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Traitor	By : MyouTakara Category: Zelda > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 9770 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda, nor am I making any money off this fic (I am being bribed with fanart. Does that count?)

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter Seven
Pandemonium can be found by searching for Kurotorasempai's "Pandemonic" on deviantArt.

Dull blue eyes stared listlessly at the black canopy above him. Voices flowed around his head, one ringing with frustration, the other tense and worried, but he did not acknowledge them. All through the so-called 'treatment' of dark spells cast upon his body, wrenching bones and muscles painfully back into place, pressing wounds shut, foul-smelling ointments rubbed into his skin and hair until they glowed with a false, healthy-looking sheen, that blank blue stare never wavered.

"I've done the best I can. I keep slaves usable, I don't ease pain. What do I look like, a light wizard?" The Wizzrobe sniffed his disdain. "The broken bones are set, the internal damage repaired. He won't scar, as you requested, unless you desire it. These spells are tied to your will, Lord Shadow, as all things are in your domain. A snap of your fingers and his bones will break, a flash of your eyes and his body will tear. That is all a slave needs, especially a useless one who cannot heal himself."

There was a snap and a scream, followed by a rushed apology and an angry growl. Still, the eyes never moved, never spared the proceedings a glance. "Do not call him useless." Another apology and quick footsteps signaled the Wizzrobe's departure, and Shadow sighed, shifting uncomfortably in the desk chair he'd placed by the bed.

"Vio, I'm sorry." No response.

"Vio, please. I didn't order them to attack you! I wouldn't do that!" Nothing.

Shadow groaned, bowing his head almost to his knees and pulling at his hair in frustration. "Vio, please, please listen to me! I swear I didn't order it! I didn't! I know I threatened it...several times, but that's all they were, empty threats! Vio. . ." He slid from the chair to kneel by the bed, taking Vio's chilled hand between his own clammy ones, pressing it to his cheek. "Vio, I love you. I. . .I'll make it up to you. I'll make it better. I'll give you. . .anything. Anything at all that you ask me for."

A twitch. Accusing blue eyes met pleading red, staring at him, considering.

Shadow waited for his response with bated breath. If Vio asked for freedom now. . . Shadow wasn't certain he'd be able to refuse.

Vio's gaze drifted back to the canopy, and his silence persisted for a few moments more. "At your. . . dinner party. . .there was. . .a young man who looked about my age in chains. He. . .was under the table with me. His name is Vaati. He was with the Poes, and we both know what they do to their slaves. . .Nobody deserves that." Vio shifted, trying vainly to find a more comfortable position that would aggravate his aching body. "Bring me Vaati. Get him away from the Poes. And Shadow. . ." His eyes cut to Shadow's again, and the Darkness winced. "You have to promise me you won't make him your toy."

"I-"

"Promise!"

Shadow gave Vio's hand a gentle squeeze. "I promise."

He stood, staring blankly around the room as though forgetting something, before his eyes fell on Vio, laying so still beneath the sheets. Untethered. Shadow held out his hand and snapped his fingers, calling a slim dyed-violet leather collar to him. This he fastened about Vio's unresisting neck, sealing it shut to all but him with a murmured spell. Another snap and shadow-chains snaked from the headrest to attach to the collar, preventing Vio from leaving the bed, even though he couldn't move.

Shadow's hand moved from the collar at Vio's throat to cup his cheek, and he bent forward to kiss him softly, barely a brush of his dry lips against Vio's magic-moistened ones. "I love you, Vio." He murmured. "Goddesses. . .I love you so much it hurts. But I don't trust you. Please, forgive me for the chains."

Vio didn't react again, and Shadow quietly left the room.

Pandemonium. The Desecrated Devil Temple. Home of all Poes.

