A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Meh, I held off this chapter out of sheer nervousness, but as one of my readers so aptly put it, might as well get it over with. I'm not in the most optimistic of moods right now...I'm tired as all heck, I have to work later, and I need to spend a few hours levelling up in Kingdom Hearts so I can finally beat Evil Riku. *sigh* I'll stop complaining now. Hope you like the chapter, and thanks for reading as always.
***
Chapter 19
Ganondorf
From the Gerudo fortress, Link and Zelda were dragged further south to the citadel at the edge of the desert. Neither of them had ever seen it before; they'd only heard rumors that it was Ganondorf's dungeon, to where his prisoners were sent, and no one who went there ever came back.
They knew, with terrible certainty, that they were probably going to be tortured and almost certainly murdered. At least they wouldn't have to wait long for the end. Upon their arrival Link and Zelda were taken immediately to an interrogation room–a dark, cramped room with stone walls, ceiling, and floor, no windows, and no furnishing. There they were left to await the arrival of the Black King.
Zelda sat on the cold stone floor to wait. Her only source of comfort was Link, who knelt beside her, gripping her hand so tightly it hurt. There was silence between them for a while, deafening and terrible, but at last Link broke it.
"Are you afraid?"
Zelda thought of all the answers she could give, then replied quietly, "Terrified."
His grip on her hand tightened. "I won't let him hurt you."
She had nothing to say that wasn't pointless. As much as she wanted to believe him, she couldn't. Neither, she knew, could he.
Azura and Arjuna stood guard over them, but they said nothing. The prisoners were going to die. Let them exchange a few last words, if that was what they wanted.
"Think it'll hurt much?" Link asked with grim–very grim–humor.
"Oh, a lot!" she cried exaggeratedly, then was quiet for a moment. "Remember that, please, if I should renounce anything, or betray anyone."
"You would never," he said emphatically.
"I might." Zelda smiled grimly. "I don't know. I've never been tortured."
"I heard you go numb after about ten hours."
"That's a comfort."
Behind them, Arjuna shifted uncomfortably. Azura stilled her with a glare.
Zelda gazed into the darkness for a while, fighting the fear with every ounce of her energy–at least it gave her something to do. She didn't bother praying. She didn't think it would help. There was nothing they could do that was going to get them out of this situation, and she would not beg or plead. That satisfaction, at least, she would not give to her murderer.
But there was one thing she thought she should say before she went. "Link."
"Yes?"
She looked at him for a moment, her heart breaking. She cared more for this man than she ever had anyone else, yet their time together had been so short. I should have told him sooner, she thought sorrowfully.
"I love you."
Link's smile was full of pain. He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. "I know," he murmured. "I love you too."
After that there was nothing more to say. They sat in silence, fingers intertwined, and waited for the end.
They heard the end coming before they saw it. A slow, deliberate thudding that grew louder every moment was the sound of heavy boots against the floor, footsteps drawing closer and closer. Terror surged in her throat like bile; Zelda fought the urge to vomit, feeling the blood drain from her face. She shook from head to toe; Link's grip was so tight that her hand was numb. Neither of them spoke, nor moved, nor even dared to breathe, as the door swung open and their nightmare walked into the room.
Ganondorf gazed upon them with the coldest eyes Zelda had ever seen. They were yellow with a predatory gleam, cruel and devoid of any shred of mercy. He was as tall as a giant, broad-shouldered and strong, his dark skin, red hair, and prominent nose indications of a Gerudo heritage. Leggings were stuffed into heavy black boots, tunic covered with a mail shirt, shoulders draped with a majestic black cape. He spoke in a low, deep voice that lacked all humanity.
"So."
They waited, all of them. Even Arjuna and Azura were shock-still.
"When I received the message, I could not quite believe it was true." His lips curved into a smile that made Zelda's blood freeze in her veins. "But here you are, the both of you. Defenseless. Helpless."
His eyes left them momentarily and Zelda gulped in several breaths of air, suddenly aware that she'd not breathed once since he entered the room. "I admit I am impressed," he said to Arjuna and Azura. "Just as I began to think your efforts were worthless, you deliver them into my hands. Good work." His tone had not changed a bit–it was just as cold and cruel as when he spoke to Link and Zelda.
"Thank you, master," Azura replied for the sisters, her voice shaking. It was plain that they were terrified of him.
