Well, here we are. The long-awaited end of Part 1 of Symphonische Metamorphosen is now complete!
Now, the first couple of POV things in the chapter are mild, but about a quarter of the way into the chapter, it goes from PG to R: there is more language, it's bloodier, and it's so much more violent than anything you've seen around here. Basically put, assume that every bad thing that can happen to a person will happen in the latter half of the chapter (including death, by the way) and all of the things that happen in this chapter will affect everybody in the story once Part 2 comes around.
The second half actually fits the chapter title; in the Requiem mass (which has had settings by guys like Verdi, Berlioz, Mozart, Britten, etc.), the Dies Irae is the stuff that talks about judgement day and other things like that. You know the rest.
In other news, the Mahler 1st is coming along quite nicely here at the festival, and I'm really loving it. The Mozart piece makes me fall asleep, but it wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the fact that the string sections are being shortened for the Mozart and that I'm one chair away from not playing the Mozart. You know the rest.
I digress, though.
Here's the next chapter. Enjoy, and prepare to be extremely shocked.
Chapter 20: Dies Irae
"Matthew, why do you think Mario would have-a done such a thing?"
"We may never know, Luigi. But please, stop feeling sad about this! It hurts my heart to see you in such pain."
"I can't-a help it. I'm-a sorry."
Luigi proceeded to stare at the floor.
Matthew sighed as he thought about Luigi's mental state as of the entire day. Luigi had not been feeling good as the day had gone by, mostly lending to the generally depressed feeling that reverberated throughout the mansion that day. Nobody was happy, but poor Luigi was unbearably sad. The doctor was having trifles of his own, but Falcon had the doctor getting over it in a short while.
"I understand why you are like this," said Matthew. "If a sibling disinherited me and left the next morning, I would feel bad too."
"I don't-a understand why he denounced-a me, though," said Luigi.
"I guess that that is the worst part?" asked Matthew.
Luigi nodded very slowly.
"I do not know either," said Matthew. "That is something that makes the affair more frustrating to figure out for me, actually, but for you, I can understand why it would trouble you."
"Matthew, I don't-a know…" began Luigi. Whatever he wanted to say died on his mouth.
Luigi went to Matthew's bosom for a spot to cry on. There, he hugged the head of the tournament and cried as if nothing else existed.
"There, there, Luigi," said Matthew. "Everything will turn out all right. Maybe he will return and everything will be set straight."
"I don't-a think he will," said Luigi. "He usually sticks to his-a word…"
Matthew patted him on the back.
"It hurts…" muttered Luigi.
Luigi did not feel very consoled through the hug. The affair was too harmful to his psyche for anybody to understand.
After all, Mario had apologized to Luigi, only to take it back a short while later.
For the plumber, this was the most devastating part of the whole affair.
And unfortunately for him, nobody understood that. Not even Matthew understood it. This lack of understanding hurt Luigi even more, causing him to spiral down an eternal pit of depression.
Luigi figured that at this stage hope was a useless emotion; therefore, hope was absent in Luigi.
Captain Falcon sat in his dorm, glumly musing on the events of the night before and what Mario's departure could have meant.
The doctor had not spoken to anybody all day; Falcon figured this would have been because of the fact that the doctor felt that he should have some time alone to think about himself and Luigi. Falcon was sure this was the case, but if it was not, then Falcon would understand either way.
The pilot realized then that somebody should have told Mario about the doctor's relationship with Falcon. Maybe then, nothing would have happened. Maybe then, Mario would still be sitting in the mess hall laughing up a storm with some friends of his. Maybe then, Luigi would not be crying his heart out in Matthew's office. Maybe then, both brothers could have been left in peace.
Falcon shook his head.
In a way, people from both sides were at fault; Mario was irrational, and the doctor was afraid of saying anything in fear of destroying Luigi. Falcon had heard from Peach that Link had told Mario that Luigi was in love with Matthew and that everything was fine between the brothers until Mario found out about the doctor. However, on Mario's side there were too many questions that could not be answered as to why he would think his own brothers would pursue an incestuous relationship with the plumber.
Falcon shook his head the third time that day.
He had a very bad headache from thinking too much.
