The tunnels were darker than he remembered them, and the small flashlight he brought with him didn't do much to help. But Link was too busy counting his steps for the darkness to matter much. All that mattered was keeping track of the distance he traveled and taking the turns where he remembered them to be, in the exact locations they were at in the passageways, which meant for accurate counting.

The first intersection came up quickly and he took the tunnel to his left. His boots splashed along the wet, stone path, and echoed eerily off the tunnel walls. He started counting once more as he moved through, pausing when he reached the spot where his next turn should be.

Unlike the last turn he made, there was no intersection here. No door or entry way marked the next turn he had to make. He let his hands run against the wall to his right, feeling every crack and space between the stones until he found the weak spot he was looking for. He pushed against it carefully and the wall gave way and turned inward slowly. Link stepped through the false wall and let it close behind him.

He moved his light to the left and right, checking the next corridor he found himself in. The path split into three directions, but Link knew that following it straight would only lead around a series of corners and eventually a dead end. He turned right and proceeded onward, following the tunnel as it turned this way and that, still counting his steps. He continued straight through, ignoring the opening to his left, and the tunnel curved around to the right, bringing him to a section where he could only go left or right. But upon further inspection with his flashlight, the path to the left ended in abruptly, and Link took that path, stopping at the wall that marked the dead end. He pressed against the wall and it gave way, allowing him entry into the next corridor.

Link continued straight onward, counting his steps every time, until he reached another intersection. This intersection, however, split into seven other corridors, each stretching away from the center of the room in dark, seemingly endless passageways. Link stepped into the room towards the middle and got down on his hands and knees. He let his hand pass over the stone floor, feeling for the hidden edges of the trap door below and lifted it up. He ducked low as he moved down the stone steps and the trap door fell into place behind him.

The trap door marked roughly the halfway point of the old, hidden tunnels, and Link continued on in this manner. He counted his steps, took the appropriates turns, and counted some more as he navigated the twisting maze below the palace. After what felt like hours more of walking, Link finally found the stone steps that climbed out of the hidden tunnels, almost two stories up, and he emerged through another trap door and into a dimly lit room. He was in the basement of the palace, though still a fairly hidden room. Another false wall would have brought him into the newer part of the palace where the basement was large and finished with various rooms used for storage and other purposes. That was his next destination, but something felt off in the room he was in.

He was familiar with the old room, and though there were a few corridors that moved off the room, none of them lead anywhere in particular, and some just looped back around to the main room. Yet, he felt a light, strange breeze, a change in air pressure, and it didn't come from the false wall to his right.

He moved about the room, peering down corridors, following the draft in hopes of finding the source. He headed down the corridor that looped back around to the main room, pausing about a third of the way down. He let his hands run along the left side of the wall, finding another false wall that he hadn't noticed before, and pushed himself through it.

He was brought into another large room shrouded in almost complete darkness. Old, dusty bulbs high on the ceiling were all the light offered to Link, guiding him through the room and down the long, cold corridors. Running along each side of the corridor were old, rusted bars that marked off even older cells, suggesting that he were in some sort of dungeon. The atmosphere was so medieval, it was likely that this dungeon of sorts had existed for thousands of years. The thought sent a chill up Link's spine.

He followed the corridors along curiously, peering into a few of the cells, but they all remained empty. He rounded the next corner, the corridor even darker with no source of light to guide the way. He was just able to make out the shapes of the cells, locked by the old, rusted bars. He held his breath, listening. He was not alone in the dungeon. There was a slight scuffle against the stone floor and a light sob and his heart raced.

"Zelda?"

He froze as the shuffling increased almost excitedly.

"Link!"

He dashed towards the voice, his boots sliding on the stone floor as he came to a stop in front of one of the cells. He fell to his knees and reached his arms through the bars, his hands searching for Zelda's. She pressed herself against the bars, her cold hands against Link's cheeks. Link held her hands against him, pressing them against his cheeks.

"You're alive," she sobbed. "You're here. You came. You found me."

