Hello, all. Major revelations on the platter today.
As I said in the A/N of my last chapter, this will be the head voice and it will cover most of the major stuff.
And Marth finally says stuff! If you remember the summary back in chapter seven, I cut it off at the part where it said that his father would do anything to get revenge, right? That was important!
And finally you get the hands in their human forms. I plan to go into further detail in regards to their appearance, so stay tuned for that.
I don't really have much else to say, except I was at the premier of the world premier of David Carlson's new opera Anna Karenina that was commisioned by the local opera company! I feel like partying, but unfortunately the world doesn't seem to care much about contemporary music...
You know the rest.
Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 10: Hauptstimme
"Listen, Link, I cannot believe you would go to such lengths because you are jealous of him!"
"Zelda, he could have done things to you! I'm just making sure that you're safe from him!"
"He hasn't tried to do anything! What makes you think that just talking is a sign that I'm falling in love with somebody else?"
"It's not that I'm worried about you being unfaithful. I'm just worried that he might do something to you!"
"That would have happened over my grave! Now stop your false talk and admit that you started it all!"
"Why should I? I won't look good to anybody if I do, least of all you!"
"You've impressed me a lot already! And you'll impress me even more the minute you stop telling these lies and face the truth!"
"No! They've already passed judgment, and why should I be one to reverse it?"
"You're being unreasonable! They might even give you a levee if you told the truth! They just might!"
"Forget it! I'd rather die than tell the truth now!"
"Fine! Be unreasonable like that! There are times that I wished you never existed!"
"Hey! I said that if you left the relationship, you would wake up the next morning with a knife in your throat! I'm about ready to follow up on that!"
"…"
"I thought so too. Now if you're ready to stop bickering and be a good girlfriend, the door is right there for you to go through."
"Whatever!"
Angry steps were heard on the carpet underneath, shortly followed by the slam of a door as an enraged Hylian princess walked out of Link's room.
Zelda made a heavy exhalation as she thought about how unreasonable Link was with regards to the whole situation. She and Roy had just been talking, and Link decided to throw a fit over it just because he was claiming to be scared about Zelda's health. The princess knew she had nothing to fear in regards to Roy, mostly because he did not seem to be the kind of person who would go all over the place and do it with whoever he pleased.
This was what annoyed the princess the most about Link. He was usually quite reasonable, but when it came to her, he was capable of jumping all over the place in paranoia. Whenever this happened, a rift in their relationship would usually be formed, only to be mended by intimidation.
Apparently, intimidation was Link's favorite weapon when dealing with a possible leave on his relationship. Zelda had grown tired of it and knew he would never bring himself to follow up; in fact, just to make sure he would not follow up with his threats, she pretended to believe in his threat and would be silent every time he threatened her with death so that he would shut up and let the princess continue with her life.
Eventually, though, she knew the relationship would mend itself as time went on. They would be in love as much as they had been before the argument.
Still, Zelda could not shake the feeling that it would cause irreversible damage to the relationship. Roy had seemed like a good person, despite the fact that he was really capable of acting like a child sometimes, and it would be a shame to see him go.
Zelda sighed again and went to her own room to think.
"I tell him… I tell him not… I tell him… I tell him not… I tell him…"
The young Altean prince was normally one to keep his past to himself, mostly because of the bitterness and the paranoia that all of his friend would leave him exactly the way his friends in Altea left him.
However, after what Ganondorf had told him in the garden the other day, Marth had begun to have doubts about whether holding it all in was really useful. And it had nothing to do with his argument, either.
It was entirely in the proof that followed in which Marth began to see a light.
Since Ganondorf had been asking Marth about what he could not describe, he had been finding himself leaning towards and constantly suppressing violent impulses. The day before, Marth wanted to punch Link in the face for saying lies about Roy; however, he found himself using every inch of his will just to call him a liar that nobody should listen to.
This in turn led to plucking a sunflower that was growing in the garden and going to his room. It was a stupid game, really, but Marth could not make up his mind. Since this was true, he decided he'd let Mother Nature and luck help him with his decision.
And thus, he was sitting on his bed and plucking the sunflower pedals, and then disregarding the fluttering of the pedals as he told himself the same monotonous drone again and again:
"I tell him… I tell him not… I tell him…"
Slowly but ever so surely, the pedals were finding themselves on the floor after each intimate pluck of the pedal, and even then, the drone continued on. However, the final six pedals were reached.
"I tell him not…"
One pedal floated gracefully down.
"I tell him…"
A second pedal joined the first one as the two did a dance in the air.
"I tell him not…"
As the first two settled, a third one began a lilting dance downwards.
"I tell him…"
A fourth one sifted its way through the watery space that was the air.
"I tell him not…"
The fifth one began fluttering down, intertwining with the fourth pedal, and then the result was not unlike that of the first two pedals that fell.
