Struggle Between Powers
Chapter Three
A/N: Waah. My lamer little N64-adjusted mind accidentally colored the Triforce wrong. Courage and Wisdom have each other's colors. But you know what? I'm not gonna fix it! Because I know that I'll keep making that mistake and people will be going "But this one was GREEN in the last chapter..." So I'm gonna let it be. Again, sorry about that!
Link and Spryte spent the night taking turns sleeping, waiting for Gannon to attack them and make off with the Triforce of Courage. It was only a matter of time, they knew, and guarded the sacred triangle with their lives. When morning finally rolled around, they were both shocked and pleased to see that the Triforce was still there.
"Now all we have to do is wait here for him to come back," Link said, referring to the beast. "With this, and the Triforce of Power, Shiga will have to surrender the castle back to Zelda and her father."
"I hope she hasn't killed them yet," Spryte said darkly. Fear washed over Link's face; he obviously hadn't planned for that. After seeing that, the fairy tried to add helpfully, "She's probably waiting for you to try save them, though."
What if they are dead?
Link wondered to himself, glancing at his sword. He knew that the part-Gerudo little rogue would pay dearly for Zelda's life."I'm back," Gannon said, in a sinister-yet-happy tone. "I've got the perfect plan!"
Spryte flew back and behind Link. She still didn't trust this monster, and wasn't planning to for a while. He had proposed an alliance with them to get the kingdom back, and later battle it out for the official rights to the throne, but Spryte just knew that he was planning something. "And just what might your plan be? Hmm?"
"You can go in and distract her," the sorcerer said to the fairy, "while Link and I fight off the guards and recapture the Triforce!"
"I don't know if this is gonna work," Link said warily. "Why don't we just go in and talk to her?"
"Plus, Link is not of royal bloodline!" Spryte argued. "Shiga will take control of his mind!"
Gannon waved his hand uncaringly. "Not if he doesn't draw attention to himself!" he snapped, then smiled a frightening grin at Link. "What do you say? Deal?"
Link wavered uneasily, glancing to his fairy friend for advice. She just perched on his shoulder, awaiting his sure-to-be-stupid decision. Taking a deep breath, he finally said, "I'll do it."
"Good!" Gannon cackled, then remembered to act serious. Spryte scowled at the monster; Link was an idiot for even agreeing to this in the first place! "Perhaps we could sneak in a back way?"
"Forget that part," Link laughed. "After this is all over and I've won the two Triforces, you'll use the secret entrance to break in and take them anyway.
Gannon fumed, but somehow managed to act genuinely hurt. "How dare you think such a thing of me? I would never do that to my partner!"
Link mumbled some not-so-nice things and Spryte giggled. "Let's just go in," she suggested, smiling brightly. Link, too, muffled his laughter along with her.
The fairy flew straight into the castle, and a loud crash was heard. Several of the guards posted outside ran in to deal with the powerful little pixie. Link smiled and shuffled in along the wall, leaving Gannon as backup.
"How dare you attack here?" Shiga raged, shooting magic at the fairy, who easily darted aside. "I'll turn your precious pal Link into a frog, and he'll eat you for breakfast!"
"No he won't; he didn't last time," Spryte smirked, dodging another bolt of angry energy. Spryte was rather glad that she'd let Link agree to this. She was having quite a lot of fun with the enraged girl.
Link grinned as he quietly lifted the Triforce of Wisdom from its new pedestal. Holding it along with the Triforce of Courage, he created a protective barrier around himself, hoping that the slight gleam didn't catch Shiga's attention. He tiptoed quietly along the wall. Just as he reached the doorway, it slammed shut.
"You thought you could get away?" she crowed triumphantly. "Well, guess what? YOU CAN'T! BWA HAHAHAHAHA!"
Link glanced up fearfully, seeing Shige floating and gloating about his loss. Sighing, he turned to face her, not daring to let the shield down. "What do you want? I've got the Triforces, now you've got to give up."
"And I'll have the Triforces when I'm through with you!" she laughed. After a few seconds, she peered down at him in awe. "It's not working. You were supposed to drop the Triforces."
"Oh," Link said, dropping them. Then he realized how stupid that just was.
