Malice

By: dontwaitupxx


Chapter Twenty-Two


For the briefest of seconds, courage evaded him. Link had every intention of running, of grabbing Zelda's hand and making it for the Dueling Peaks, to Kakariko Village, to anywhere else. He had every intention of fleeing, of choosing her life over the lives of everyone else in Hyrule, because there was not a life worth living if she was not there with him.

The last time he had made this very same decision, the circumstances were similar – one hundred years prior, as they had stood in the center of Castle Town, by the fountain in the square. As Calamity Ganon had risen from Hyrule Castle once again, the pig demon had roared, trembling against the very foundations of the town and shaking Link to the bone. Before he had even known what he was doing, Zelda's hand was clasped in his – his grip like iron – and they were running and running and running. The memories all came rushing back to him as he locked eyes with Ganon from across the Hyrule Fields, as he stood grinning at them.

Now, her hand was placed in his again, except this time, Zelda gave it a little squeeze: a firm reassurance. That was all that he needed for him to muster up his courage once again. This time, things were different. This time, they were not vastly unprepared, with little understanding of the ancient Sheikah technology, and undiscovered sacred powers. This time, all of that was stripped down, and there was just Link, and just Zelda, and just Ganon: the way it had always been intended.

But of course, Ganon had a few tricks up his sleeve.

They were still far, far away from where Ganon stood, just outside of Castle Town on the Sacred Grounds, the ancient Zonai city and Hyrule Castle looming. Yet still, they could see him so clearly, see his movements so vividly, and thus they saw as Ganon moved his right arm up. With a flick of his wrist, malice spewed from his hand, and enveloped the field before them. The malice began to take shape, oozing and curdling beneath his will, as the faint outlines of his minions materialized.

Bokoblins of different colors and sizes awoke with a snarl-like cry that would have awakened even the deepest of slumbers on the other side of the Dueling Peaks. There must have been hundreds of them, all summoned and materialized with just the flick of his wrist. The Zonai warriors had said that he was still much weaker than he had been ten thousand years ago. Somehow, that didn't seem possible. Ganon's laughter reverberated deeply over the shrill screeching of his monsters, and with a snap of his fingers, the Bokoblins heads all snapped with a sickening crunch towards Link and Zelda: their black, beady eyes empty and ravenous for blood.

The Bokoblins ran towards the hero and the princess like a stampede: running over their brothers and comrades if they were too slow, embracing chaos as their main form of power. Link held his right arm out, his magic glowing brilliantly, with the Master Sword down by his side in his left hand – just in case. Zelda similarly, held her Sheikah bow taut with a bomb arrow nocked.

"Hold your fire," Link breathed, glancing tentatively at Zelda, "On my mark."

She nodded, never once breaking eye contact with the hordes of Bokoblins. The two held still, as the Bokoblins approached closer and closer to them. The silver Bokoblins were naturally faster than the red ones, and thus they were leading the way, their pitch-black swords raised high in the air, treacherous and deceitful.

By now, there were only about one hundred meters between the two of them and the first silver Bokoblin leading the pack. Their cries were deafening now, shrill enough that Zelda thought it could make her ears bleed. She held her bow tightly, aiming her bow directly at the forehead of the first salivating Bokoblin. She spared a glance towards Link, who in response took a step forward.

"Now!"

Zelda let her arrow fly, and heard with a resonating ping as the arrow struck home on the silver Bokoblin, setting him alight in fire and throwing him backwards into his comrades. Link splayed his fingers outwards, and in a swish of his arm, sent the entire army of Bokoblins flying back across the Hyrule Fields, where Ganon still stood, still grinning. Link closed his fist, and instantly, the fire on that very first Bokoblin spread outwards, alighting the hoard in a ring of fire, as they all flew back, back, back. The flames caught on the Hyrule Fields, creating a great inferno with an updraft that would have put Revali to shame.

The Bokoblins all vanished in a cloud of smoke, dissipating through the updraft, until they disappeared all together.

Ganon, however, was only just getting started.

His fingers twirled, like a tornado, and from the fire and the smoke, raised monsters that most closely resembled Moblins, except these monsters were on fire, the flames dancing off them in a malicious jig. These monsters did not approach. They stood their ground, the fire expanding and growing in the palms of their hands. Link and Zelda only had a split second to look at each other in realization before they both took off running.