The souls of the damned and devil-deal bound cried out at his presence. They were the ones taken from other realms and brought to this place to suffer, food for the Poes who lived within its towering, black-stone walls. Poes of all sorts floated amongst the sufferers, some tall, robed, silent and faceless, others short, squat, colorful and cackling. The tall Poes' lanterns burned an eerie shade of blue, their cast light sometimes shot through with purple or green from the smaller cacklers, throwing the strange, carved rose on the door of the temple (what was it doing there? Rumor had it that the Demon who'd built the temple centuries ago had lost a bet with the God of War. . .but that was only a rumor.) into sharp relief. It was said that each glowing lantern held another imprisoned, malicious soul condemned to burn (some said it was the Poe's own soul, but nobody knew for sure), and if you listened when a Poe was near, you'd hear them scream. Shadow didn't know if this was true, and he didn't much care.

Those souls weren't Vio.

They meant nothing to him.

Shadow entered the Temple unbidden, the macabre splendor of the Entrance Hall barely fazing him. He took no notice of the blood-splattered tapestries on the walls, the chandelier of twisted skeletons (some Hylian, others not), hanging above his head, or the screams that echoed off the high, vaulted ceiling. Smaller, lesser Poes, those squat, useless little things, scurried about at his passing, one darting ahead of him through the heavy doors emblazoned with the Poe's crest in Hylian bones to the dark throne room beyond.

An agonized scream rang out as he crossed the threshold, torn from the throat of the ashen-skinned slave held aloft only by the Big Poe's grip on his long, lavender hair. The Big Poe's teeth sank into his flesh, tearing off a large chunk of his shoulder. Muscles tore, tendons snapped, and bones crunched, dissolving into black energy to be absorbed in a long, drawn-out breath by the Poe. It closed its eyes and hummed in appreciation, letting the slave collapse to the floor at its feet.

"Delicious as always, slave Gufuu." The Big Poe mocked, smirking as dark magic swirled around the fallen mage's body, healing and repairing the wounds until not a scratch remained. Not a drop of blood spilled; only magic poured from his body.

The mage panted for breath, a reflex only. Beings like him didn't need to breathe.

Finally, the Big Poe seemed to notice Shadow's presence. A too-wide smirk crossed his face. "Ah, Lord Shadow Link. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Shadow snarled. "Are you or are you not known to possess the most useful and loyal Loans in the Dark World?"

The Big Poe seemed taken aback by his venom. "I am. Is the one I gave you unsatisfactory? I assure you he is one of the best-"

"Unsatisfactory?" Shadow spat, fists clenched and body shaking with his fury. "The one you gave me directly defied the one and only order I gave him. Instead of alerting me to any problems with a certain prisoner he ordered my Hinox to nearly kill him! He told them the orders came from me, when I said no such thing!"

The Big Poe scowled his displeasure. If there was one thing he hated, it was Poes who failed to do as he was told. In times of peace (which, the Big Poe thought bitterly, this wouldn't even BE if a certain Wind Mage hadn't proven so utterly useless) the Poe's supply of fresh souls depended upon good relations with the other lords. Loans who disobeyed put that at risk. "Return him to me, and I will assure you he will be properly punished."

"The prisoner who was harmed is valuable to me. I will receive compensation." Shadow stated coldly.

"Of course. Two of my very best minions, at your disposal-"

"No. I don't want any more of your best minions." Shadow looked disgusted by the very idea. "I've had more than enough of them."

The Big Poe looked confused. "Then surely-?"

Shadow cut him off again, motioning to the lavender-haired slave on the floor, who had only just managed to sit up, dragging himself away from the foot of the Poe's throne He didn't get far- the tall, robed Poe to the Big Poe's right swung its scythe, catching the slave in the chest and knocking him back against the throne, drawing a pained yelp from his lips. "I want him."

The Big Poe's slanted, glowing eyes widened, darting from the slave on the floor back to Shadow. "Now, see here Lord Shadow, this mage is worth far too much to be given as reparation-"

"And your supposedly loyal minion harmed my fucking Hero!" Shadow snapped, his tone dangerous, daring the Big Poe to try to cross him. "You will give him to me, or all the Lords and Ladies of the Dark World will know of your minions' uselessness. They will know they can't be trusted with even the simplest of tasks. And then where will you be?"

A look of consternation crossed the Big Poe's face. There was no way around it and he knew it, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try to haggle. "He is still too valuable. His magic alone could feed every Poe here for years. I propose a trade. For one of your mages, the return of my minion, and your. . .discretion, about this matter, I will give him and his contact to you."