"I tell him."
The final pedal fell, and then the stalk was discarded amidst the bed of pedals that had gathered as Marth exited the room to fulfill his promise to the plant that was lying amidst its pedals.
Ganondorf was sitting in the garden, pondering on certain things.
Marth had refused to tell the king about whatever had happened to him in his early years. In addition to this, Ganondorf was also constantly pressuring the prince to say something; however, his attempts to do so had proven futile over and over again.
However, there was something in Marth that Ganondorf noticed. He had noticed several minute struggles with his body and mind that others would have passed away as mere anger management. However, Ganondorf figured that Marth was about to burst because of his secret that he had held for so long.
This also brought about a noticeable change in the prince's mindset; he noticed that he had been thinking more often. Of what he was thinking was entirely up to the Gerudo tribesman's speculation, but Ganondorf had a feeling it had to do with Marth finally making right decisions.
A somewhat harsh padding interrupted him.
"Hello, Ganondorf," said a voice.
Ganondorf looked in the voice's direction and was quite surprised to find the two Hand siblings standing in front of him.
"Hello," said Ganondorf, attempting to hide his surprise as much as humanly possible. "What are you two doing here?"
"It is a long story…" said Crazy Hand. "We would like you to come to the office with us, please."
Ganondorf had a brief glimmer of fear inside. What if he had done something and he did not know it?
"No, you are not in trouble," said Master Hand. "We will explain once we get in the office."
"Ah," said Ganondorf. "I was worried there. Anyways, yes, I think we can talk in your office."
"Good," said Crazy Hand. "This way please."
The group proceeded to Master Hand's office.
Upon arriving there ten minutes later, Ganondorf sat in one of the chairs opposite Master Hand's own chair and watched as the two hand siblings stood in front of him.
"What brings me here?" asked Ganondorf.
"You understand things about the curse that put us in this form, correct?" asked Master Hand.
"Yes," said Ganondorf. "A witch casted it because of revenge and hatred, correct?"
"Yep," said Crazy Hand. "We have been told by Zelda that it is reversible, however."
"So it is not the permanent curse it used to be?" asked the Gerudo king.
"Exactly," said Master Hand. "She told us that anybody with magical ability would be able to remove the charm."
"And I was the first person that came to mind?" said Ganondorf. A hint of curiosity graced his voice.
"Yes," said Master Hand.
"I understand," said Ganondorf. "However, why did I come to mind?"
Master Hand physically fidgeted, but thankfully he was saved by his sister.
"We figured that a warlock such as you would be able to know the workings of dark magic," said the female hand as craftily as she was able to say. "After all, you did grow up with a practical knowledge of the magic, right?"
"Yes," said Ganondorf. "I understand fully. I need to think about the proper chant, though. It might take a while."
The hand's wrists ducked up and down in agreement as Ganondorf thought about the magic he should use.
Finally, he stood up off of the chair, walked up to the hands, and touched them in their wrists as they stood on their two longest fingers.
"Prepare," warned the warlock. "It will feel very awkward after I repeal the curse…"
Ganondorf then began a soft chant once the hands had approved.
"Den kashkiley, toreka dereyo! Ah teshkarel, tergalitevol! Vireyagt! Viretelacousetel! Gorgetaya vinkt getal! Keromayatel poroteithela! Theragaieta duregataiyo! Gungela! Thire gungela! Gungela!"
As the chant died away, a mystical circle of light crowded the space on the floor beneath the two hand siblings. Suddenly, a powerful beam of light shot up from the floor that covered the two animated gloves.
When the light faded, the hands were replaced by two very distinct people wearing white.
The first was a man. His black hair fluttered in the wind created by the circle of light. The other, a woman, had long red hair that whipped against the air.
When the light dissipated and left the office back in its original state of lighting, the two hand siblings opened their eyes to reveal a quartet of emeralds shimmering behind the eyelids.
The first thing the former hands did was to feel their skin. Their arms journeyed in wonder as they realized that the old curse had been broken, and they relished in this.
In their bewilderment, they looked at anything reflective they could find. They looked at mirrors, the glass of the picture frames, anything at all. And they all showed the same thing; two human siblings, being watched by a guardian who had turned them back to men.
Ganondorf closed his eyes and stood by the chairs with a contented smile showing on his face as he waited for the wonder and the bewilderment to fade.
Two Hours Later…
Marth had been searching everywhere to find the king of the Gerudo tribe, but no matter where he looked, he found himself unable to seek out the man.
For the young exile, it felt like Ganondorf was walking twenty yards ahead of him, peeking behind walls in an eternal game of hide and seek where the one who was it would eternally be unable to find the others and tag them before they reached home base.
Eventually, Marth gave up and decided he should head back to his room and try again the next day.
