A/N: Hi, everyone! I definitely did not mean to go a whole month without updating. School got crazy, I had some adult responsibilities to tend to, and a few parts of this chapter gave me fits when it came to writing it. Anyway, sorry to keep you hanging.
THIRTY-FIVE
Ketura pushed herself up, swayed and wobbled, and clasped her hand to her forehead. Her body felt like a mass of exhaustion and aching stabbing pains that all begged to be relieved, even while facing the prospect that relief would never come. She kept her head bowed, took a couple of deep breaths, and cast her eyes as far down as they would go when she caught a mess of green and red in her peripheral vision. It's one of Zant's tricks, she told herself. That wasn't her father's body leaking blood all over the roof of Hyrule Castle. No- he was somewhere else, alive and whole. He had to be.
She didn't let herself believe that lie for very long.
When she looked up, ahead of her she saw Ganondorf and Zant throwing blows at one another, casting powerful bursts of magic that exploded in every direction around them but never hitting their intended targets as each of them masterfully evaded or deflected their opponent's attacks. Ganondorf swung his arm forward and shot a blast of Din's Fire at Zant; in response, Zant turned on the spot and disappeared, reappearing several yards away from where he previously stood. When Ganondorf charged forward to re-engage his opponent, Ketura noticed that Midna still hung suspended in the air, arms frozen over her head.
She walked carefully over to Midna. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.
"They're trying to kill each other," said Midna shortly.
"Okay," murmured Ketura as she glanced past Midna towards the fight. One of Zant's attacks hit Ganondorf in the shoulder, making him stumble back a couple of steps, and she wondered if he would need her help. How much help she could be was a wholly different matter, of course.
"And I say let them. We need to go."
"Yeah, but I need to figure out a way to free you first," Ketura said. She reached her hands up and slowly moved her fingers towards Midna's wrists. No forcefield or magic inhibited her as she gently took hold and tried to move Midna's hands, but they did not budge.
"That's not going to work," said Midna as she studied Ketura's face. "Oh, you look like a mess. I shouldn't have brought you here."
"I'd have come anyway," Ketura replied.
"I know … you're a noble idiot, just like him."
Midna's words were like a stab in the heart. Ketura bit her lip, pulled her hands back to her, and tried to let her mind race with ideas until she realized she had none. She couldn't think of a spell she knew that would help; there had to be one, but it didn't come to mind. Instead, her mind filled with panicked thoughts about how doomed she and Midna were. Her breaths shortened and she was on the verge of hyperventilation, and her heart beat faster and harder as the reality crashed down that she was probably going to get Midna killed as well. An idiot, definitely, but there was nothing noble about anything she had done.
She jumped when she heard Zant shrieking. Looking towards Ganondorf and Zant, she saw that the former ducked down to evade the latter's blast of red magic. The spell zoomed through the air, over Ganondorf's head … and right at Ketura. Reflexively, she threw her own hand up to cast Nayru's Love around herself and Midna. Ketura briefly thought about deflecting the attack back at Zant, but decided against it once Ganondorf stood back up and lunged at his opponent. She let the attack hit her shield and explode, and she braced herself against the force of impact.
An idea suddenly came to her. It wasn't a particularly good one, she thought, but it was the only one she had.
"If he gets hit hard enough – or gets killed – do you think that would undo whatever he cast on you?" asked Ketura as she dropped her shield.
"It would," said Midna, "so how close is that to happening? Can you tell?"
The instant after Midna spoke, a loud BOOM sounded off. Ketura saw the collision red and purple light in between Ganondorf and Zant, which resulted in a massive explosion of light and smoke. The force of it threw both combatants back, leading them to skid and slide before stopping so they could regain their footing. Zelda's body, which lay nearby, was close enough to the explosion to be affected by its force; as a result, she slid and rolled away, down the slope of the castle's roof, until she finally tumbled off the edge and fell out of view.
"I can't tell, but- but I can help make it happen sooner."