Shadow's temper was wearing thin. "Fine." He snapped his fingers, calling one of his own devil-deal bound mages to him, and her contract to his hand. Veran was not as powerful as the demon Gufuu, but she would suffice.

Once one of the Big Poe's minions fetched the Wind Mage's contract, Shadow approached the throne and held out Veran's. He hadn't even so much as glanced at her.

She wasn't Vio. She meant nothing to him.

The exchange was made, and a snap of his fingers called a thick black collar and leash to him. He yanked Vaati up cruelly by his hair, drawing a pained hiss from his lips. As Shadow fastened the collar around Vaati's pale throat and sealed it with shadows his expression never changed. Vaati's red eyes widened and his delicate-looking hands flew up to clasp the collar, fear overcoming his expression as his situation finally sunk in. Shadow Link, his former minion (or so he'd thought), quite literally held Vaati's life in his hands. From this moment on, Vaati would live or die by Shadow's word.

Holding the leash in one hand, Shadow stood and started for the door. "Come, slave." A smirk crossed his lips at the angered expression on Vaati's face.

"Ah- Lord Shadow- the rest of our deal?..." The Big Poe shifted nervously.

Shadow turned cold eyes to the Big Poe, a sadistic smirk twisting his lips. "You have my silence." He assured the Big Poe, before turning again towards the door. Ever-so-casually he lifted his right hand above his head, snapping his fingers as the throne room's bone-encrusted doors clanged shut behind him.

The screams of horrified lesser Poes echoed after him.

Vaati stumbled along behind Shadow, who didn't seem to care that Vaati had trouble keeping up with his quick pace. Internally, the Mage fumed. Of all the rotten- his very existence now lay in the hands of the one minion who'd turned on him. Hell, all of this, his fall from power, the enactment of the devil-deal's contingency in case of failure, all of this was because of HIM! Oh how he wanted to wring the bastard's neck-

Vaati choked, grasping at his throat. Shadow didn't seem to notice, except to yank harder on the leash when he slowed. All right, so the contract wouldn't allow those sorts of thoughts. He should have known better.

A devil-deal contract with the Big Poe; a portion of Hyrule once he had it under his control in exchange for power, with his soul held as collateral. It had seemed perfect, fool-proof at the time. He was the Great Wind Demon Gufuu, how could anything possibly go wrong? How could anyone oppose him? But someone, four- eventually five- someones did. When he failed, when the Four Heroes defeated him and he lay dying while they battled Ganon, the Poes came to collect.

He was not living, neither was he dead. A body that was not a body, but a soul, taken physical form. A magic-filled soul that could never die, except on the whim of the contract-holder. His form was created as an ideal food source for the Big Poe, his contract-holder. . .

Former contract-holder. Shadow Link held the contract now.

Fuck.

Vaati found himself yanked through the shadows against his will (not that his will meant much at all, anymore), away from Pandemonium. He fell to his knees in the Entrance Hall of a castle he didn't recognize, too dizzy to see straight (He'd never liked shadow-travel, not even in his demon form. Wind and tornadoes were far more enjoyable and effective methods). The floor beneath his palms was stained with blood of Light Dweller red and lesser monster green, and he took a momentary, perverse pleasure in the knowledge that no matter what Shadow did, his blood would not decorate the traitor's floor.

Thanks to Shadow Link shattering the Dark Mirror, his body contained no blood to spill.

Shadow didn't give him a chance to recover from the dizziness (really, it was unfair. Why should he still feel these things when he wasn't even technically alive?), seizing him by his lavender locks to jerk his head back and force him to face his scowling former minion.

"Let me make one thing clear right now, Vaati," he spat. "You are here because Vio asked me to save you from the Poes. I'd rather leave you to rot. . ." He yanked harder on Vaati's hair, drawing a pained hiss from pale lips. "If you dare harm one hair on his head, you will wish I'd left you to their mercy, understood?"

Vaati scowled up at him, silent, hatred written across his pale-gray features.

