FIE! O DARKNESS! O EMPTINESS! I WILL NOT FALL TO MY ANCIENT FOE ON THIS DAY!
The Vessel did not respond. It hadn't since the fight began. Perhaps it couldn't.
The Radiance raged. She screamed. She threw everything she had against the tiny Void being. Nothing worked. The Vessel continued its assault, as implacable as ever, swinging its nail in precise stokes and avoiding all of her attacks with ease.
Even when she took to the sky to bombard the battlefield from afar, it followed, borne aloft on silvery wings and bounding off of platforms that reeked of foreign gods. Curse them, whomever they were, once she had dealt with this interloper she would find their planes and smite them herself! How dare they help her eternal enemy!
That distracting thought very nearly took one of her wings, the Vessel's nail grazing along the edge of her hindwing as she dodged. The pain served to refocus her, and she resumed the fight in earnest. Vengeance could come later.
I WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN!
. . .
RAARGH! HERO! I DEFEATED YOU ONCE BEFORE IN THIS ERA, I WILL DO IT AGAIN!
The Hero did not respond. He hadn't since the fight began, and Ganon knew he couldn't.
Ganon roared. He writhed. He threw everything he had against the insignificant Hylian. Nothing worked. The Hero continued his assault, as implacable as ever, swinging the Master Sword in precise strokes and avoiding all of his attacks with ease.
Even when he took to the fields of Hyrule and transformed into his Dark Beast form, the Hero followed, the thrice cursed Bow of Light in his hands. This iteration of Princess Zelda had been more of a thorn in his side than any he could remember, and Ganon's memory was long.
He could feel her within him, her Goddess-given power working to break free from his chains. He could feel himself weakening as arrows of Light pierced his skin. But he was not done yet.
I CURSE YOU! EVEN IF I FALL HERE TODAY YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE OF ME!
. . .
In one world, a ruined kingdom watched as Ganon raged across Hyrule field. A father holds his trembling son in his wings. A Zora Prince cheers for his Hylian friend to triumph. A child ruler grits her teeth in anxiety. A timid Goron watches in awe and fear.
In another world, the only onlookers to the great battle are the Vessel's siblings. The rest of the kingdom knows not of what is happening in the Dream Realm.
In one world, the final blow is dealt to Calamity Ganon, Princess Zelda's power vaporizing him in a single blast.
In another world, at the exact same moment, the Radiance is ripped to pieces by the Lord of Shades.
In that moment of unity, death, power, and triumph, the foundations of two worlds tremble.
. . .
Hornet came to slowly, her awareness first cataloguing a long list of aches and pains, before she registered where she was. She leveraged herself up with her needle until she was upright.
The Inner Sanctum of the Black Egg was destroyed. The battle between her two siblings had torn massive holes in the walls and floor, and there was a crater in the floor where she could see the body of the Hollow Knight.
Perhaps they still lived. She dared not hope that they were free of the infection, she had long since given up on hope, but...well, had not the little Ghost just vanquished the Radiance? She hadn't truly been present, but she had seen the whole affair as if it was a dream. She had seen the little Ghost drive their nail into the Radiance over and over again until they finally transformed into a towering being of Void...and then she had seen a goddess destroyed.
Today was a day for impossible things to come true.
Casting her gaze around the rest of the room, Hornet caught sight of her sibling's broken mask, their nail, cloak, and other belongings alongside it. A small pool of inky black Void surrounded the empty shell. The little Ghost was gone, and Hornet didn't know if they'd ever return.
A noise startled her, and Hornet turned, needle raised and ready to fight. She lowered it slightly upon seeing that it was Hollow who had made the noise, the large Void Vessel moving into a low hunch.
Hornet chittered with her mandibles, and the empty gaze of the Hollow Knight snapped to her. For a long moment, they just stared at each other. No trace of the infection remained within their eyes. Then, one step at a time, Hornet began to walk closer.
When she was but a few steps away, Hornet noticed that Hollow was trembling.
"Hollow?"
They averted their gaze.
"Hollow, it's me, Hornet. Do you...remember me?"