"No. Don't you dare. Ketura-"
"I'm not ready to give up yet," she said as she walked past Midna. Zant hurled a volley of dark bolts at Ganondorf, who scrambled to evade each of them by jumping to the side. As she watched Zant, Ketura felt an intense pang in her gut, accompanied by trembling in her hands and the all-consuming thought of how much she wanted to see his body added to the pile of broken ones lying on the roof of Hyrule Castle.
"Ketura, come back! Please!" Midna cried.
Zant turned on the spot, disappeared, and reappeared right behind Ganondorf. Ketura noticed near instantly and wasted no time in thrusting her hand forward with all her might and shooting a red bolt at him. The bolt hit Zant in the shoulder, and he flinched back slightly as he let out a cry. Ganondorf whipped himself around and saw Zant, and proceeded to punch him hard in the stomach. Zant recoiled and doubled over, and Ganondorf's eyes found Ketura.
"Changed your mind?" she asked him.
"I did, yes," he replied.
Before Ketura could let out some choice words about how helpful it would have been if he arrived just a few minutes earlier, she caught sight of Zant turning and vanishing. She turned herself around in a tight circle to see if he had reappeared anywhere near her. No sign of him. She look around hastily, checking around and behind Ganondorf, preparing herself to see him appear at any moment. She also caught sight of Midna zooming up and away towards the Master Sword, and she let out a sigh of relief. The last couple of hits Zant sustained must have done the trick, she thought.
"Where did he go?" she muttered, feeling increasingly apprehensive.
"I wouldn't put it past him to lay low for a while, to confuse and surprise us," commented Ganondorf. "Just keep your guard up and be alert … how badly are you hurt?"
"Uh, well, I got hit in the head a time or two. Maybe three? I don't know. But I'm still standing."
"Remain standing then." Ganondorf took his turn to scan the area in search of Zant. "I have done a little to weaken him, and together we should be able to finish him. Your primary focus should be on our defenses. Let me handle the offense."
"Got it," she said compliantly as she positioned herself to stand directly on his left. Both of them began looking around their respective halves of the area; Ketura looked up and down, focusing, hoping to find Zant quickly. She caught sight of Midna up by the Master Sword, who pulled on its hilt with all her might as she tried to dislodge it from the wall of the tower.
Suddenly, she saw him. Zant stood atop one of the castle's towers, looking directly at her. He flung his arms forward and unleashed a spray of bright red bolts at her, and she raised Nayru's Love around herself and Ganondorf. Each bolt pummeled the shield, and for good measure she bounced the last one back the direction from which it came. However, Zant turned on the spot and vanished, causing the redirected attack to crash into the side of the tower. He reappeared shortly after disappearing, standing atop of another of the castle's towers. As Zant leaped from that tower to the next one in a mighty bound, Ketura tapped Ganondorf's arm (he had been facing the other way) and pointed to where Zant was. Ganondorf then hurled a crackling sphere of red light at Zant, while Ketura held her hands out in front of her slightly. Upon seeing the sphere flying towards him, Zant turned and vanished again. Ketura turned her back to Ganondorf and began scanning the rooftops of the towers again, thinking that she would forget about sticking to defenses and go ahead and attack if she saw him.
After half a minute of nothing happening, she quietly asked "you see him yet?"
Instead of hearing Ganondorf say "yes" or "no," she heard him go "Aagh!" She whipped her head around just in time to see him fall and slam into the roof with a significant thud, and Zant standing over him. Zant's right hand was closed in a fist and shrouded in a dark aura; the aura faded as he knelt beside the motionless Ganondorf and laid a slender finger against his neck.
"Not dead," he noted, "but he won't be able to help you anymore," he added with a laugh as he stood back up.
Ketura looked back at Zant with wide eyes, holding her breath, and feeling her stomach clench. How could she be so stupid, she asked herself. He had reappeared practically right next to her and she hadn't noticed. She took a couple of steps back, putting some space between herself and him, and made herself exhale. No matter how much she wished Ganondorf would immediately get back up, she knew it was unlikely he would.