Right then, the doctor entered Falcon's room. As the door gently closed, Falcon barely looked up from his position.
"Heya," said the captain weakly.
"Hello," responded the doctor in a weaker voice than Falcon had said hello.
"Ah tayake iyit y'all woyant tah tawk tah meh abayout soyomtheyin'?" asked the captain.
"Yes," said the doctor. "Falcon, there are times where you know that you really love someone, and yet when you want to push it farther, somebody finds out, and somebody's life is ruined."
"Luehgi?" asked Falcon.
"Yes," said the doctor. "Falcon, please forgive me for what I am about to ask you…"
"Yeyes?" asked Falcon.
"I… I want to keep the relationship from going to the next stage," said the doctor. "I want to clear my mind and know what I am doing before then. When I am ready for the next stage, I will let you know. Is that fine by you?"
Falcon understood that the doctor needed time, and until then he wanted Falcon to refrain from making advances of a sexual nature towards the doctor.
Thus, he slowly nodded his head.
"I thank you for understanding," said the doctor. "See you later…"
The doctor closed the door behind him, the door ever so softly settling into its natural spot.
The match lounge was unusually empty. Not even the children were having their regularly scheduled meetings that day because of the profound nature of Mario's departure.
Thus, it made a perfect spot for Peach to think about many things while slowly crying her heart away, tears marring her sparse makeup as they traveled down their customary road.
The princess thought about why Mario would think his brothers would lust after him; in Peach's mind, the plumber should have known his brothers better than that. The princess had a feeling that the homophobia in Mario had gotten the better of him, yet to think that it would blind the plumber completely was beyond comprehension. Peach had a feeling that something else was hidden in Mario's mind, but exactly what this something was would forever remain a mystery.
Bowser watched from the doorway. He knew exactly what the princess was feeling; the king had felt bad for Luigi because of what happened to him. Of course, he felt sorry for Luigi for more than one reason, but the said reason was one he never wanted to mention for the rest of his life in fear of the pain and guilt of not having done something he should have.
Bowser really wanted to help Peach in her thoughts, but what could he do? He felt that positive relations had formed between their kingdoms when the reasons Bowser constantly kidnapped Peach came out, but Bowser felt it was not enough. After all, he figured Peach still reserved negative feelings for the king which she hid.
Bowser mentally sighed at the prospect that he could not help Peach. The princess was a nice woman; that much he had learned through the multiple kidnappings. In this, Bowser knew she deserved to have somebody there for her who would help her in everything that came to her mind, but he could not thanks to negative feelings towards him.
The koopa king walked away from the lounge to think about events.
After all, he needed to sort the events out himself too.
Night had fallen on the mansion. The stars were blocked by a large rain cloud that was colored gray. The only light outside was the occasional lightning bolt that crashed into the ground at an unbelievable speed.
Ganondorf knew that of all nights to be looking at the garden, this had to be the worst.
The king stood in the mess hall, eyes gazing out of the window's protective sheet as he watched the raindrops. Falcon had been awake for quite some time during the night, and when Falcon got loud enough, Ganondorf woke up. Falcon had requested for some time alone, and even though it was slightly past the time where everybody would be asleep Ganondorf knew that when somebody wanted to be alone it was best that they be left alone.
After all, he did know what was happening around the mansion.
Footsteps prodded closer to him. Ganondorf turned to find the Altean prince walking behind the king.
"Marth?" asked Ganondorf. "This is strange of you to be up at this hour."
"I would say the same to you," said Marth. "But I understand that some people need to be alone. Falcon asked for such?"
"Yes," said Ganondorf.
"I see," said Marth as he walked next to Ganondorf. "I could not sleep. Everything that happened yesterday is all very complex."
"That is true," said the king. "Many of us are thinking more than is healthy for a human to attempt to find answers. Why is it that Mario had to make things so difficult on everybody?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," said Marth. "He might have been hiding something and that something might have transformed him into the homophobiac that he is, but why would he go so far as to think his brothers would go after him?"
"Something dreadful must have happened if that is the case," said Ganondorf. "Let us hope there is something we can do for Luigi."