They didn't turn their head back towards her, and when Hornet placed a claw on their thorax, they flinched.
"Are you in pain? Dirtmouth isn't far from here, and I have my silk. If there's anything I can do-"
Finally, Hollow turned their head back around and met her eyes. Hornet felt a scratching at the back of her mind that she'd nearly forgotten and Hollow spoke to her. Not with sounds, words, or pheromones, but with concepts themselves.
[S̵͇̍̾é̸̱͎́̎̆̊l̸̢̮̫͌f̶̧͖̫̥̘͖́̍͆ ̵̮̊̊̓͛̚D̶̨̫̙̊̃̈̎ͅė̸̡̙̤̱̾ṡ̶͖͙͈̬̈̀͒̔̐î̸̩̽͊͛̚g̷̨̰̲̃̈́̈̕͝ń̷̟̙̹̗̫͓̀̇̾͛͝a̸̝̻̠̐͊̅̔̚͠t̷̮̩͌̓̓ͅi̷̜̲̲͉̓͠ͅo̶̟͑n̸̳̹̬͕͐̂̀̄́͜͜:̶͎̳̝̔ ̵͙̽̒̚F̷̨̛̈̈́̉͒͘ȧ̴̟̑̎į̷̢̤̹̊̄̾̔͝l̷̞̞̩͈͙̆̔̐̄u̶̳̣̐̒̐r̶͓̿e̴̱͙̜͛͐̌͌͠͝]
It took Hornet a moment to parse that. Of course. Of course her sibling would think of themself as a failure. The Pale King had raised them for this sole purpose, it was the only reason they existed. Hornet knew that Hollow wasn't truly Hollow. Looking back, perhaps some part of her had always known. And if they had never been Hollow, that meant they could feel emotions. Like guilt. Over something that they could have never controlled.
She needed to snip this thread before it could lengthen.
"No! You are not a failure! If anyone was to blame it was Father, and the Radiance, and...and me. Is it your fault that you had a mind? Is it your fault that The Pale King sought to create a being that cannot exist? You did all that you could, Hollow! For fifty cycles, you held her at bay within your own mind! No one could have done more! The Kingdom fell to ruin on the sins of others. Do not hold the executioner's chisel over your own head."
Hollow stared at her.
[D̴̨̨͒ǐ̵̩̼͑̿s̶̢̻̗̏à̷̠̏g̷̲̈̍r̷͉̈́͊e̷̓̈́ͅe̴͎͖̅̾m̵̟̟̮̆̋e̵̮̚ń̷̺̞̟̕t̴̻̩̃̒͌]
Hornet chittered in surprise, then laughed suddenly. Hollow jerked back.
"That's the first time you have ever disagreed when anything I ever said."
When Hollow attempted to turn his head away once again, Hornet stopped the movement gently.
"No more shame. Please. Let me embrace my last living Sibling as I once did. It has been a very long time since I have done that."
Hollow's movements paused, then very slowly, they nodded.
When Hornet was nestled against her Sibling, she finally allowed herself to let loose the ball of tension and grief that was buried deep inside of her.
Together, the two children of the Pale King mourned in the ruined Sanctum of the Black Egg. Neither of them noticed the silvery Brand on a chain resting underneath Hornet's mask.
. . .
Princess Zelda took a deep, steadying breath as she finished brushing her hair. After a century trapped alongside Calamity Ganon, she had felt a bath was one of the first things in order. Link hadn't protested at all (not that he ever did). A short ride to the nearby Sacred Ground Fountain had let her have access to clean water, and Link had slipped her some soap that smelled like sea salt and safflina. After she was done bathing, she'd dressed in the only clothes she currently owned, and focused on brushing her hair, as a way to relax and think.
Zelda stopped for a moment just to feel the sensation of light touching her skin. Time had lost most meaning for her while she contained the wrath of Ganon, but that didn't mean that she could just ignore the weight of all those years. She had been free for less than an hour, and was constantly rediscovering old sensations. The tactile pressure of water. The smell of grass, and the feel of the wind. It was honestly somewhat overwhelming.
But she would bear it, as she always did. She was a princess of Hyrule.