"You may leave," Ganondorf said curtly, and the sisters wasted no time. They scurried from the room, only Arjuna glancing back at the prisoners once, with real sympathy. The door shut and bolted behind them, and Link and Zelda were alone with the Black King.
He looked at them again, focusing on Link this time. Abruptly his eyes widened, then darkened in fury.
"Where is it?" he demanded. "Where is the sword?"
"I don't have it." Zelda marveled at the composure in Link's tone.
"Where is it?" Ganondorf's jaw clenched and his voice shook with rage.
"I. Don't. Have it," Link repeated as though Ganondorf were very dense, deliberately drawing out the words. His courage astonished Zelda. Even she would never dare bait the most evil man in Hyrule.
Ganondorf took a step toward them. He made a sudden, sharp gesture with his hand and Link was thrown back hard against the far wall; a very solid barrier of dark energy materialized before him.
"Link!" Zelda afforded herself only that one cry. If she moved, Ganondorf would kill her; she couldn't die just yet.
Ganondorf's attention was still focused on Link. "You'll tell me where the sword is, boy." His voice was very, very quiet. "You'll tell me everything I want to know. You'll tell me things that don't interest me in the slightest–anything to stop the pain. I promise you that."
While he talked, Zelda reached very slowly, with the subtlety only a thief possessed, around to the sheath at the small of her back where she'd hidden her dagger. She was not stupid enough to believe that she could take him down and live. But if they both died, that would be enough.
"I'll give you one chance. Tell me where the sword is, and I'll kill you painlessly."
Link spat blood from his mouth onto the flagstones. "Go to hell."
Ganondorf lips stretched in a terrifying grin. "Oh, good. I was hoping you'd choose a painful death."
Zelda leapt at him, driving the dagger directly toward his heart–but Ganondorf moved faster than she ever could have anticipated, twisting aside and seizing her wrist in one enormous hand. His hand tightened on her wrist until she gasped in pain; her hold on the dagger loosened. He then snatched the dagger in his free hand and plunged it into her chest.
She stifled a cry of pain as he let go and collapsed to the floor, wrenching the dagger from her body. He'd missed her heart–deliberately, she knew. Ganondorf placed the sole of his boot on the hand curled around the dagger and pressed down with his considerable weight. Pain shot like lightning up her arm–several loud cracks and a bolt of excruciating, white-hot pain told her that her fingers had snapped.
"You bastard," Link snarled. Ganondorf grinned at him, perfectly aware–as Link was–that he could do anything he wanted to Zelda, and no one could stop him.
"I believe I've changed my mind," Ganondorf said thoughtfully. His hand closed around the thick hilt of a sword on his back and he drew it, slowly and deliberately, giving them both ample time to scrutinize the enormous, double-edged black sword. His eyes found Link once more. "Tell me where the Master Sword is–" he rested the gigantic blade very close to Zelda's neck, "–or she dies."
"Don't do it," Zelda mumbled to Link. "He's going to kill us any–" Ganondorf struck her hard across the face with the back of his hand, cutting her off. She tasted blood in her mouth.
Link cursed vehemently. Ganondorf merely smiled.
"Well?" he inquired.
"Let her go," Link said savagely, "and I'll tell you what you want to know."
Ganondorf reached down with his free hand, sliding his fingers under Zelda's chin and raising it gently until she met his eyes. "I think I'd rather cut her throat," he murmured, his thumb delicately stroking along her jawline.
Zelda gripped her dagger in her uninjured hand and stabbed it into his leg above the knee. Ganondorf's lips curled as he gripped the dagger and yanked it from his flesh, tossing it into a corner. "I hope you enjoyed your last defiance," he spat at her, raising his great black sword.
"Don't!" Link cried.
Ganondorf appeared to hesitate–then suddenly Zelda realized that leafy green vines were crawling up his legs, binding him in place. The Black King snarled and began hacking at the tangle as longer, thicker vines appeared to grow from the stone floor, entangling his legs and wrapping around his waist. A dark shadow appeared on the floor just below him, and black, inky tendrils rose, twisting around him as did the vines, crawling up his torso and around his shoulders, imprisoning his arms. He fought the bindings wildly, but the more leafy vines and inky shadows entangled him, the more he struggled to move.
"Sages!" Ganondorf snarled as the tendrils began to twist around his neck.
Grass and flowers sprouted on the floor on Ganondorf's left as another, larger pool of shadow appeared on his right. A tangle of vines sprouted rapidly from the grass, then drew away to reveal Saria; Impa rose from the shadow as if ascending from Hell itself. Both spared a quick glance at Zelda and Link, then focused their attention on Ganondorf, wrapping him in yet more vines and tendrils of shadow.