"I would not know," said Marth. "He lives next door to me, and I thought I heard him cry himself to sleep just now."
"I would understand why," said Ganondorf as he turned to face Marth. "It is also to my understanding that everybody else would understand why."
Marth nodded. The king faced the window as he grabbed Marth's hand very subtly.
"Marth?" asked Ganondorf.
"Yes?" asked the prince as he looked up at Ganondorf.
"If I ever did something that would be disapproved by many people, would you leave my side?" asked Ganondorf.
The prince was very surprised by this question.
"Why do you ask?" asked Marth.
"Curiosity," said Ganondorf.
Marth nodded, thankful that the king was not going to lower himself to a level he was part of in his earlier days.
"In that case, I do not believe I would," said Marth. "I know you better than that. I would never cut off any friendly ties with you. You were there for me when I told you, so the least I could do is stand by your side whenever you are disapproved by people, even if I would look like an idiot if I did."
Ganondorf looked at the prince, earnestness clouding his vision.
"Marth…" said Ganondorf, voice soft and infinitely tender. "Thank you…"
The king clenched Marth's hand tighter, and reluctantly let it go.
"Come," said Ganondorf. "We ought to get some sleep."
The prince nodded, and the two of them exited the hall, went across the hall outside the match lounge, and walked up the stairs.
Marth stopped at his door, and the king stopped.
"I will be in my dorm if you need anything," said Marth. "Good night."
"Good night," said Ganondorf.
He turned to the direction of his room and walked to it.
As Ganondorf walked, a lightning bolt flashed across the sky. However, the bolt flashed in time for Marth to catch a glint of light flashing off of what looked like metal.
When the light cleared, Marth could make out the form Link approaching the king of the Gerudo tribe as quickly and stealthily as possible.
The prince perked his head as Link crept ever closer to the figure of Ganondorf.
Another glint of lightning flashed when Link was immediately behind the king. The light stayed long enough for Marth to witness Link raise his sword.
"Ganondorf, look out!" yelled Marth, not caring that he would wake up the other smashers in doing so.
In the darkness, Marth could make out Ganondorf turning around, seeing the Hero of Time and his blade, and sidestepping a slash just as Link sent the blade flying in Ganondorf's direction. A banging on a doorway and a flash of lightning was followed by a frustrated yell as Link tried again to slash at Ganondorf and missed as the king ducked under the weapon and took off running to his left. Link followed in hot pursuit.
Marth stood dumbfounded at what Link was trying to do.
"Oh my…" said Marth. "He could be killed!"
He ran promptly up to Bowser's dormitory, where he then proceeded to bang as loudly as he could on the door. The urge to yell at Bowser to wake up was very close, but Marth knew that banging was enough.
Eventually, the door opened and a koopa king with squinty eyes looked at Marth.
"Jesus, boy!" said Bowser. "Can't you—?"
"Link is trying to kill Ganondorf!" interjected Marth.
Bowser stopped saying what he was going to say, and Marth felt that his comment had woken up Ganondorf's friend. The prince could make out Popo rubbing his eyes in the room and sitting perfectly erect when the prince mentioned Link trying to kill Ganondorf.
"What?" asked the king.
"You heard what I said!" said Marth. "We need to do something!"
"But what?" asked Bowser.
"You distract him as best as possible," said Marth. "I'll wake up as many people as I can. Go. If Ganondorf dies I will never forgive myself."
Bowser nodded and ran down the hallway. Marth was about to knock on Peach's dorm when Popo pulled on the prince's pants.
"Can I help too?" asked Popo.
"I appreciate your want to help, but there is nothing you can do," said Marth. "Stay here."
"But—!" said Popo.
"No," said Marth. "Stay."
Marth left the door open as he went to knock on Peach's room.
When the prince was not looking, Popo snuck out of the room and ran as fast as he was able down the hallway.
Link charged blindly at Ganondorf as the Gerudo king ran as quickly as he could down the hallway that would lead him to the meeting room. When the door for the room appeared on his right, Ganondorf entered, opened the door, slammed it and locked it as quickly as possible. The Hero of Time was very persistent, so Ganondorf jumped away from the door just as the Master Sword poked its way into the doorway after a jangling of the doorknob.