Not a second later, the ground from which they had once stood erupted in flames, the inferno flying high like a malicious flag over the fields.

Link held his arm out and tried to push the Moblins back – however, it seemed fruitless. There was nothing solid to push back on.

"Zelda," Link gasped, as they ran, narrowly avoiding the flames igniting their path, "I can't push them back!"

Zelda looked out across the fields, switching her fire arrows to ice arrows, "That's because they're made purely of fire! We've got to fight fire with ice!"

Link sheathed the Master Sword and pulled out his bow, nocking an ice arrow and letting them fly. The fire Moblins were extinguished upon contact, nothing remaining, except the small fires in their wake on the Hyrule Fields.

However, there were still so many of them, and only two of them. Link wasn't sure how long it would take for them to take them all down while constantly avoiding their balls of fire. It was much more likely that they were to vastly outnumbered and overwhelmingly outmatched. Not to mention, he did not think he had enough ice arrows for all of them.

However, he wouldn't end up needing them.

From the east, there was a cry, as nearly fifty ice arrows flew true, striking every last fire Moblin down where they stood. Zelda gasped, as she saw figures approach from the Hylia River. It was the Zora, with the once young Prince Sidon, now fully grown, leading the assault.

"Sidon!" Link said, as the Zora approached, "What are you doing here? Did Impa call upon you for reinforcements?"

"Lady Impa?" Prince Sidon asked, "From Kakariko? Goodness, no. We came of our own accord. We saw as all of Hyrule turned red, and came to investigate. Currently, all of Zora's Domain is tainted red. We made haste along the Zora River, and cut through the Lanayru Wetlands when we saw the battle going on here," Prince Sidon then turned towards Zelda, "Your majesty – it is truly an honor to see you once more!"

"Likewise," Zelda said, before pulling her bow as Ganon moved to flick his wrist once more, "However, perhaps we will have the time to chat and catch up once all of this is said and done?"

"Yes, of course," Prince Sidon said, now all business, "How can we assist?"

Link pointed up towards the castle, where Ganon was still grinning, twirling balls of malice between his fingers, "That's him. That's Ganon. He's calling up his minions to fight for him. We need to fight through his monsters, so that way Zelda and I have a clear path to him."

Prince Sidon flashed a brilliant smile, slamming his spear down into the ground twice, "You can count on the Zora to aid you once more! We will annihilate him!" Then, he turned towards his army, "For Mipha!"

"For Mipha!" The Zora army roared, raising their spears and bows high in the air.

Suddenly, the smile on Ganon's face vanished, and before him, was an army of Lizalfos, armed with sharpened spears and shock arrows. Amongst them were red mane Lynels, clear carbon copies of the one that had terrorized the Zora on Shatterback Point. The fear was evident on Prince Sidon's face immediately, however, he hid behind it with a battle cry, as he and the rest of the Zora charged into battle.

Link and Zelda ran in as well, loading up their bows with bomb arrows, ice arrows, fire arrows – whatever they still had left. Link ran towards a flaming patch of grass and threw open his paraglider, soaring high into the sky from the updraft. He then nocked an arrow in his bow midflight, and felt time bend slowly around him, as he focused and let fly a bomb arrow, landing true on the Lynel and the surrounding Lizalfos.

The Lizalfos went flying, but the Lynel did not budge – he merely doubled over on himself, recoiling from the attack. Link glided down from his paraglider onto the back of the Lynel, whipping the Master Sword out and thrusting it deep between the shoulder blades of the red mane Lynel. Instantly, the Lynel went berserk, and Link held onto the pommel of his sword for dear life as the Lynel attempted to viciously buck him from his back.

Then, the Lynel froze; it's eyes unseeing, as it began teetering off towards the left. Link had only a moment to eject himself from the back of the Lynel before he was crushed beneath its torso. An ice arrow was the culprit, sticking out of the Lynel's chest. Link looked up to see a Zora was to thank, his bow still up as he loaded another arrow. Link nodded once towards the Zora, before fetching his sword from the back of the Lynel, running into battle once more.

Zelda, on the other side of the field, found herself back to back with Prince Sidon himself, with a hoard of Lizalfos surrounding them.

The pair made a pretty good team she had to admit. The last time she had seen Prince Sidon, he was just a little guppy, only a fraction of the height that he was now. As it was, he completely towered over her, nearly twice her height, as they dispatched the various monsters around them: she with her bow, he with his trident.