Shadow backhanded him sharply, releasing his hair to let him fall. Shadow's dark blade followed him down, skewering him between the ribs where his living heart should have been. Vaati choked and grasped at the blade, pain exploding through his body while his mind remained conscious, aware of every agonizing moment of what would otherwise have been a fatal wound. Shadow watched with sadistic pleasure while he squirmed, a twisted smile tugging at his lips.

He repeated himself in a lighter, almost playful tone. "I said, do you understand, Vaati?" He twisted the blade in a vicious jerk, the sound of ribs snapping echoing in the room. Vaati shrieked.

"Yes! Yes, I understand!" He cried, attempting to pull the blade from its fleshy sheathe.

"Good." Shadow pulled his sword out in one swift motion, his expression falling into a slight pout when he saw that Vaati still didn't bleed. Vaati's magic knit the wound together, setting bones and sealing flesh, though the pain still burned hot as lava in his chest.

A sharp, tormented scream rang through the air. Shadow's head snapped towards the sound and he was running in an instant, speeding up the stairs towards the source with Vaati on his heels, pulled along by the lingering force of Shadow's first command. They hurtled down one hall and another, tracking the sound to the large double doors leading to Shadow's room.

Inside, Wizzrobes blustered about in a frenzy. Four of them were attempting to use their magic and their bodies to restrain a thrashing, screaming Hero, two more were casting spells on him, and another four or five ran back and forth from the bed to the table set up nearby, bringing the spellcasters their own brews of various noxious sorry-excuse-for-potions.

"What's going on in here?" Shadow bellowed, causing the Wizzrobes to freeze. Off-guard, those holding Vio down were sent sailing across the room when he shrieked, kicking out with his legs and bringing his hands up to claw at bloody welts on his face. He gagged, his thrashing causing the collar he wore to choke him.

Shadow leapt across the bed the straddle him, struggling for several moments before he managed to pin Vio's wrists by his head and trap his flailing legs under his more powerful thighs. A snap of Shadow's fingers called the shadows to him, wrapping around Vio's limbs with the strength of steel and forcing their way into his mouth to quiet him.

Once he lay still and panting Shadow took a moment to look at him. His eyes were wide open, but glazed, as though he were looking through him instead of at him. His limp blond hair was sweat-soaked, his face flushed and covered in bleeding scratch marks. His breathing came in short gasps, fast and shallow. Shadow laid the back of his hand against Vio's forehead and quickly removed it. It felt like he was on fire, his skin burned so hot.

"Useless, all of you!" Shadow hissed, turning a venomous glare on the Wizzrobes. They cowered, fearful of his wrath. "I gave you one simple task, just ONE! Heal him, I said. That's all. And now look at him! What. Happened?"

The Wizzrobes shifted and shuffled and tittered, but for several long moments none said a word, until one of the spellcasters bravely stepped forward. "We were doing as you ordered, Lord Shadow, when the boy started to seize.-"

"And nobody noticed he was getting sick?" Shadow screamed, the shadows gathering around him, churning with eagerness at the prospect of bloodshed.

"We are not healers, Lord Shadow! We know nothing of Light Dwellers- EEK!" The Wizzrobe ducked as a shadow-hardened dagger flew towards his head, only just avoiding decapitation.

"Get out." Shadow growled, voice low. "Wizzrobes, OUT!" The Wizzrobes scrambled for the door, Vaati following. "No, Mage. Not you. Come here." Shadow crooked a finger at Vaati, and what could he do, but obey?

Vaati stood by the bed, stony-faced, but his eyes that burned with a fury hotter than Vio's fever, his hands clenched into fists at his side while Shadow spoke. "You were a Light Dweller," Shadow seemed to take particular pleasure in the past tense of that statement. "So you will be responsible for healing him from whatever this is that's sickening him. You will make him better, or I will kill you. I will destroy you in ways that would make even the Big Poe cringe. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Vaati hissed out between clenched teeth.

"Yes, what?"

If Vaati could have killed him then, he would have. His stony expression dropped to a scowl, and he spat the words like one of the Wizzrobes' foul potions from his tongue. "Yes, Master Shadow."
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Traitor