"Hey, I promised you I would, didn't I?"

"When… I… How?"

"Don't worry about it," he said quickly. He tried his best to see her through the darkness, but she was just a shadowy shape. "Are you okay? I'll get you out of here. What happened?"

"Ganon," she said breathlessly. "He can't… he can't touch me. I was able to keep him within the palace, but he couldn't touch me. I don't understand it, Link. He threw me down here. All he could do is wait for me to die. Wait for the seal to break." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "I don't even know how long I've been down here. I don't know how much time has passed."

Link reached through the bars and let his fingers brush against her cheek. Her face was just as cold as her hands. Her features seemed sharp, jagged, boney. Frail. She was weak and frail. "We're getting out of here," he said fiercely.

"Not until we stop Ganon once and for all," Zelda said. "I can help you."

"Don't be stupid," Link said, his voice hardening. "I'm getting you to a hospital."

Zelda took his hands in hers, though her grip was weak. "We're finishing this, Link. Please don't argue with me."

Link sighed and looked around. There had to be some way he could get Zelda out of the cell. He turned back to her as her hands found his face once more.

"Although," she said softly. "I could very well just be hallucinating." A peaceful smile spread across her face in the dim light. "Perhaps this is death. I could accept that."

"Stop it," Link hissed. "You're not dying." He let his forehead rest against the bars, and Zelda did the same.

"I thought you were gone," she sobbed softly.

Link pulled away and got to his feet. "Get out of the way." He studied the bars. They seemed weak enough.

He pulled his gun out of the holster and quickly secured the silencer, then aimed it at the rusted lock. He fired twice, and the old lock fell apart. He pocketed the gun, then worked quickly to move the latch. The door swung open with a groan and Zelda flew through, throwing herself into Link's arms. Link wrapped his arms around her tightly, cursing himself silently for ever forgetting her. He pressed his face against hers.

"Come on," he finally muttered, barely finding the will to pull himself away from her. They couldn't stay there too much longer. "We've got a job to finish." His hand found hers and he pulled her through the dungeon, back out into the main room and followed the path up into the finished portion of the palace.

It was much warmer inside the palace, though still dimly lit, but it was enough for Link to navigate. He and Zelda moved quickly and wordlessly through the basement until they reached the steps that ascended up into the main floor of the palace. They emerged through the door into a storage room. Crates lined the walls, some empty, while others were filled with various cans, boxes, and packages of baking goods.

They hurried across the small room, moving through the door on the other side which brought them into the large kitchen area. Except for dust that had started to collect, the room was clean and untouched. Stoves lined the far wall and a long counter ran through the middle of the room. Oversized refrigerators and large ice boxes lined the wall to the left and various tools and accessories were scattered over the counters, as if the cooks had been in the middle of preparing a large meal before the assault on the palace.

Two oversized pairs of doubled doors were against the far wall on either end of the kitchen. Link and Zelda moved quickly through the kitchen and out on set of doors which brought them into a hallway that stretched away to their right. Just across was another set of oversized, double doors that had been propped open at some point. Moving through the doors brought them into a very large, elegant dining room. The table was still set with crystal place settings and fancy napkins. On each end of the table were large, unlit candles, and an expensive chandelier hung over the table exactly in the middle of the room.

Link and Zelda moved down the hallway, following it as it turned to the left and opened up into the large, central room of the palace. The ceiling was nearly two stories high with windows to their right that stretched from floor to ceiling, letting in the warm light of the sun that pooled across the marble floor. Between the windows and around the room hung large banners that displayed the royal family's crest and the emblem of Hylia and the Triforce. A wide set of steps stretched from wall to wall, splitting the room into a lower level that lead towards the windows, a large set of doors between them and leading outside. To their left and against either wall were two more staircases that curved around and met the ledge in the middle. The ledge jutted out into the room with elegant railings around its edges. Long corridors stretched on either side, moving around the corners of the staircases and further into the palace, leading to the second floor.

And there, standing tall on the central ledge, was Ganon.