out the bow and began firing Light Arrows.  We only had so many, and it was difficult to get a good hit on Ganondorf's armored form with them, but they were better than nothing.

	I should have been the one the dark lord pursued, since I had the weapon that could truly harm him, but he kept attacking Dark, and time and time again I had to intervene, since Dark couldn't counter his magic in any way, he could only attempt to dodge.

	Then it happened.  I'd darted in with the sword once more and been thrown back by an enraged volley of magic that forced me to roll and dodge away, there were simply too many missiles, too fast, for me to bounce them back at him.  But no sooner had I done so than Ganondorf spun about and fired off a similar volley at Dark.  He was taken by surprise and didn't manage to dodge.

	I saw the bolt of lightning take him straight in the chest.

	His ruby eyes went wide in shock, then began to cloud over, and he fell.  "No!" I cried, terror seizing me.  Dark could not be killed.  Such a thing simply couldn't happen, couldn't be allowed by any sort of merciful fate.  But there it was, his form crumpling to the floor, a wisp of smoke coming from where a hole had been burned through his chest.

	My heart felt like it was going to stop.  Fear and grief shocked through me in that horrible instant, a sensation I cannot properly convey.  It was the worst thing I'd ever felt.

	And then the world faded away.

	-----

	I stood once again staring at The Door.  For once I didn't want to burn it down.  I wanted to kiss it, or sing a carol.  We'd reset again!  I never thought I could greet learning that leaving the room had not freed us from the endless loop with joy, but I did.  Dark would be alive!  Alive!

	Even though I knew I should cast Farore's Wind and begin setting up his second escape from the room, some fearful part of me worried that somehow I'd looped back alone, though I couldn't think why such a thing would happen, so I burst in through the door and ran to him.  He came to meet me as soon as I entered, and I caught him up in a fierce hug.  Our kiss was almost desperate.

	When we broke apart, I said, "Goddesses, for a moment there I thought I'd never see you again."

	"I know.  I never thought I'd be glad to wake up in this thrice-damned room, but I am."

	"Yes.  I'm very glad.  If I'd lost you, I don't know what I would have done."

	We clung together in silence for a long moment, just being there, together, reassuring each other.  His warm presence was solid, real enough to eventually still the fear that had been racing through my mind.

	"So we're still stuck in this loop," said Dark eventually.

	"Yes."  I let him go and stepped back slightly.

	He gave me a smile, then shook his head a little.  "And like an idiot you just walked right back in here, so one of us is going to have to die to get us out again."

	"Heh."  I gave a sheepish shrug.  "Sorry.  I just..."  I didn't want to voice how badly I'd needed to hold him, feel him, be certain he was still alive.

	"I understand." I knew he did, as no one else ever could.  "I'm glad you're here.  I'm glad we're still looping too."  He laughed then, suddenly.  "Talk about ensuring your destiny!  You can't lose.  If Ganondorf beats you, you'll just start over.  You can keep trying, finding his every weakness, until you win."

	"That's a surreal thought.  But you're right."  Then I smiled and hugged him again. 

	"Yes.  I..."  He hesitated, then said softly, against my shoulder, "I wonder what happens if one of us dies of old age?  Does it end then, or will we live forever?"

	I gave him the only reply I possibly could.  "If I'm with you, then I don't think I care.  However long we have, one lifetime or eternity, we'll be together, always."