"Link," Impa said without ever glancing away from Ganondorf, "you can escape your prison. Focus the power of light within you and use it to repel the darkness."
"Wh–what are you doing...?" Zelda sputtered in amazement.
Saria spared her a warm smile. "Helping." Tiny flowers sprouted along the vines wrapped around Ganondorf, which seemed to anger him further.
"You think you've won?" he hissed. A glow at his hands drew Zelda's attention; she saw, with a start, the mark of the sacred Triforce gleaming on the backs of his hands. "You've won nothing!" He made a savage gesture with one of his hands and the vines and shadows were torn to pieces; Saria and Impa cried out in pain.
Ganondorf's eyes focused on Zelda. "You're finished!" the Black King bellowed, thrusting his sword at her heart.
Link stumbled into her, knocking her out of the path of Ganondorf's sword. The dark blade transfixed Link's body, entering his back and out his midsection.
For a moment it seemed that all had frozen–even time itself.
"Heh!" Ganondorf wrenched the sword free and Link fell forward onto the cold stone floor. Zelda was as still as death, her hands covering her mouth, staring at the dark patch that spread through his clothes.
She thought she heard him whisper: "Run."
"You–!" Impa snarled. She and Saria thrust their power at Ganondorf, wrapping him once again in shadow and vines that were covered in thorns. Ganondorf struggled, his Triforce once again springing to life, but the sages were not about to let him go this time without a fight. They held him fast, battering him with their magic and defending against the goddess power that he sent at them.
Zelda saw and heard none of it. She gathered Link in her arms, trying to staunch the flow of blood from the terrible wound with her bare hands. Within moments her hands and arms were drenched. He was still alive, for the moment, but she could feel him slipping away from her. She clung to him with all her strength, as if she could cling to his very life.
"Zelda!" Impa's voice finally broke through her frozen daze. "Zelda, listen to me!"
She raised her eyes and looked at Impa as if coming out of a heavy fog. Sweat drenched the sage's forehead as she and Saria battled with Ganondorf.
"You must use your power to open the door to the Sacred Realm!" Impa ordered her urgently. "You can do it! You must force the awakening of the Triforce within you, or Link will die!"
"But..." Zelda trembled from head to toe. She could not think of what to do.
"Are you really that weak?" Impa bellowed. "Are you just going to give in without a fight?! Your mother would be ashamed of you!"
Zelda squeezed her eyes shut. Impa was right. She had to do something, now, or all was lost.
With this thought in mind, Zelda forced everything else away from her. She pushed away every other thought in her head, focusing all of her attention solely on her goal. The sounds of battle melted away; her awareness of the man she loved dying in her arms was forgotten. She looked deep inside of herself, to the pool of light that seemed to well from her very soul, and bathed in that light.
Now she saw the world through different eyes. Ganondorf was not a physical entity, but a well of darkness that drew in everything around itself, threatening to consume the entire world. Saria and Impa were glowing presences in her eyes, one a bright green shimmering with warmth and life, the other a shadowy blackness tainted by death. She saw Link as a golden light shining more brilliantly than a thousand suns, though that light grew dimmer every moment as he drew nearer to death. She herself was pure whiteness, throwing everything around her into harsh, blinding relief. A song rose inside her–a pure voice singing in celestial harmony. She surrendered herself to that voice, and the entity behind it.
She would not remember the rest, but those around her would never forget it as long as they lived. Her body began to glow with a pure white light that seemed to shine from her heart; it spread through her veins and filtered through her flesh until she shone like a star in the night sky. Her eyes–pure white, all traces of the iris and pupil gone–looked upon Ganondorf as Impa and Saria's power drew away as if by its own accord. The magic of the sages was now under her control.
The light shining from her body grew brighter and brighter until all were forced to look away. Ganondorf couldn't; he was frozen in place more absolutely than Saria and Impa's power had done, his eyes locked on Zelda's. As the white light pierced him in the form of blinding lances, he thought back to the days when the same entity had gazed at him through another's eyes. He remembered Zelda's mother as he screamed in pain.
Zelda knew none of this. She remembered only the celestial voice receding inside of her, then falling through a star-filled sky with Link in her arms.
* * *
"Zelda?"
She was warm, wonderfully warm, and wrapped in softness. More than anything in the world she wanted to return to sleep, and pleasant dreams.