"Your trident," Zelda gasped, knocking a Lizalfo back with the end of her bow, "It looks awfully similar to Mipha's trident. Is it a replica?"

"Not quite," Prince Sidon grunted, skewering a Lizalfo through, the trident coming back with dark, black sludge, "We gifted the Lightscale Trident to Link after he freed Vah Ruta – it's what my sister would have wanted. This trident," he stabbed a Lizalfo and twisted, "was commissioned as a tribute to my sister. To fight for her when she no longer can."

With the last Lizalfo speared down, Zelda turned towards the Zora Prince, "Your sister must be proud."

"She is proud," Prince Sidon confirmed, "Of all of us. Including you. She always had faith in you."

"As have we."

Zelda turned, and was face to face with what must have been Urbosa in her youth. There were stark differences between the two women, but the similarities came more from the way she held herself with such esteem: a true leader of her people, despite her age. The Gerudo Chief was armed with a terrifying looking scimitar, her eyes narrowing as she oversaw the battlefield, with the overwhelming amount of Lizalfo carcasses littering the field, turning to dust. Her tribe of women stood behind her, each one poised and ready for battle, their scimitars and spears sharpened to a fine point.

"We watched the world turn red, and knew we had to make haste," the Gerudo Chief said, "I am Riju, Chief of the Gerudo. And you: you must be Princess Zelda, no doubt. You are exactly how the late Chief Urbosa described you in her diary."

"Thank you for coming," Zelda said, her eyes watery at Riju's words, "We've really only just begun our assault against Ganon. I would be honored to have you fight alongside me."

"As I would to fight alongside you," Riju said, turning back towards her women, "For us, this fight is personal. It has always been said that Ganon originated from the Gerudo Tribe, before he went astray. We, women, brought him into this world," Riju turned towards Ganon, then, her voice a war cry, "and we will take him out!"

The Gerudo Women roared, their scimitars and spears held high in the air. They ran, advancing towards the center of the Hyrule Fields. The way they fought and moved was more akin to a vicious dance, deadly and lethal with each synchronized step. By now, they were in the very center of the fields, just almost to the Hyrule Garrison. Around them, were the destroyed Guardians from the Calamity attack. They seemed to be a relic of an age long past. How long had they been fighting this new threat, since the dawn of the new era? It couldn't have been that long, and yet it felt like a lifetime had past.

As they made their way up towards the Sacred Grounds, Zelda finally caught up with Link, who took the moment of stillness in the battle to wrap his arms around her. He leaned in, his lips searing and desperate, as though this kiss might just be their last. Zelda pressed her forehead against his, her warm breath fanning across his lips, their noses mingling, their hands in each other's hair.

"We're nearly there!" Zelda whispered, her smile erupting in giggles, "Everything is going well so far."

"Everything is going well," Link muttered, "Which makes me nervous that it's going to get worse."

"Ganon is on the defensive," Zelda said, "Even the Zora and Gerudo came to help. Link, we can do this!"

They pulled apart, looking off into the distance where Ganon stood, now laughing maniacally. He raised his hand in the air once again, his fingers twirling around his malice.

Hinoxes, materialized out of thin air. Zelda had to take a step back, out of fear and possibly a bit of wonderment. She had never seen a Hinox quite so large. It towered over her, blocking out the hazy light from the lowering sun. Not even the one that she couldn't see in the ancient Zonai city was quite this large. It was fascinating. It was terrifying.

It was enough to make her want to grab Link by the arm and run for the high hills.

What was it Link had said about things getting worse?

However, she stood her ground. They were of the blue and black variety: clear reflections on what they would make of their enemies should they make it out of this alive. However, they were also slow and dumb, and it was very easy to gain distance from them to rain arrows upon them. Up lose battle with a sword by yourself was suicide at best. However, every adventurer and scholar knew that the Hinox weak point was at its eye.

And boy, did Link and Zelda make quite the adventurer and scholar duo.

Zelda pulled her bow back, this time with a regular arrow. It made no sense to use any other arrow, especially when she had a partner to go in for the offensive. She held the bow taut, waiting as the Hinox noticed her and began making its languid advancement, before she let go her arrow: straight into the bulging eye of the Hinox.