"Good! My mind control does still work! Link, your new name is Emperor Luagia."
Link stared. She thought he was under her control? He was about to correct her when she kept talking.
"Luagia, your next assignment is to kill the King's daughter! Go now and see your victim!"
"Link!" Spryte cried, flying down in front of his face. He stumbled back, falling against the door. "Come back to me, Link! You're not taken over, are you?"
"Um...yeah," he said bluntly. "I have to go kill Zelda now, Spryte, so will you excuse me?" He gritted his teeth and gave her a stare, and she stared back for a moment. Then it dawned on her, and she fled from the castle, sobbing.
"Well?" Gannon demanded when Spryte came out.
"He's in the castle. Shiga caught him and made him give back the Triforce, and she took the other one, too."
"So he's under her control!?"
"Sadly, yes," Spryte said. "I'll have to go break the spell later tonight. You just go back to the underworld and let me handle this."
Gannon scoffed. "You think I'm going to miss this? Not for all of Hyrule! I'll save him with the Triforce of Power!" With that, he warped back to the underworld.
Spryte giggled. "You idiot," she said aloud. "He's not under the spell. He's pretending to be so that he can save Zelda!"
She fluttered over to where Link had left some of his belongings, trying to think the situation out. "Link will pretend to be under the spell, and will agree to execute Zelda and her father. Of course, Zelda will be the first to die, because Shiga will want to see her die at the hand of Link. But he'll drop the sword and rescue her. Where will they run to? Oh, Link; I don't know if this is a good idea..."
Meanwhile, Shiga was showing Link to Zelda's cell. "I trust that you'll have a nice little chat with her. I'll even release you of my control so that you can spend a few moments with her...and to that she can see you as normal one last time before you kill her! Ha, this is going to be great!"
Zelda lay asleep in her cell, shivering against the cold, concrete floor. She awoke to a rattling on the bars. "Rise and shine, Pretty Little Princess," Shiga giggled. "Your hero has arrived! But guess what? He's MY hero now! Emperor Luagia, enter." He did, quite obediently. She locked the cell behind him. "I'll leave you two alone. Luagia, you can return to being Link now."
Link looked around, as though he was surprised. "Where am I?"
"Link!" Zelda sobbed, jumping up and hugging him. "You're captured! I can't believe it!"
"Yeah, neither can I," he said dryly. Zelda stepped back and gave him a questioning glare, but he shook his head in Shiga's direction, toward the stairs, and the princess let it go.
"Come over here, sit down and talk to me for a moment." He did, again, very obediently. Zelda took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Look. I know I'm not the nicest person in the world. I'm quite rude to you actually. The last time I saw you...I'm sorry. I was in a lot of stress."
"I should have been the one under stress; I was about to fight in a competition right after the girl of my dreams insulted me!"
Zelda looked down, saddened. "I'm the girl of your dreams?"
"Well, yeah," he said softly. "Why wouldn't you be?" He paused for a moment, deciding whether or not he would go on. "You're smart, you're fun, you like doing all the stuff that I do. Not to mention you're gorgeous."
"You mean you don't just love me for being a princess?"
Link smiled. "If you were the poorest person in the world, I'd love you just the same."
Zelda finally looked up, her eyes beaming. "Oh...I love you, too, Link! I love you!"
"Wow, is this actually happening?" he joked. Zelda giggled.
"I hope not. Maybe neither of us will remember in the morning." She leaned forward and kissed him softly, then pulled back almost immediately, laughing. "I CANNOT believe I just did that!"
"Alright, that's enough of that!" Shiga yelled, storming back into view. "I didn't call for any kissing here! You're just supposed to - um, nevermind. Don't want to reveal my evil, diabolical plot. Come, Luagia."
Zelda raised a questioning eyebrow at Link, who sighed in exasperation. He got up and followed her out of the room, leaving his princess to wonder what was to become of her.
**The End of Chapter 3**
Wahooie! I actually DID find time to finish this! *grin* But it's really short. I wanted the execution to be a separate part, though; that's gonna be long. Don't worry about that.. Sigh, on with the show, right? Please please review! :)
