Ganondorf shut his eyes against the piercing sunlight, rolling over in the soft bed. Just as he was beginning to fall asleep again, he was awakened by a knock at the door.
"Forgive me for waking you," a page said as he opened the door and stood in the doorway. "But breakfast will be served soon, and Her Highness requested your presence."
"Unh…of course." Still half-awake, he then shoved the blankets to the side and stumbled into the washroom, where an already-filled washbasin stood. He dunked his hands in the water and splashed it on his face, then cracked his eyes open to gaze blearily into the mirror.
"Yaaaaaaahhhhh!"
Instantly the page was at his side. "Is something wrong, Mr. Link?"
"No!" Ganondorf recovered quickly. "Just half-asleep…thought I saw…uh…something scary…"
The page gave him a perturbed look, then said, "Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call," and departed.
After hearing the door shut Ganondorf finally exhaled in relief. That insane shinigami…of all the bodies to put me in…
He still couldn't get used to the young Hylian's face staring back at him from the mirror. He was still adjusting to the body in general. It was so much lighter than his own. When he had tried to mount Link's horse, the blasted creature had bucked him off, and he had flown several feet. It wasn't a battle that gave him those injuries.
He shivered at the memory. Link hadn't seen him in spirit form. He had watched as Onima walked calmly up to Link, and before the boy could even swing his sword, he had fallen to the ground. Whatever Onima had done, he had done so fast or so subtly that Ganondorf had not been able to see. He never saw Link's spirit, and assumed that Onima had sent him to Yomi.
Then Onima had instructed him to get into the prone body on the ground. Easier said than done. He had felt like he was putting on a pinchy, ill-fitting suit. He was a little more used to it now - he could move around normally if he didn't think too much about it – but every once in a while he forgot how drastically his appearance had changed.
Still, he thought as he manipulated Link's face into a series of stupid expressions, I can't argue with the results…wonderful accommodations, a kiss from the Princess…if I didn't look and feel so ridiculous I might actually think about staying this way…
Of course, he knew he would not be able to pull it off for long. Playing the role of the polite, calm, generous hero was about as difficult for him as ballet was for an elephant.
Once he had washed up and dressed, he marched off to the dining room, where he had been given a seat of honor next to Zelda herself.
He had just leaned over to her to say something when the man next to him tapped him on the shoulder. "I say, old boy, how are the injuries?"
It was the poofiest-looking man Ganondorf had ever seen. Whoever this guy was, he wasn't a warrior. "Much better," Ganondorf replied, with what he hoped was an ingratiating smile, and turned back to Zelda.
"I've been dying to know, what are the Western Mallivans like?" the man persisted.
"The what?"
"You know…the people you met when you traveled two weeks ago."
"Um…yes…they were…very interesting. Er, why don't we discuss this later? I can give you all the details then."
Shad's eyes lit up. "Wonderful! I'll bring my papers and take dictation."
Ganondorf turned back to Zelda, but she was engrossed in conversation with someone to her left.
"I say, what do you think about the…"
"Oh will you put a cork in it!" Ganondorf snapped. The entire table stopped talking and turned to look at him. Shad looked completely devastated.
"Er…sorry," Ganondorf offered, painfully aware of how close he was to blowing his cover. "I still have a great deal of pain in my…leg…it's making me snappish…"
The rest of the table seemed to accept this, and went back to eating and talking.
Finally Zelda turned to him. "If you're still not feeling well, would you like to join me outside after breakfast?"
"Of course. I'd like that very much."
-&-
The first thing that struck his eye was the brightness and the variance of color in the gardens. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, relishing the scent of evergreen and roses. Ganondorf didn't much like flowers, or plants in general, but after the dark nothing of Yomi, his senses celebrated the newfound stimulation and lifted his mood.
Zelda took his hand. "Link, you've been acting a little strange lately. What happened after you left? You haven't spoken of it since you returned."
I still haven't come up with a good explanation for this… "I'd rather not talk about it yet," he evaded.
She smiled and squeezed his hand. "Well, when you feel you can, let me know. After all," she added with a hint of sadness, "I've also seen many things in my lifetimes that are better left unsaid…except to another vessel of the Triforce."
Ganondorf turned to her, surprised. "Do you remember much of your past lives? I don't."