Zant shot a green bolt of light at her, and she cast Nayru's Love again to protect herself and bounce the bolt back. Once the bolt ricocheted off the shield and flew at Zant, he jumped to the side to dodge it. Knowing she would have to conserve her energy, Ketura lowered her shield and took to evading the next round of magic attacks that Zant hurled at her, jumping side to side and ducking while clumsily moving herself in a circle around him in hopes of finding an opening to exploit. She managed to dodge all but the last two attacks; she tried redirecting a red sphere of light he shot at her to hit him, but he turned and vanished to avoid being hit. He reappeared just two feet away from her, and he thrust his hand forward to shoot a red sphere right into her side. She cried out in pain and doubled over, and it felt as if she had been stabbed in the side with a white-hot blade. Glancing down showed that she had begun bleeding where she had been hit, and the blood came from the same place where the jagged end of a rib protruded out of her skin and tunic. The surrounding area quickly saturated with red as blood poured out from the puncture.
"Are you ready to surrender now?" asked Zant.
Straightening her posture as much as she comfortably could, Ketura shook her head. "I'll never surrender to you," she spat.
"Tsk tsk, you delight in doing things the hard way, don't you?" Zant raised both arms above his head, looking up at them, and generated a large swirling black sphere. As he did, she kept moving herself backwards to get away from him, and considered a jump to her right as soon as the sphere came soaring towards her.
Something appeared in her peripheral vision, and she quickly glanced to it: Midna, holding the Master Sword, moving towards her as fast as she could. It was too easy; she could jump to the left instead of the right and get the sword from Midna, and Midna could help her finish the fight.
With an aggressive howl, Zant released the black sphere. Instead of aiming it at Ketura, he aimed it at Midna. Ketura had turned to her left as soon as she saw Zant launch his attack, but by the time she realized its true trajectory she didn't raise her hand to cast Nayru's Love fast enough. Midna saw it coming but she didn't stop or act in time. The sphere crashed into her, knocking her out of the air and onto the roof, and the Master Sword fell out of her hands. She screamed, and when she landed a loud crack rang out.
Zant cackled.
"No!" Ketura ran towards Midna, but Zant pummeled the patch of roof in between the two of them with a volley of small red blobs. Pieces of shingle broke off as shrapnel and flew into the air, and Ketura stopped abruptly so she could shoot a spray of Din's Fire at him. Zant sidestepped to evade the flames, and returned her attack with one of his own. When she saw him send a blast of bright orange flames at her, Ketura jumped forward, kept falling until she caught herself with her hands, and rolled over a couple of times until she stopped to raise Nayru's Love around herself. She held it for as long as Zant continued shooting attack after attack at her, and she did her best to ignore the pain in her side that had only been inflamed by her rolling and pushing her broken rib into the hard shingles and cold wet snow. She also took the time to glance around; Midna was not too far away, lying down and breathing heavily as her skin turned paler. Even closer to Ketura still was the Master Sword. Zant moved closer to her as he carried out his offensive; each attack he shot at her hit the same spot on her shield, and she could feel both it and her energy weaken.
The last shot, a red bolt, broke Nayru's Love, fracturing it into thousands of blue crystalline shards and sending them flying out from the point of impact. As her shield broke, Ketura wasted no time in lunging towards the Master Sword, bending down, and picking it up.
Zant held up an arm in preparation to attack again, but paused when he saw Ketura holding the Master Sword. She expected him to go on a rant, or say something cocky, or throw a tantrum – instead, he smirked. He then lowered his arm and thrust it out, releasing a blob of red as he did. Suddenly remembering something she had seen Link do the night he was captured, Ketura held the Master Sword up and waited for the blob to get just close enough … and then she swung. The sword's blade swiped across, connecting with the red blob, and then the blob immediately reversed course to fly back at Zant. When it got close to him, Zant swatted it away and back at Ketura. She hit it back, and then he hit it back, and she inadvertently took a step closer to him with each swing of the blade, and punctuated each of her hits with a grunt or cry as the motions she took provoked the pain in her side.