Ganondorf took this time to run through the room in hopes of making an escape route through the backstage door. Thus, he jumped on the long rectangular stage and ran down its length, disappearing into the left wing and entering the backstage door there just as Link kicked the door down.
"Come back here, you son of a bitch!" yelled Link.
Link was about to run after the Gerudo when he heard large footsteps plodding the hall, followed by a yell. Link jumped forward just in time to avoid being tackled by the king of the koopas. When the king quickly got up, Link brandished his sword.
"So you're in the party too, huh?" asked Link.
"Shut up!" spat Bowser. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What am I doing?" asked Link. "I'm getting rid of proverbial scum, that's what!"
"You didn't even use the adjective right!" said Bowser. "Why are you—?"
Bowser eyed the Hero of Time raising his sword, and any attempt to say something else was thwarted as the koopa king jumped back to dodge the sword swipe that Link sent in Bowser's direction.
"And after I get rid of you, I'm going after that piece of dog shit to kill him," said Link.
This comment really angered Bowser. The king knew that Link and Ganondorf were in a rivalry, but even then the king could not understand why the Hero of Time would hold his rival in such low regard.
"Don't you dare call Ganondorf a piece of dog shit, you arrogant bastard!" said Bowser, hate flaming in his voice.
After this, Bowser went in for a punch with his left hand. However, the king had failed to notice that Link had his shield out, so the hero blocked it and the next punch that sailed at him. Link then jumped on and off of a table, attempting to stab Bowser in the head with the Master Sword. However, this failed as Bowser jumped to the side.
Once this was done, Bowser lifted a chair and threw it at the hero. Link rolled to the side to dodge the chair as he made his way at the koopa king. Bowser ended up having to jump to the side or duck and then roll as quickly as possible as Link rained attempted blows on him.
Bowser ran as far as he could, grabbed another chair, and watched as Link dodged it as Bowser swung the chair at him.
Link ran at Bowser again, but an attempt at a running slash was blocked when the hero ran straight into the backrest of the chair Bowser held in his hands. This made contact with the hero's face, which then sent the hero plummeting to the ground. Bowser then had time to discard the chair so that he could run to another chair and grab it.
As he was ready to throw the said chair, Link stood up, wiped the blood that was flowing down his lips, and ran at Bowser. The koopa king held on to the chair and ran.
The chair was holding him down, however, and Link took this opportunity to nearly slash Bowser.
Just as he was about to do so, however, Link's legs gave in, and the man howled in pain.
When Link's form fell to the floor, he grabbed his shins and revealed Popo holding his hammer.
"What in…?" asked Bowser. "Popo! What are you doing here?"
The child did not respond. He simply held his hammer up. His grip shook a little, but he seemed pretty confident.
Link eventually stood up and faced the young Ice Climber.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Popo. "Come and get it!"
"Sure!" said Link, a sadistic smile creeping on his face. "The loser sits in time-out for eternity!"
"Popo, no!" yelled Bowser.
He ran to interject, but Link had delivered the first slash by then and it was too late.
Popo jumped back, dodging Link's sword swipes and leaping in for a blow whenever possible. This fight continued for several minutes, with nobody gaining any real advantage.
The young Ice Climber did not need to know that "eternal time-out" meant that he could die facing the crazed Hylian. He was aware of the risk.
That was precisely why he hit the Hylian in the first place. He knew that the chances of him beating up Link until the Hand siblings did something about it were very slim due to the fact that he had lost his match against Link, but he knew that if he was the only casualty of it, then he had not died in vain.
Thus, the fight continued, with Popo being continually pushed back towards a wall while Link constantly swiped at Popo.
Over the course of the fighting, Popo had forgotten were the stage was, and when he bumped into it Link raised his sword. Popo rolled to avoid it, but when he stood to run, he tripped on his foot and fell face-first onto the floor.
Link wasted no time in jumping for the opportunity to do something, and thus he raised his sword and yelled.
"Popo!" yelled Bowser as he saw the spectacle. "Look out!"
The warning had come too late, however, for a sickening noise of decapitation rung in the room as Link brought the blade down on Popo's neck.
