Calista-Cousland: In advance, I will mention that some parts may be confusing. When Zelda sent the world back seven years with Gannondorf still sealed in the Sacred Realm, what happened to the memories of him? Do the Gerudos know that their Lord was taken from them? In this story, they do. I will most likely provide an explanation for that later on. A slight tear in the realm in Gerudo Valley, allowing them to retain such memories, possibly? Or does everyone know of the good deed Link and Zelda did? If so, then why is it that when Link returns the Master Sword to its pedestal in the Ocarina of Time game that everyone is calm, as though Gannondorf's name isn't even known? So, in simplier terms, is playing the Song of Time just a reset? But if that is true, Zelda and Gannondorf wouldn't know about the reset because Link is the one who played the song. And in the manga, although it is Zelda who made the reset, Link remembered her.
Confusing, huh?
Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda.
0o0
Zelda's eyes were still adjusting to the flash that Impa had produced after disappearing back to the castle. If she looked closely, through her temporarily glassed-over eyes, Zelda was able to see the clouds move slowly across the dim sky. Soon, night would fall upon Hyrule.
It was a rather long argument between the two, impatient "Princess," this and "Impa," that. Finally, Impa left her will a doubtful look upon her.
Although she was about 30 meters away from the entrance to Castle Town, being outside made her feel so free... As if she was a normal person, and not just a simple attraction. No matter how many sugar-coated words you added to the explanation, Zelda was just a way to snatch a suitor for Hyrule, and she had never held any hope that it would change.
A short rain had just ceased and fresh dew covered the vast plain of green grass that blanketed Hyrule Fields. Out of the corner of her eye, Zelda saw a pretty red bird with a bright orange beak land on a small extended branch of a nearby tree. She smiled lightly and sat down on the grass, despite that it was wet.
All of Hyrule's nature around her seemed to give off a brighter look than ever before. It seemed happier and fresher, like something good had just happened. Zelda stopped smiling when she remembered that nothing good had occurred, although something awful had. She thought of the latest war that Hyrule had gone through.
It was not long ago; less than a week. So many...dead.
The invasion of Hyrule's territories was a tragic one, as many soldiers had been slain; the Gerudos had improved since last encounter, and to say the least, they weren't too easy to beat the first time.
Zelda tried to remember in thought, but she couldn't recall the end of the feud with the Gerudos. It was recorded that the Gerudo's suddenly retreated, and yet didn't seem to surrender. They had been said to give the coldest of looks and the cloths covering their mouths wrinkled into a clever and knowing smirk. But, no one focused on what might happen in the future. Everyone was excited and overjoyed that they were gone, so no one else had taken the time to ponder over the fact that the proud and haughty Gerudo's had fled, which seemed overly odd.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly gasped and chocked on what she thought to be the air. Immediately, she brought her hands to her mouth to find a ragged piece of cloth. Her first instinct was to scream, but when she did it was muffled and she was sure that no one would hear anything if anyone happened to be nearby. She gazed pleadingly over at the guards across the bridge leading to Castle Town, but he had his back turned as he was talking to a young child. With the guard's back turned, she was unable to be seen and the young child was much too short to see her being attacked. As she heard a small bit of laughter at her expense, Zelda twisted her neck a bit to see what was going on, but she did not get the chance to do so; before she turned around, she had failed to notice a large, blunted weapon making its way towards her head.
0o0
Zelda awoke to a discomfort in her left ankle and neck. She reared her aching neck up with her hand rubbing the back of it. "Ouch," she mumbled. "My neck hurts like crazy!" Zelda took her free hand to start rubbing her ankle, when instead of her skin, she felt a hot metal. "Ah!" She seethed and took her hand back. She then opened her eyes to see that she was in an unfamiliar place. Zelda wrinkled her eyebrows skeptically. "Where am I?"
In the corner, Zelda saw a pasty-white skeleton chained to stone. She scooted back as far as she could as if the bony figure would come after her, but she realized that the hot metal she had felt was a shackle attached to her ankle and she wasn't able to go any further. The skin around the shackle was a bright red due to the hours that the hot surface had been scorching her skin. Zelda found that in this state, she was impaired and unable to stand up. She had to crawl to where the shackle's chain was. It was tightly embedded to the stone that she and the skeleton were resting on and there was no way she could release herself. Even if she could, the metal was extremely hot and the only reason her ankle wasn't hurting as much was because the nerves had been practically burnt down to a point where they no longer held much pain. Whether that was positive or negative for her, she did not know.
Zelda sighed heavily. How had she gotten herself into this mess?
Zelda twisted her head the right to see and hear a metal chain come through the small window of what she inferred to be a cell. Attached to the end of the chain that had made its way into the cell was another metal structure shaped like an arrow. It resembled the legendary hookshot, the weapon that Link was said to have.
"Ahh... Link..."
Zelda thought back to when she had first met her hero... But that was so very long ago. Link had told her of his leave after she ordered the reset of time, and had gone to Termina. Rumors that the stolen mask holding dark magic power had been retrieved had been flooding in by travelers and the like, but Zelda was unsure if Link was coming back at all. In her heart, Zelda deeply wished that Navi would return, just so she could see him again.
"No," she scolded herself, disapproving of her irrelevant thoughts. "Zelda, you're in an old cell, most likely in Gerudo Valley, trapped with a skeleton, chained to pure stone and a deadly weapon just came through the window! This isn't the time to think of such things..." In less than a second, her mind had wandered. It wasn't hard to turn her attention elsewhere when your so nervous you almost dry-heave.
One to be on the bright side, she attempted at cheering herself up. "I can't believe I got caught up in something like this... Hah... It's always the princess, huh?"