Zelda released his hand and turned away, looking at the clouds drifting over the horizon. "As the keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom, I had to know more than you and Ganondorf about the endless cycle. And so the memories burned themselves deeper in my mind."
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, completely genuine. I certainly can think of a lot of things I'd rather not remember…
"Yes, well…" she turned back to him, and tried to smile. "That's all over…we should make the most of today, shouldn't we?"
Ganondorf looked out over the fields, and back at the castle, drinking deeply of the air that smelled of a thousand lives, human, plant, and animal. His senses heightened, his eyes and mind lingered on the magnificent marble pillars of the castle, the fragile petals of the roses, the frayed clouds that swept the sky like mares' tails.
"Yes," he said slowly. "Yes indeed."
-&-
"Midna!"
Link had called her name a hundred times, and still she did not come. Perhaps he was not in Yomi at all. But if not, where was he? Was the skull-faced man holding him prisoner? If so, for what purpose?
Link crouched in the little cell, groping around and concentrating on the direction where he walked, one hand in front of him. After a nauseatingly slow period of time, he was able to establish that his little cell was roughly fifteen feet square. If he concentrated, he could feel the walls. Otherwise, it was as if he were suspended in time and space. As far as he could tell, there was no door.
He tried to remember having been in a similar position, and strangely, he got perfectly clear flashbacks of his past lives. Unlike the last time, he could control them, and knew that they were his.
How is this possible? Did I get connected to the Triforce somehow? I remember it breaking into millions of pieces…
He had no sword, no equipment of any kind, though he certainly had left Hyrule with enough gear. He could understand why Onima would have taken his sword, but he couldn't figure out what the skull-faced man thought he would do with the little goat carving Ilia had given him as a good-luck charm.
Link paced in his little prison, trying to make sense of what was happening and desperately searching for a way out of it.
-&-
"Your plan is stupid." Ganondorf did not hold back in speaking to the shinigami in the mirror. "That's the most clichéd thing I've ever heard."
Onima's image replaced Ganondorf's reflection in the floor-length mirror of the guest room. "It's standard practice in many kingdoms," Onima explained with the patience that only an immortal could have. "Marry the princess, kill her, and become King."
"What's to stop the people from rioting? They like her. There'll be a revolution. The whole kingdom will come for my head."
"Who is going to raise their sword against the Hero of Hyrule?"
Ganondorf crossed his arms. "I still can't believe that you couldn't think up anything better than this."
Onima paused, and then the slightest bit of sarcasm crept into his dead voice. "Perhaps you have become attached to this pawn?"
"Absolutely not."
"Well then, kill her now."
"You idiot," Ganondorf exploded. "That just completely reduces your already stupid plan to nothing. Why would I do that?"
Somehow, Onima smiled without lips. "Because she's standing right behind you."
Ganondorf whirled round to see Zelda standing, horrified, in the doorway to the guest room. She turned and fled.
"You fool!" Ganondorf blasted the shinigami. "Why didn't you warn me?!"
"You had better hurry," Onima advised calmly. "Once the princess alerts her guard that you're not really Link, it will be several thousand to one…"
Ganondorf hurled a sulfurous oath at the skull-faced man and punched the mirror, shattering it. He snatched up a sword standing at the side of a suit of armor and bolted out the door in pursuit of the Princess.
-&-
A shinigami!
The terror that lanced through her upon that revelation fueled her flight through the halls, her guard turning toward her with puzzlement as she flashed past without a word.
She had to get the shinigami's familiar away from the castle. She had to try and fight it, if possible. Once again, she was alone in her fight, terribly alone.
How did that creature, whatever it is, make itself look so much like Link? And where is the real Link?
She retrieved her personal sword from her own room and flew down the stairwell to the back side of the castle. As she ran, she could hear light, quick footsteps growing louder and louder behind her.
She turned to a window and sheathed her sword, then pulled herself through, grasping the creeping ivy and trying to gain a foothold so she could climb down. As she grasped the vines to get a better grip, a hand shot out and snatched her wrist.
She felt herself shoved out away from the wall, and hung on to the ivy with her other hand for dear life. The false Link's face appeared in the window with an insane grin. "Well, if you won't go down, then come up!" With a mighty wrench he pulled her back into the tower, throwing her against the wall.