A nervous silence followed. Link slowly turned at Bowser.
The blood on the hero's blade told the king that Popo had been killed.
Tears began working their way down, both in sadness and frustration that he could not have done something good. He wanted to throw chairs at Link, but Popo was very close to him and he could not bring himself to harm a child.
"Sad?" asked Link. "Good. Time to grieve is over."
As Bowser cried in his standing position, Link charged at the king, preparing a slash.
The koopa king made no attempt to resist. Popo was a second son to the king, and if he died, Bowser did not know what he was going to do. That time came much sooner than the king expected, and so he did nothing to resist.
However, right as Link was about to slash Bowser, the king felt himself abruptly fall to the ground upon the whim of a force that the king could not control. A split second after he hit the ground, a second decapitation noise sounded with a womanly scream following the lost sound as long as was possible.
Bowser turned around and noticed Link grinding to a stop and turning around. When he did, he noticed Peach stood very close to where Bowser had been just a second ago.
The princess was lamenting noisily and tearfully as blood flowed freely from the spot where part of her right arm used to be.
Bowser's eye went wide, but before he could do anything else he noticed Dr. Mario and Falcon run into the room.
Link looked at the doctor, and he knew that he had done everything he could do since he knew the doctor would fix any wounds that he inflicted on Bowser.
Thus, Link let out a discouraged growl, leapt on the stage, and dashed down the walkway. He disappeared behind the left wing.
"Peach!" yelled the doctor, not noticing Link's getaway.
"Coyome bayack hear!" yelled Falcon as he ran after Link.
The doctor grabbed the antiseptic, a surgical tourniquet, and a winding of bandages that was in his suitcase as he ran to the princess, who knelt on the ground in pain clutching her arm where Link's sword went straight through. The doctor grabbed the tourniquet and applied it to Peach's arm, which in turn promptly stopped the flow of blood to the area.
"This is going to hurt," said the doctor simply, before applying antiseptic to Peach's wound.
Peach's howls of pain filled the room as the doctor applied the liquid substance on the wound. When the application was done, the doctor wrapped the bandages and the princess's wails slowly whittled down to sniffles and whimpers.
Bowser had by this time stood up and looked down at Peach and the spot where part of what used to be her right arm stood silently and unaware of the events going on in the mansion. The scarlet stain on the princess' glove was sickening, but the king was too concerned about why Peach had shoved the king in the first place to care about it.
Peach's vision was blurred by the tears that had come with the pain of losing her arm.
"Peach," said the doctor. "Are you all right?"
"Where's Bowser?" asked Peach. "Is he okay?"
The king was shocked beyond belief to hear the princess ask about Bowser's situation, for in his mind it would be the last question to appear in Peach's mind.
Still, he walked towards the princess to give her the knowledge she deserved. The princess looked up and said nothing for a while.
"Thank the lord…" said Peach, a smile coming to her face.
"Peach…" said Bowser. "W… Why…?"
Peach's smile intensified as she scooted towards the giant turtle hugging his leg with her left arm.
"You're a good man…" said Peach. "You care about people around you. Nobody deserves to die when they care… Especially you…"
This statement from Peach reduced king to more tears with the implications of what Peach had said; this time, though, the tears were of a different nature. Bowser knelt down to the princess' level and looked at her with as straight a face as he could pull with the profundity of what Peach had done and said.
"You…" said Bowser.
He was unable to say anything else. While the doctor looked on with eyes welling with tears, the king slowly wrapped his arms around Peach as the princess nestled on Bowser's chest inside an infinitely tender embrace with many more meanings than anybody could grasp.
Matthew shook his head as he rubbed the sleep off of his eyes and felt his head constantly drooping. Cowlicks had invaded his hair during the night, and he really felt that his night vision had seen better days.
Something had been going on in the meeting room that had woken the head of the tournament up. First, it was the sound of chairs slamming on the floor, and then screams and slight knocking noises that were hard to discern. Unless a party was going on next door in the meeting room, Matthew had no idea what was going on.