As she got closer to Zant, the red blob came back faster and faster. For a split second she worried that she wouldn't be fast enough, but just after the thought crossed her mind she swung her weapon and hit it back at him – only that time he wasn't fast enough. The blob hit Zant in the chest, causing him to stumble back and lose his footing temporarily. Seeing the stumble as her opportunity, Ketura charged. Zant saw her coming and held both arms out in preparation to attack again, but before he could do anything else she ran the Master Sword's blade through his stomach with all of her might. She let out an aggressive, pained cry that almost drowned out the sound of steel ripping through flesh. He shrieked in agony. Both of them were then silent.
Zant dropped his arms and stooped forward slightly. Ketura felt her heart race as she took in the sight of herself holding the hilt of a sword embedded in Zant's stomach, rapidly staining his midsection with dark thick blood. She still heard him breathe, so she pulled the blood-soaked blade out and then slashed him across the torso at a diagonal. He screamed again. She slashed him again, and he screamed again, and all she saw were faint flashes of silver steel and blood spraying out of the wounds she created. One for each of the five citizens of Castle Town whom he had turned into Shadow Beasts, one for Princess Zelda, one for Midna, one for Ganondorf-
He finally dropped to his knees, breath ragged, and head bowed until he looked up at Ketura. His bright, haunting orange eyes looked into hers, still burning with passion and hatred. He then opened his mouth, and let out a weak little laugh.
"Your father would be so proud of you," he said mockingly, finishing his sentence with another chuckle.
Ketura looked down at the Master Sword, and her hands and forearms, and the front of her tunic. The Master Sword was completely covered in his blood, and on her body his blood had intermingled with her own. She swallowed, tightened her grip on the hilt, and looked Zant dead in the eye.
"This one's for him." Ketura swung the sword up to her shoulder, then back down and across so that it deeply cut the front of Zant's throat, leaving behind a wide, deep gash. Blood poured out of it like a waterfall. He let out a few gags and retches, and then he stopped breathing. His eyes glazed over and lost focus. His body crumpled, unceremoniously hitting the roof.
She stood in place, looking down at him, waiting to see if he would get up. He didn't. Perhaps he was really dead, and he had finally gotten the violent end he deserved for causing harm to so many people. For a moment she considered cutting his body into pieces, as a means of ensuring he didn't come back, but she decided on a better way to fully dispose of his remains. Using the last of her magical energy, she cast Din's Fire at him, and watched as the fire caught onto his back and rapidly spread to consume the rest of him.
Ketura stepped back, putting some distance between herself and the intense heat the fire gave off, and she watched Zant's body burn for a few seconds. Engulfed by the bright hot flames, he shrunk and withered and turned black with ash and char. There would be no coming back from that, she told herself. Gone for good, never to torment her or anyone she cared about ever again. Her mind replayed a single thought: he's gone, it's over.
A soft, tired moan caught her attention. She turned to the source of the noise: Midna, who lay on her side, with her eyes halfway shut and her small body struggling to breathe. Ketura broke away from the fire, sheathed the Master Sword, ran over to Midna, and dropped down by her side.
"Oh, Midna," she said, scooping Midna up into her arms and cradling her like a baby.
"Ketura," said Midna weakly. Her skin had turned a pale, sickly shade of gray.
"Shh, you're hurt. I- I have a Red Potion in my bag- I'll get it for you-"
"No," Midna interrupted. "No you use it. You look awful."
"But you'll die," Ketura protested. She thought of the force with which Zant had hit Midna and thrown her into the roof, and was amazed that the impact hadn't killed her immediately.
Midna's head bobbed forward slightly, as if she were trying to nod. "Link would want you to have it," she breathed.
Ketura bit her lip, thinking about how her father lay only yards away from her, and nodded.