"Zelda, wake up."
The voice cut through her slumber, jerking her toward wakefulness. "Go away," Zelda mumbled.
"I knew you were alive. Open your eyes, will you?"
The voice wasn't going to leave her alone. Zelda scowled and forced one eye open.
Link grinned down at her. "There's a happy expression. Not a morning person, are you?"
"What?" Zelda opened both eyes, confused, and spared a quick glance around. She and Link appeared to be in some sort of hall, lying in a pile of white sheets on the marble floor. She realized, with a sudden start, that she was naked.
"H-hey!"
"Don't get the wrong idea," Link said quickly. He was apparently naked as well, though the sheets covered him tactfully. "We were both like this when I woke up."
"Oh." Zelda sat up, clutching a sheet to her chest. "Where are we?"
Link shrugged. "No idea."
Memory hit her like a hammer–the citadel, Ganondorf, the sages, Link...and the voice inside of her, the perfect voice she'd heard just before she blacked out...
"Link," she gasped, "your wound–"
She stopped, staring at Link's torso. The horrible injury was gone, the blood with it. There was a large scar where it had been, but it shone with healthy, pink new skin. Someone had healed it, and quite effectively too.
"How is that possible?" Zelda whispered, unable to believe it. "Who could have healed such a terrible wound?"
"I don't know," Link said quietly. "But I have a feeling it's whoever brought us here. And whoever healed your injuries, as well."
With a start, Zelda realized he was right. There was no pain in her hand nor at her chest; Zelda wiggled the fingers Ganondorf had broken to find them perfectly healed. There was a new, healthy scar below her collarbone, where she'd been stabbed.
Now Zelda took a better look around. The hall in which they lay appeared to be some sort of cathedral, the pristine ceiling reaching into a dome far above their heads. Gilded windows through which watery sunlight trickled were between marble columns evenly spaced along the circular walls. Dead center in the room was a small pedestal engraved with a Triforce mark. She could not shake the feeling that she recognized this place, although she was sure she'd never been here before. Divinity permeated the air; Zelda was almost certain they were in the Sacred Realm.
"What happened?" Zelda asked, tearing her eyes from their surroundings to look at Link. "In Ganondorf's citadel, I mean?"
He stared at her incredulously. "You mean you don't remember? You just–you started glowing, as though a fire were burning inside you. It was a pure white light, and it grew so bright that no one could look at you.... You looked at Ganondorf, and he screamed as if in pain, and then the floor suddenly disappeared beneath us and we were falling. That was when I blacked out," he added.
"I don't remember," Zelda said softly. "All I know is, there was this voice inside of me, singing...it was so beautiful." She looked up at him. "Is that what Impa meant by 'awaken the Triforce?' What was that?"
"You got me," Link confessed. "But–" He took one of her hands in his, showing her the back of it. A golden Triforce mark was etched into her flesh.
"Goddesses," Zelda said, amazed.
"I'm no expert, but I think it's safe to say you awakened the Triforce after all," Link informed her, letting go of her hand.
Her eyes suddenly burned with unshed tears. Zelda covered her face with her hands, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat.
"Zelda?" Link said in alarm. "Zelda, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," she cried, her voice muffled by her hands. "You just–you don't know what it was like to feel you dying in my arms. I was so sure I was going to lose you."
"Hey..." Link gripped her wrists gently, drawing her hands away from her face. "Don't cry. You didn't lose me. I'm not going anywhere."
"I know, I just..." Unable to speak any longer, unable to even think, she put her arms around him and hid her face in his shoulder, willing the unshed tears not to spill from her eyes. She felt Link draw in a sudden, sharp breath.
"Zelda...what are you doing?"
"I don't know," Zelda admitted, muffled against his shoulder. "I don't know, and I don't care. I just want to be with you, Link."
Link gripped her bare shoulders as if uncertain of whether to pull her closer or push her away. "Zelda, I–" He hesitated. "I know you're scared, but–"
"I'm not scared," Zelda said fiercely. "Link, these are my feelings! I don't care about Ganondorf, the goddesses, anything! Just you. I love you. So if you don't feel the same–"
"Don't be ridiculous," Link muttered, wrapping his arms around her. His lips found hers and he kissed her deeply, clinging to her hard. No more words were exchanged between them. In that empty hall in the cathedral in the Sacred Realm, Link gave all of himself to her, and Zelda to him.
* * *
To be continued.