The Hinox's roar shook the very foundations of Hyrule, and even more so as it fell to the ground, the vibrations of its fall sending Zelda toppling. Link then ran in with the Master Sword in hand while the beast was incapacitated, slashing all the while. However, all good things come to an end, as the monster then stretched onto its two legs, with its one eye focused in sharply on her knight.

How dare he.

Zelda then switched her arrows to fire arrows. That Hinox wouldn't dare lay a finger or a hand or a beefy arm on her knight, so long as she was alive to stop it. She aimed for the eye again, and was satisfied with a resonating ping. The Hinox cried out once more, dropping down in agony as it clawed at its eye, in an attempt to halt the piercing pain.

Link went to move in with the Master Sword once more, but was stopped by a trembling in the ground beneath him, threatening to dislodge him from his stance. It felt like it was coming from all around him yet nowhere else. He steadied himself, his arms placed beside him as he struggled to find where the earthquake was coming from.

The next second answered his question.

From the high hills to the northwest came the Gorons, rolling as they do across the Thims Bridge and through the shallow waters of the Lanayru Wetlands. Then, they were on the fields, gaining traction and momentum as they made their way towards the center of the Hyrule Fields. The frontrunner, specifically, with a red halo-like haze around him, bulldozed the Hinox in front of them to the ground, his corpse rising from the ground in thin, wispy ashes.

The frontrunner was trembling, even still rolled into a little ball with his red halo-like haze around him, for seconds even after it was all said and done. One of his brothers leaned inwards slightly, a benevolent smile on his face.

"Uh, Yunobo… you did it! You can come out now!"

Yunobo, the Goron in question, slowly unrolled out of his ball, the haze dissipating from around him, as he looked around, noticing the monster he had crushed had all but vanished in his assault. His fist thrust into the air, a pleased and victorious smile on his face.

"You are a descendant of Daruk," Zelda said, smiling, "That was Daruk's Protection there, wasn't it? And that scarf around your neck… you remind me so much of him."

Yunobo smiled bashfully, "And you must be her Majesty… gosh, I never thought I would ever get to meet royalty… it's an honor to meet you"

"The honor is all mine."

"We saw the sky turn red, and knew something was wrong," Yunobo said, "So we came down to help in any way that we could."

Then, a clap on the Hyrule Fields.

Monsters began to appear startlingly close to them, as they had already crossed half of the Hyrule Fields. As they began to form and their colors appeared, Zelda gasped.

Bokoblins. Moblins. Lizalfos. All of the silver variety.

Zelda pulled out her bow once more, nocking an arrow, "Help us take down these monsters. Link and I have to get to Ganon."

Yunobo nodded once, and together, they made their way towards the center of the battlefield, where the bulk of the monsters were materializing.

Link unsheathed the Master Sword, his right arm glowing brilliantly. Zelda nocked a bomb arrow, getting ready to aim.

Then, she saw what looked to be small black dots on the horizon.

They were coming from the northwest – the dots growing bigger and bigger before they began swirling throughout the sky – taking shape and form.

It was the Rito.

They dove in from the skies, their arrows nocked with two bomb arrows each. The Zora and Gerudo forces retreated only temporarily as the Rito rained their bomb arrows over the monsters. There was a silence, then, before they hit home, and all of Hyrule had only a moment to brace and prepare themselves.

The ground shivered with the intensity of the explosions. The sounds were deafening, producing a faint ringing in Zelda's ears. If her ears were not bleeding yet, they were now. She picked herself off of the ground – when had she fallen over? – and went to grab her Sheikah bow. However, in a moment of panic, she realized that she no longer had it on her person. It was gone – lost somewhere on the battlefield in the wake of the explosions. Without her bow, she only had her small dagger, and against these silver monsters, she wasn't sure if she would be able to stand her ground.

But then, she found it.

It lay just a few meters away. The exquisitely crafted wood was splintered, fragments of it broken apart, and rendered useless. Zelda felt a pang of sorrow towards her first real weapon. It was a lovely bow, which aimed impeccably sharp. She would be hard pressed to find another bow like that again.

She held the damaged weapon in her hands. It had saved her life countless times. More importantly, it had saved Link's life countless times. It had been with her since the very beginning, since that fateful day in Kakariko Village when they first began their preparations to make their way towards the Forgotten Temple. It felt like it was so long ago, though in retrospect, it couldn't have been any longer than a few weeks.