Zelda raised her sword just in time, and felt her hands vibrate with the force of the blow. As her attacker pulled back for a second strike, she stabbed forward. He dodged easily.
The two clashed swords, over and over. "You're not half bad!" the false Link told her with a laugh. "If I'd known what a skilled swordswoman you are, I would have asked you to be my sparring partner years ago!"
"Who are you?" she demanded, parrying another thrust. "What have you done with Link?"
"Hah!" He made a broad sweep with his sword. "You haven't figured it out yet? You've known me for so many centuries, and you still don't recognize my fighting style?"
"Ganondorf?" She was so shocked that she didn't dodge quite in time, and his sword nicked her arm. "But how did a shinigami…"
"Onima's not fond of Midna, it seems," Ganondorf said conversationally, still swinging. "I guess that's one thing we have in common."
"You'll regret making a deal with a shinigami," she taunted fiercely. "He likely has not told you all of the terms."
"Well, whatever they are, it must be better than what I had." As they crossed swords once more, he leaned in close. "Yomi is not a nice place, not where I was, anyway," he hissed. "I certainly don't intend on going back there…how nice of Onima to have Link take my place."
She blinked, horrified. "What?"
Ganondorf shoved her back so hard she stumbled down several stairs and slammed into the wall. Laughing, he raised his sword. "Your little friend is dead for good, Zelda. Of course, I will be more than happy to let you join him…" He readied another thrust.
Suddenly Zelda saw red. She leaped forward and swung her sword in a wide arc, hitting Ganondorf sharply on the wrist. She shoved him to the ground and held the sword blade to his neck.
Her hand shook. She tightened her hand on the hilt, and just as she was about to run the blade through, the fallen fighter's face contracted in fear. "Zelda, please, don't, it's me!"
"Link?" She paused, just for a moment.
Suddenly she was thrown violently backward and tumbled down the stairs, her sword skittering away behind her. Ganondorf stood, laughing uproariously. "You know your little friend is dead, and yet you can't kill me, because I look and sound like him! How pathetic." He gripped his sword as Zelda struggled to her feet.
Zelda turned and fled down the stairway, Ganondorf in hot pursuit. She burst into the armory and bolted the door behind her. She could hear Ganondorf pounding on the door. "It's just a matter of time!" he shouted. "I can break down this door…or blow it up!"
Trembling, feeling sick, Zelda pondered over what to do next. Her mind raced. She was no longer connected to the Triforce, so she could no longer perform even the simplest magic. If she killed herself again it would not restart the cycle; there was no cycle to restart. She did not know why the shinigami had sent Ganondorf after her. Even if she did blow Ganondorf up with the bombs in this room, doubtless the shinigami would come after her himself.
The pounding increased, the door beginning to splinter. There was one final answer, one thing that the sages had told her never, ever to do, unless there was absolutely no other way. She was not sure it would even work, now that she and Link had broken the goddesses' prized creation.
The door blasted apart. Grinning from ear to ear, Ganondorf entered the room. Zelda fell to her knees and bowed her head in prayer.
"Begging won't help," Ganondorf grunted, raising his sword.
Zelda chanted quickly:
Goddesses of Hyrule, hear my prayer!
The bloodline of Izanagi is in danger!
Your creation faces negation!
Hear me now, and come to my aid!
Ganondorf brought his sword down in a final blow. The sound of metal on metal rang in his ears, and he drew in his breath.
A woman in resplendent golden armor kneeled before him, an iridescent sword in her hand. With no effort at all, she stood and flicked her wrist, so that Ganondorf's sword rang out of his hand.
Ganondorf took a hurried step back. The woman's face and build looked vaguely like the statues of the Goddesses in the throne room, but her armor was of an exquisite, archaic type that he had never seen. She looked at him with blazing eyes, and as he stood frozen, raised her sword.
Suddenly, Onima appeared, and placed his hand on Ganondorf's shoulder. "Greetings, sisters," he said calmly.
"Greetings, brother." The woman spoke in three octaves, and lowered her sword. "Is this your doing? For what purpose?"
"It is a very simple purpose." Quicker than thinking, Onima drew a barely perceptible sword that flashed once. Link's body fell to the ground.
"I have come to claim what is rightfully mine."