And with that thought, Zelda's lips turned down. A Princess she was no longer. Her Father had died even before she had sealed Ganon away, and with her free of the beast...she supposed that she was now the Queen. Queen of a Kingdom that had fallen to ruin.
There was...so much work to do. So many people to rally. So much rebuilding to be done. She doubted that the work would be finished within her lifetime.
It was daunting, and for a moment, she felt despair overtake her.
"Hah!"
Zelda turned to see Link dragging a wild boar behind him, a single arrow buried in its neck. Upon noticing her glance, Link jerked his head in a single nod, then began to work on butchering the dead animal.
Zelda's stomach rumbled at the thought of freshly roasted meat. Well...it had been 100 years since she last ate. She could go for some wild boar.
Placing the salvaged comb inside her dress, Zelda walked over to Link and passively looked on as the boar's blood spread out over the ground.
She tried not to salivate over the raw meat. It was unseemly for a Princess or a Queen to drool over her food like a common vagrant.
When Link tossed the freshly carved boar meat into a searing hot wok with rice, herbs, spices, and carrots, she lost that battle. Din take decorum, she was hungry!
. . .
"Gods above, what the hell happened?"
Granté rubbed his head and looked at the sky. There had been...an earthquake? And a massive flash of light. He'd thought the world was ending and that he was going to die. He'd never even met the love of his life!
"You ok there, lil man?" said a deep, gravelly voice.
Granté groaned as a massive hand invaded his vision. Taking it, he was heaved upright, and he took a moment to just breathe.
"Thanks Greyson." he told the affable Goron, and received a hearty chuckle out of his fellow resident of Tarrey Town.
"Don't mention it! That quake took me by surprise too! Never even sensed it coming!"
Granté blinked in shock. Gorons were famous for their sense of vibration, able to predict when a rockslide or an eruption was imminent in the fiery territory of Death Mountain. For a quake to come so suddenly meant that it was something far out of the ordinary.
"What do you think caused it?"
At this, the Goron quieted up. Granté turned to look at him after receiving no response, seeing the Goron's mouth open in shock.
"I don't know, lil man, but that might have something to do with it."
Confused, Granté turned to look at whatever it was that had captured Greyson's attention.
Far in the distance, between the Akkala Falls and the Citadel Ruins, there was a mountain. It was even taller than nearby Ploymus Mountain, and it was covered in strange pink crystals. They speared through the side of the mountain, vast in both size and number, and Granté swore that they glowed even in the light of the afternoon sun.
There hadn't been a mountain there a few minutes ago.
"...huh."
Author's Note:
Coolio. Now that the beginning of the story is out of the way, let's talk numbers. The in-game Hyrule map is *about* 5.6 miles by 4.2 miles (9 km x 6.8 km). BotW has a time dilation factor of 60 (24 irl minutes equals 24 in-game hours). Thus, we can just apply the time dilation factor to Hyrule to find out what a more realistic size would be with an approximately 24 hour day. This gives us a Hyrule that is around 336 by 252 miles (540 km x 408 km). This Hyrule has a similar land area to New Zealand, which is still somewhat unrealistic because of all the different climates present but I'm handwaving it away as magic. Hallownest's size is somewhat difficult to determine, because there's no day/night cycle, because we don't have a third dimension, and because we have no set idea of the characters in relation to Hylian heights. I decided on making Hornet the standard to base everything off of. In this fic, Hornet is around 6 feet tall (1.8 m) to the top of her head and 8 feet tall (2.4 m) to the top of her horns. I then applied a time dilation factor of 5 to Hallownest, just to get a kingdom that was large enough to feel like an actual kingdom, and I decided that Hallownest is about as wide as it is long. This gave Hallownest a size of 11 miles x 11 miles x 7 miles deep (17.7 km x 17.7 km x 11.2 km). Of course, Hallownest is not a solid cube or sphere that's packed to the gills with structures and houses, there's a great deal of solid stone and empty space, like the Abyss. But this does mean that, although Hallownest is not nearly as wide or long as Hyrule, is does extend FAR deeper than Hyrule, and has nearly as much useable space.