"I have enough left … to help you … one last time," Midna continued. She held up a hand, wiggled her fingers, and a small blue crystal materialized in the air above her hand. "This will … take you back to Telma's. Bury him … live your life … learn to make better choices."
"I will, I promise," said Ketura. Her eyes flickered from the fire that consumed Zant, over to the unconscious Ganondorf, and then back down to Midna.
"He loved you so much, your dad … and I'm fond of you. Make us both proud, all right?"
"No, please don't- Midna- not you too-"
Midna strained to inhale, gasping for air as her body seized up. Once she had succeeded, her eyes relaxed, and she looked right up at Ketura. "Ketura … see you later …." She exhaled with a quiet sigh, and her eyes closed gently. Then, she was still.
All Ketura could do was gaze at Midna, processing what she had witnessed, again having difficulty accepting it. The roars of the flames filled her ears. Her side still hurt where her broken rib had poked through her skin. She smoothed her hand over Midna's hair; once orange and near fluorescent, it was now white and subdued. Midna looked like she was sleeping peacefully, not in any pain.
Small black particles emerged from Midna's skin and floated up into the air. More and more particles appeared and rose up, and as they did Midna's body dematerialized as it would during teleportation, until she was completely gone. Ketura was left there, kneeling, and transitioned from cradling the air to holding the small crystal Midna left behind tight in her hand. In that moment the world was still, oddly peaceful, and empty.
She glanced over her shoulder, saw that the fire still burned, and found Ganondorf again. She pushed herself to her feet, wobbled, and made her way over to Ganondorf. Gently placing her fingers on a vein in his neck allowed her to feel a pulse, and she sighed in both relief and pain. Although she would not let herself just leave him, she also knew she couldn't take both him and her father away with her. At least she ought to stay until he woke up, she thought.
From there, Ketura pushed herself up and looked around until she located her bag, which lay just inches from Link. A lump formed in her throat as she walked to her bag. Inside it, she found her Red Potion, and she drank it slowly. She groaned as she relived the pains of her blows to the head, the scrapes in her knee and hands, the fracture in her cheekbone, and her broken rib. She was soon completely healed, but the holes in her clothing and the blood splattered on her remained behind.
She let out a tired sigh, and then her eyes found Link. He lay where he had been dropped, his body still adorned with bruises and wounds inflicted upon him. Ketura knelt beside him and reached out a hand to his face. His skin was pale and cold as ice, a drastic difference from the warmth he once exuded.
"Dad …." What was the point, she asked herself. What was the point of coming to Hyrule Castle to save him, if she didn't save him? What was the point if he and Midna had died?
She brushed stray locks of hair out of his face. His eyes were closed, and she would never see the blue that matched hers again. His mouth, which once smiled, which he once used to tell her that he loved her, was now a stern closed line. It would never smile again. She would never hear his voice again.
After fifteen years of him being away, she got him back. And he was again gone, never to return. Knowing that hurt more than any injury Zant had inflicted upon her.
Ketura lost track of time as she gazed down at Link, gently stroking his hair, willing herself to think of him when he was alive and safe. She jumped when she heard someone shout "No!" Looking up, she saw Impa standing at the edge of the roof, with Colin and Talo climbing up behind her. Impa dashed over to Ketura and knelt by Link with her.
"LINK!" Talo cried out as he joined Impa and Ketura by Link's side. Colin stood frozen in place.
"What happened?" Impa asked, wearing her shock on her face. "I- we- Zelda- we saw Zelda fall, and- Zant?"
"He's on fire," said Ketura flatly.
Impa looked past Ketura; her expression changed from surprise to confusion. "Ganondorf?"
Ketura weakly shrugged her shoulders.
"Hmm … Midna?"
Ketura shook her head. "She's … gone. Dead, and her body just ... vanished."
Impa sighed.
"She left me this, she told me it'd take us back to Telma's," said Ketura as she showed Impa the crystal in her hand. "Where's everyone else?"