He had not been getting any sleep lately anyway, given the fact that he was feeling bad for Luigi's state of mind at the moment. Poor Luigi was lost in regards to Mario, and Matthew knew he could be doing a much better job at consoling the plumber than he was; only problem was, he had no idea how to console people after what Luigi had gone through. After all, who would have to console a person through a disownment right after an apology?
"What's going on?" asked Cornelia's somewhat groggy voice behind Matthew.
"So I take it you heard the noises as well?" asked Matthew in a similarly tired voice.
Cornelia nodded very slightly, not having the energy to give a full nod.
"They aren't supposed to be partying at this time of night…" said Cornelia. "We're the only ones who can support a party."
"I do not know, Cornelia," said Matthew. "There's no music."
An abrupt knock came on the door that led to the meeting room.
"Oh god…" said Cornelia. "What could it be now?"
Cornelia walked to the door and opened it to find a deranged Link standing at the door, eyes flaming with hatred.
The female tournament master moved to ask the hero a question when he barged straight into the room, pinning Cornelia to the wall opposite the door with the Master Sword being held against the female's throat.
The shock of what Link had done woke both masters up very promptly.
"Link!" shouted Matthew. "Stop this—!"
"Where is he?" yelled Link at Cornelia. "Where is the son of a bitch?"
"Who's he?" asked Cornelia.
"You know perfectly well who 'he' is!" yelled Link. "Now tell me where he went or I will kill you!"
"Link, we just—" Cornelia began.
"Answer the goddamn question, you fucking bitch!" yelled the Hero of Time again as his sword started pressing against Cornelia's flesh.
Just as the deranged Hylian was about to put more pressure, however, he felt himself fall to the floor with a heavy shove from Matthew.
"Refrain from calling my sister a bitch, you dishonorable cur!" yelled Matthew.
Link stood up and faced Matthew.
"So you're in the club too, eh?" asked Link. "Fine. That just marks you for death."
Matthew knew he had no time to answer questions, so he jumped out of the way as Link slashed at Matthew as he turned to run to the other side of the room to find something to defend himself with.
However, at that particular moment Matthew was not Link's target. Cornelia knew she was in danger, and so she ran from her spot. However, before she could get far, she felt herself being seized by the deranged hero as he pulled out a knife from his boot.
Cornelia let out a final scream as the iron plunged into her throat. This sent her plummeting to the floor as Matthew turned just in time to witness Link injure his sister.
"No!" yelled Matthew as he stopped searching for something and ran to Cornelia as the blood ran down her throat.
By the time he had reached her, however, it was too late. Matthew looked into her eyes to find that Cornelia Hand had been killed by Link.
"No…" said Matthew, a tear gracefully traveling down the normally stoic man's face.
"Hmph," said Link. "Wimp."
This prompted Matthew to anger, over the insult and Cornelia. Thus, he found the strength to stand up and shove the man as quickly as possible.
"Fuck you!" yelled Matthew, summoning the worst language he could possible think of. "Fuck you, you goddamn asshole!"
He was about to kick Link in the crotch when Link did that to Matthew. The head of the tournament howled in pain as he brought his hands protectively over his area. Link took this time to kick the man in his side, which sent Matthew falling to the floor.
"Actually, I would say you're the asshole," said Link. "I'm better than you and there's nothing you can do about it."
"You are not…" said Matthew weakly. "At least I don't kill women the way you just did…"
"Screw that," said Link. "All I have to say is that she did things to me and I can get away with it. How does 'attacked me with a frying pan' sound to you?"
Matthew grunted as he turned to face the hero.
"You fucking asshole," said the head of the tournament angrily.
Matthew had by then recovered it, but he had faked being weak so that he could get an opening into the crotch.
The hero knew faking from real pain, though, so he craftily sidestepped it.
"I knew you faked it," said Link.
Matthew stood up.
"Shut up!" said Matthew. "I will not rest until justice is bestowed upon you!"
With this, Matthew lunged at Link and came into a wrestling hold, Link's sword pointed away from him as Matthew leaned into the hold. Link kicked Matthew in the shin, but he still held the hold. After kicking the other shin and getting the same response, Link kicked both shins hard by jumping, which then sent Matthew plummeting to the floor knee-first.