As he was about to step into his own dorm, however, he heard the door across the hall open. When he turned to look, Ganondorf had stepped out of his dorm.
"There you are!" exclaimed Marth quite exasperatedly. "I have been looking all over for you!"
Ganondorf halted his progress at the door, and he turned to face Marth.
"Where have you been?" asked the young prince.
Ganondorf closed the door behind him and walked up to Marth to continue the conversation.
"I was in Master Hand's office," said Ganondorf. "Or should I say Mr. Hand's office?"
A perplexed look gathered on the Altean prince's face.
"Are you implying something?" asked Marth.
"Yes," said Ganondorf. "They asked me to repeal the curse on their bodies."
"In other words, you turned them back into their human forms," said Marth.
Ganondorf nodded quite simply.
"I thought the curse could not be repealed," said Marth.
"From what I heard from them, Zelda told them otherwise," said the warlock. "Besides, if it could not be repealed, they would not be in their human forms, yes?"
"True," said Marth. "Anyways, I was hoping we could talk in private…"
"Finally coming out with your secret, yes?" asked Ganondorf, leaning in with a somewhat satisfied smile beaming on his face.
"I thought it over," said Marth.
And I had to sell my masculinity to the flower pedals to help me, too, thought the prince with a tinge of bitterness running through the sentence.
"Good," said Ganondorf. "We can talk in my room?"
"Yes," said the prince.
Ganondorf nodded and went to the room across the hall and walked into his dorm with Marth trailing behind.
"So tell me," said Ganondorf. "What is this great story you keep yourself from telling?"
"Bear with me," said Marth. "It is very complex."
"Go on…" said the king.
"Well, my father was one of the worst hypocrites in the world," said Marth. "I will leave that part at that." Here, Ganondorf nodded to help Marth beat the uncertainty in his voice. "Anyways, I knew that he was a hypocrite the entire time he was ruling, and thus I would voice it very frequently. Nobody believed me, however…"
"And your friends and countrymen left your side," stated Ganondorf.
"Yes," said Marth. "Anyways, one day an enemy army invaded Altea. My father pledged to do something about it, but as usual he was untrue to his promise. However, I had an opportunity to expose him, and I did."
"People stopped believing him afterwards, I assume…" said Ganondorf.
"You assume correctly," said Marth.
"Then if that was it, then why are you hiding it to yourself?" asked the king.
"Ganondorf… It's not the full story," said Marth. "It is what happened afterwards that makes me not want to mention the whole thing."
Ganondorf's face etched a surprised furrow.
"And what is it that happened afterwards?" asked the Gerudo tribesman.
"I unintentionally got the people riled up…" said Marth. "They denounced the king because of what he did… And then… And then it happened."
"What happened?" asked Ganondorf.
"He trapped a group of seventy peasants in the market place of the castle town and ordered them to be slaughtered," said Marth.
Ganondorf's eyes went wide with shock.
Marth understood where Ganondorf was coming from. True, Ganondorf did commit acts of murder towards other people, but performing acts of terrifying genocide on his own people was something that the Gerudo king would not and never would consider.
"Are… are you serious?" asked Ganondorf.
"Yes," said Marth. "And then, he told his court I was the one who ordered the slaughter. It took no amount of extra convincing to get them to nearly kill me."
"So you had to exile yourself?" asked Ganondorf.
"Yes," said Marth. "I never want to talk about it… I know it is my fault that he did what he did… I can never forgive myself, and I am sure nobody else would forgive me."
"Marth!" exclaimed Ganondorf as he took hold of the prince's shoulders. "That is not true!"
"And why not?" asked Marth.
"Because you were not the one who decided to murder thousands of members of your own people!" said Ganondorf. "You were not the one who said that your son did it simply to exact revenge! You were not the one who decided to be hypocritical in the first place! Stop punishing yourself because of what others did to you and your people! It is not your fault!"
"But Ganondorf, I—"
"Marth, please!" exclaimed Ganondorf once more. "It is not your fault! You did what you did to prove a point, and in the end, that is the good that comes out of it. Never mind that it led to your father being vengeful and murdering his own people for a second. If it is a cause worth fighting for, then what is the use of regretting it later in life?"
Silence. Suddenly, Ganondorf noticed that the Altean prince was moved to tears.
It was then that Ganondorf realized that he had been yelling at the young prince.
"Marth?" asked the king.
"I have been a fool," said Marth as a solitary tear ran down his cheek. "I have been a fool…"
Ganondorf took Marth's shuddering frame into his arms and allowed the prince to cry on his shoulder.
Marth did not make any attempt to resist.
He knew that Ganondorf had been his only true friend in all of his life, for he would not have said such things otherwise.
The two stood in this way for what felt like an eternity, the assurance of knowing that they could always count on each other for comfort if there was anything awry in their lives dominating the tenderness of the gesture.