"Still hiding in the castle. I'll go to them, and you take him back." Impa said somberly.
"But Impa, what about-" Ketura began, nodding her head towards Ganondorf.
"No, you need to be somewhere safe right now." Impa patted Ketura on the shoulder and stood up to rejoin Colin. Talo stayed with her and Link, and tears fell from his eyes. Colin and Impa gave Ketura one last sorrowful look before lowering themselves over the edge of the roof to climb back down.
"I can't- oh- Link," Talo said shakily as he placed his hands on Link's chest. "He was supposed to be invincible."
Ketura sighed, and then she used her thumb to rub the crystal, thinking about Telma's flat. She, Link, and Talo were soon surrounded by black particles. As her body slowly floated up to teleport, she caught a glimpse of Ganondorf, who was pushing himself up to sit.
He did not expect the first thing he saw to be Ketura teleporting away, but that was still what he saw when he came to and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Except for fire that released thick smoke and the stench of burning flesh, Ganondorf realized he was alone. Zelda's body had been thrown from the roof during the battle, and Link's body was gone as well; he assumed Ketura took it with her. He was almost angry with her for leaving him, but she had left by Twili teleportation magic. It must have been Midna, for he saw no sign of her anywhere ….
His head swam, and his sternum ached from where Zant had struck him. He slowly remembered what had happened before being knocked out ….
Once again, things had worked out almost perfectly for him. It was the almost that was the most irksome. Zelda had died prematurely; Ketura had mentioned something about the Princess being married, but she did not mention of Zelda had any other family members or even any children with her husband. If history had been any indication, the Triforce of Wisdom stayed within Hyrule's Royal Family, and if there was nobody else … or maybe he would just have to watch closely, to see who would step up and claim the throne.
Ganondorf stood up and walked over to the fire and watched it burn. By process of elimination, he assumed that the ashen heap surrounded by the flames had once been Zant. Never had he imagined that some insignificant Twili with delusions of grandeur would cause such a headache, and yet that was exactly what Zant did. It was, to him, as if Zant tried too hard to become like the false god he so devoted himself to.
Satisfied, he smirked. Ketura had done well then, as he assumed she was the one to finish Zant. Although he wished he had been the one to deliver the final blows himself, he was still pleased by the thought that the one he trained had done it.
Yet his primary hope for her would not come to pass after all. Finding the new possessor of the Triforce of Courage would be much harder than the Triforce of Wisdom. Was it a matter of her character that prevented her from receiving it, he wondered, or was it something else? Regardless, he couldn't justify abandoning her, especially as he stood before the last person he abandoned. No – perhaps she had extended family somewhere in Hyrule, or she knew any other people in the rebellion or in Castle Town who were exceptionally courageous. She could still be of use to him. At the very least, she had earned the right to be rewarded, to delight in victory with him when the time came. Her father had died, and once she had finished grieving, maybe she would be ready to return to him. Impa and the others would not be able to keep her away from him forever. She belonged at his side, and he belonged at hers.
The Goddesses made a mistake, he thought sourly. Nobody deserved the Triforce of Courage more than Ketura Lykos.
The flames that consumed Zant gradually died down, leaving behind a pile of black ash and a radius of wet shingles from where snow had melted. Something golden and bright rose from the ash, glowing brilliantly with a divine light. The light concentrated into the shape of a triangle, with red and gold auras pulsing outward from its center. He looked upon it in awe, and as if he was seeing an old friend after a long time apart. He briefly questioned if it was rightly his in the first place, since he was not the one to vanquish its previous holder, and then he reminded himself how it was stolen in the first place and thus the rightful ownership had never changed. He held out his hand and pressed it against the golden triangle. It instantly vanished, shrinking in on itself.
Ganondorf's right hand glowed golden for a few seconds, and then the crest of the Triforce appeared on the back of his right hand, with the topmost triangle of the crest glowing the brightest.
Utterly delighted, he laughed. The Triforce of Power was his once more.