As Link was about to stab him, though, Matthew rolled out of the way and kicked the hero's legs from under him so that Link fell to the floor. The head of the tournament took this time to run to the cabinet he had been searching to find something to defend himself with. Link stood up quickly and followed in hot pursuit, and when he got close to Matthew, he pulled him to the floor so that he ended up on the other side of the room.
The former hand attempted to stand up, but his head collided with a medicine cabinet that sent him back down to the ground.
"Hmph," said Link as he approached. "You were weaker than I thought."
"Yes, but unlike you I only attack when I am forced to!" shouted Matthew. "You just go killing whoever the fuck you want simply for your pleasure!"
"Pleasure?" asked Link. "I don't think so. After all, I do need to get rid of a scumbag in this mansion."
Link drew the same dagger that had killed Cornelia and raised it into the air.
"And if I have to kill anybody who gets in my way, so be it."
Just as the knife was about to sail into Matthew's side, however, Link was shoved. The delirious Hylian turned and wasted no time in stabbing the individual in the stomach.
It had all gone by so quickly that Link remained perfectly still when both he and Matthew found Link's knife was embedded in Luigi's stomach.
"No!" yelled Matthew. "Luigi!"
Around this time, Ganondorf was briefly visible in the doorway that Link had entered through; however, this brief time was enough for Link to see the king.
"There he is!" yelled Link.
The Hero of Time drew the knife out of Luigi and was about to leave when he passed a cabinet that contained the items that Matthew was looking through. He grabbed the Browning 9 millimeter that lay on the floor of the cabinet and ran after Ganondorf.
Luigi fell to the ground on Matthew's lap.
"Luigi!" said Matthew as he took Luigi's head in his arms.
"Mario…" said Luigi in a barely discernible murmur.
"Mario?" asked Matthew. "What happened?"
"Why…?"
After saying this, the Italian plumber fell limp in Matthew's grip.
"Luigi?" asked Matthew softly.
No response came from the plumber.
"No…"
A tear found its way down Matthew's cheek, and many more followed as he let out a yell and brought Luigi's now lifeless face to his chest.
Ganondorf ran as quickly as he could. He knew that if he hoped to live, he had to dodge the hero's assault as best as possible. He had the feeling Link had found him again, but Ganondorf did not want to make false assumptions since he knew that if he assumed anything it would cost him his life.
A gunshot sounded from behind the king, and Ganondorf heard a bullet whiz by his ear.
Damn, thought Ganondorf. He found me.
Ganondorf ran down the length of the hallway back into the meeting room. The king ran as a second gunshot rang out.
He barely noticed the small crowd that had gathered around in a certain part of the room; Ganondorf simply kept going. The eyes followed him as he ran by, and then they followed Link.
Ganondorf ran to the right into the mess hall, hoping to lose Link in the kitchen. The door was still open from when he talked with Marth earlier, and thus he ran through the door, a hand going out to close it behind him to buy him time to evade the hero.
Ganondorf jumped over the food counter and had just entered the kitchen when Link kicked the door down. The hero knew that there was only one place to enter other than the garden; given the fact that the thunderstorm had intensified over the past hour, Link knew that the garden was the last place the Gerudo king would expect to find refuge. Thus, he leapt over the food counter and had followed Ganondorf into the kitchen.
The kitchen was very dark when Link entered it, and he could not see any movement from what little light there was. This meant that the Gerudo must have gotten away through the door at the other end that led into the regular hallway. Link wasted no time in running outside.
However, Ganondorf had been hiding behind a stove in the kitchen. When Link left, he emerged and stealthily walked back towards the mess hall. However, as he walked, his arm bumped into a kitchen utensil that was subsequently sent to the floor along with a bunch of salad bowls. The clatter that followed gave the king away, so he ran out the door to the mess hall and out into the hallway.
After entering the hallway, though, a gunshot was heard and a bullet barely grazed Ganondorf's forehead. The king knew that his paranoia had worked against him, so he ran as quickly as he could across the hall by the match lounge so that he could access the stairway to the dorm hall.