Then, a wing on her shoulder, and she looked up. Behind her was a Rito, with impossibly long white and navy feathers. He bore a scar on his left cheek, and in his wing, had a skillfully crafted Rito bow, adorned in various ribbons.

"For you, your majesty," the Rito said, "I think you'll find that you need it more than I do."

Zelda grasped the bow carefully, her delicate fingers wrapping around it, "Thank you. It's beautiful… it reminds me so much of the one Revali wielded."

"That's because it was his doing that ushered in a renaissance with the bow," the Rito replied, "The name's Teba, your majesty."

"It's an honor to meet you, Teba," Zelda said, her eyes shining at the bow, "Without your bow then, what will you do? What will you do then, during this fight?"

"Why, I thought it was obvious," Teba replied, waving his arm, "Take both you and Link straight to Ganon myself, while we hold off his minions."

Zelda's eyes widened, as she realized that, ready or not, it was time. They were as ready as they were going to be. Numbly, Zelda nodded, and made eye contact with Link, who had just single-handedly defeated a silver Bokoblin and was running over towards her, the question clear on his face.

"It's time," Zelda whispered, and even Link got that same numb look on his face that she must have had, "Teba here is kind enough to fly us up to the Sacred Grounds, where Ganon is."

Link nodded, his hand naturally catching hers and giving it a little squeeze, before they climbed onto Teba's back. With little preamble, the Rito took off, making the small flight towards the Sacred Grounds with the two Hylians in tow, where Ganon stood, his eyes never faltering from them, his smile growing more and more malicious.

They jumped off of the Rito's back and their feet landed on the broken stonework of the Sacred Grounds. Teba did not pause in his flight, soaring back towards the battlefield. His fight was not with Ganon. It was a fight for the hero and the princess.

Link and Zelda stepped forward, Link slightly in front. Link had his right hand outstretched, his arm glowing magnificently bright so close to the ancient Zonai city. The Master Sword was held by his side in his left hand, ready at a moment's notice. Zelda stood just barely behind him, and to the side, her Rito bow pulled taut, a sharpened arrow nocked.

And Ganon…

Ganon was clapping.

His hands slowly came together, each sound reverberating deeply, as though they were in an enclosed space and not in an open field. Around them, the sounds of the fighting dulled, until they could scarcely hear them. Yes, this fight was to be just with the three of them, that much was certain. It was the way things had always been, and always will be.

"Now then," Ganon laughed, his hands ceasing altogether, "That was quite a show that you two put on back there. It was just the two of you – but then, all of your allies came in to help. It's really quite… touching, I must say."

"All of these people are here to fight you," Link said, his voice low, "They came of their own accord, because they know they need to do whatever it takes to bring you down."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure that they have the best of intentions at heart," Ganon mused, "Still, it's a shame that their sacrifices will be in vain."

"Give up Ganon," Zelda said, pulling her bow tighter, "It clear that you are both out numbered and outmatched."

"On the contrary," Ganon hissed, any benevolence gone, "It is you that are both outnumbered and outmatched. I can call upon an infinite amount of my followers to fight for me. However, last I checked, you mere mortals are quite finite.

"This fight has been a long time coming," Ganon continued, as he began swirling two small pools of malice in his hand, "and luckily, the two of you did not disappoint. You put up a fight, however pointless it may be, and because of that, it makes my victory all the more satisfying."

"What makes you think you've won?" Link said, "When are you going to understand that you will never win? You've lost, Ganon. The battle is over."

"History is bound to repeat itself for those who refuse to learn," Ganon drawled, "How can I be losing if I keep coming back, again and again? You keep winning and you keep defeating me, but how can that be if I keep coming back? I'm a very patient man. I have waited for millennia, for this moment. The cycle continues, the reincarnation continues, and I will always be there, waiting for you to slip up; waiting for you to make a mistake. In fact, it seems that you've already made a mistake."

"And what's that?" Link breathed, not daring to move a muscle.

"Leaving me an opening," Ganon grinned, before he pulled his arm back, the swirls of malice in it growing, before he released it across the Sacred Grounds. Link watched in slow motion, much like he had watching the hero and the princess of tens of thousands of years ago, in the catacombs of the ancient Zonai city. He watched as the malice flew, faster and faster, and was unable to move fast enough before the malice hit home, hitting Zelda squarely in the chest.