Zelda turned back to the window to hear a soft grunt. Almost directly afterword, a women clad in gypsy-like clothing hoisted herself into the cell with Zelda in one swift jump.
This Gerudo woman looked different than any she had heard of. They usually wore loose clothes, most purple or red, with little embroidery and few gems. Like the others, she had a glistening jewel holding her long, dark hair up in a ponytail, but she still stood out from the rest.
Her clothes were many colors such as black, white, pink, purple, red and a touch of orange. Jewels and gems sparkling in the sunlight were woven into the clothes, as was swirly golden embroidery. The strange woman unhooked the jeweled cloth around her mouth to speak more clearly.
"Princess..." The Gerudo women spat out the word like it hurt her to say it. Her eyebrows wrinkled as her eyes centered angrily on the pitiful sight that was Zelda. "You don't deserve that title, you filthy wench."
Zelda was scared to death in the inside, but wouldn't allow the woman to see her frightened. She put on a face that made her seem unfazed. "I am Hyrule's Princess no matter what you think of me, and I demand that you explain to me what is going on. Start by telling me who you are and what am I doing here."
The Gerudo woman clenched her teeth angrily. "You speak like you have control over me. You might be royalty in Hyrule, but here in Gerudo Valley you are nothing." The women sighed heavily and impatiently. "You best not test your luck."
Zelda shot her a dirtier look than before. Although, the woman was right. She had no intention of getting into more trouble. "Why have you taken me? Speak your purpose."
The woman scoffed. "Why do you think? It's because that stupid war has brought us Gerudos no gain. Capturing you for a ransom was a great idea. We will definitely get paid much for the only heir to Hyrule."
The woman began pacing, as if she had been itching to talk to Zelda and was trying to recall the insults she had practiced saying. But the woman held her tongue and instead scanned Zelda, up and down, up and down.
"You disgust me," Zelda stated bravely. She was about to tell her that this was a horrid idea, but that would be an awful large lie, and no doubt would the woman know it. Her father would pay any amount of rupees for her safety.
"Who exactly is your leader?"
The Gerudo sneered. "Thanks to your little Kokiri friend, having to be all damn noble, our Lord Gannondorf is gone. My only elder sister, Nabooru, also went missing! But..." The woman paced closer. "My gratitude is in order."
"Oh really, now? Go on, then, Gerudo."
"My thanks may also come with another blow to the head if you don't shut your trap with such remarks! ...In any case, I come from a family of the highest rank, next to the Gerudo leader, which would be Gannondorf. Now, our leaders do not typically get trapped in the Sacred Realm, but if he is forced to relinquish his duty as leader of the Gerudo's, the oldest woman of the highest class will be in charge until a man is born again."
Zelda nodded slowly, and had to confess that the story was quite interesting. Not much had been recorded on the Gerudo tribe; mostly only that they were master thieves.
"Mother would be the leader, although she died some time ago, and we owe that to your race for being so touchy when it comes to theft."
"I am sorry." Zelda wasn't sorry.
"Hah! It is perfectly fine, she was such a..." She paused. "I will regret it if I speak poorly of the deceased." She then closed her eyes and cleared her mouth, as if to forget that the 'Mother' topic had ever been brought up.
"Nabooru, being me older sister, was to be the said woman because Mother is obviously not able. But, because she too is gone, I am next in line."
"So... So you are the leader?"
"Exactly. My, my, aren't you bright. I am Myrilla. Gorgeous name, isn't it? With your ransom, I will bring extreme wealth to the Gerudos and my name will be remembered!"
"Well, Myrilla... You are a woman. Only the male Gerudo's names have been recorded."
That definitely got her angered. "Wrong, wench, wrong! I will be remembered! I will be the first woman to ever be worshiped in the Gerudo name!"
"I believe you."
Luckily, Myrilla was a rather cocky person, and didn't seem to detect too much sarcasm in Zelda's tone. She threw Zelda a piece of bread that she had been keeping in her hand. Myrilla snapped her fingers once, which beckoned another Gerudo woman that came through the same way she had. Like Zelda had noticed earlier, this woman wore simple clothes next to Myrilla.
"Go and get the prisoner's water. And be quick about it."
Only moments later, the other Gerudo returned, a wooden basket of water in hand. It somewhat reminded Zelda of the type of basket she had seen in a well.
"You're lucky, you know." The other woman said before taking her leave. "We've never had a prisoner that we actually feed."
With that all said and done, Myrilla snatched the rope and slid back down. After a few seconds, the rope was pulled harshly and the hookshot like figure flew back down.
Zelda gazed at the bread irritably, as if it was its fault. She took a large bite of it and soon after devoured the entire thing. She then chugged half of her water, not at all caring of her royal etiquette, and set the basket down.
With a stretch, Zelda laid down on the hard stone and thanked that, at the very least, it wasn't freezing in the hot desert sun. She continued to ignore the sharp pains in her neck and the rest of her body because of her position and the terrain that she was laying on. She also tried her best to ignore the hot metal around her ankle. Although she was enduring and was to endure torture and pain, she tried to be optimistic, if it was at all possible.
"Zelda..." she whispered to herself. "It will be okay. You can find your way out on your own!" She began to gasp softly as she tried to hold in tears. "Link... He won't save you. You have to find your own way out of this mess."
After a long time, most likely more than four hours, Zelda fell asleep, her dreams filled with unpleasant nightmares that wouldn't seem to end.
0o0
Calista-Cousland: That was the first chapter of "Trapped." This is an idea I have been working on, and I have various ideas as to what path the story shall take. And do not worry, Link will arrive at some point, if you must know.
Please, review! It would make me very happy.