Ganondorf pounded his way up the stairs, and two gunshots that were aimed at Ganondorf missed the king greatly as Link began to close the distance between them. When the top of the stairs was reached, Ganondorf opened the door and ran in as quickly as he could across the hallway. He briefly spotted Marth panting against the wall.
"Marth!" yelled Ganondorf as he ran towards him. "Come on!"
"No," said Marth. "He is after you! You need to keep running!"
"But Marth, you could be caught in the crossfire!" said Ganondorf.
The king's mistake came here, for as he approached Marth he stopped and offered a hand to the prince. The prince refused to take it physically urging Ganondorf to move.
Link took advantage of the opportunity, and while Ganondorf beckoned to Marth a gunshot sounded.
Ganondorf grabbed his leg, yelling in pain as the blood started to flow.
"Ganondorf!" yelled Marth.
Two more gunshots followed, and then Link had run out of ammunition.
The first shot hit the right side of Ganondorf's abdomen.
The second shot nailed Ganondorf in the stomach.
For Marth, time slowed down as he saw the mighty Gerudo king fall onto his back, arms flying wildly in the air as they failed to find a foothold.
"No!" yelled Marth as Ganondorf fell back.
The exiled prince jumped as Ganondorf fell back. He caught Ganondorf's head and the upper part of his torso and barely hoisted him off of the ground.
"Oh no…" said Marth.
Ganondorf's breathing became difficult as he opened his eyes to find Marth above him.
"Marth…" said Ganondorf.
"You… you fool…" said Marth. "You should have kept running!"
"No," said Ganondorf. "I…"
Here, Ganondorf began to have more difficulty breathing than he already was.
"I… I would not want… you to get… hurt…" said Ganondorf between gasps of air.
"Damn it!" said Marth. "If you were so concerned about me, why didn't you keep running?"
"Because… I… I… l…"
Ganondorf did not finish his sentence as the furrows of unconsciousness overtook him and his eyes closed.
"No!" said Marth.
Marth looked up to see if anybody was there. Upon seeing only Link with an expectant expression, the prince of Altea panicked.
"Doctor!" yelled the prince as loudly as he could. "Doctor! We have an injury! Ganondorf is wounded!"
"No," said Link, a triumphant smirk crawling on his face. "He's not wounded. He's dead."
The Altean prince refused to believe him.
"He is not dead," said Marth. "I refuse to believe it!"
"You only wish it was so in your dreams, my lad," said Link.
Link dropped the pistol he had held for the past several minutes and held his hands up.
"And now I am immortal!" yelled Link. "Nothing can stop me! I shall become known as a man who rid the world of evil!"
"Get him!"
This yell caught the hero off guard, but before he could do anything a swarm of policemen came from behind him. Four of them grabbed his arms, and while Link thrashed as if the world was about to end, Link was caught.
Suddenly Matthew appeared at the stairwell, cheeks red with the residue of tears and eyes squinting in a combination of sorrow and hatred.
"Take him away!" yelled the master of the tournament. "Take the mother fucking bastard away!"
"Damn you!" yelled Link at Matthew as the former was dragged by the policemen down the stairs. Link repeated the phrase multiple times so that it finally lingered when the hero had been shoved into the car and escorted straight to the jailhouse.
Marth knelt there as the medics came and surrounded him. He was oblivious to the medics taking Ganondorf out of his reach until one of them had walked over him in the rush to get the injured king to safety. When this happened, Marth reached out towards Ganondorf's body as it was being hauled by the medics. As the medics disappeared behind the door to the stairs, the Altean prince lowered his arms slowly.
At this point, the Altean prince had lost it; seeing a man usually so strong in character and person being brought down by a coward like Link who was just trying to garner more attention for himself was too much for Marth to handle.
Subsequently, the Altean prince broke down and cried loudly in the middle of the dorm hall with only Matthew to see him do it.
A/N: And thus ends Part 1. Yes, I know that cliffhangers are evil.
Tell it to the plot bunnies.
Anyways, I'll be working on Part 2 soon, but don't expect it this week. Since Part 1 just ended I want a time frame for the ending of Part 1 to settle in before I start writing out Part 2, and stuff.
And after that, there's nothing more to do other than to sit and wait for the next part to begin.
See you guys soon!