Zelda listened to the soft snoring of all those around her. She wished she could see Link, to know if he was awake, but she didn't dare call his name to check. For once, the loud room was quiet.
But she didn't have to consider that much longer.
The door flew open at the end of the hall and a chorus of shouts echoed off the wall. Everyone was either enraged or panicked. Zelda didn't know which to be until she saw the intimidating King of Darkness himself striding confidently down the hall. Her father's crown sat upon his head. It made her red with anger.
He was led by a familiar soldier, one who stopped directly in front of her cage.
"What's happening?" Link asked amid a rattle of chains. "Are you alright?"
The soldier slammed his fists against the bars to shut Link up just as Ganondorf made it in front of her cell.
He gripped the bars with a menacing smile on his face. "Well, well, Little Flower, have your thorns been picked off yet?"
She didn't respond, but the entire room had gone eerily quiet, listening intently. A visit from the usurper himself was rare.
"Open her cage," he commanded. As the soldier undid the lock, Zelda scampered to her feet and crossed the cell so she was against the corner furthest from him.
"Is that what it takes to make you stand in my presence? I suppose a bow is too much to ask for. My guards told me you escaped your cell earlier. I'd like you to come with me so you can watch their executions. Lazy fools. They had one job. I think you should know what happens to those who disobey me."
Mustering all of her strength, she met his eyes with her own steeled ones. "Disobedience implies that there was some sort of loyalty to begin with. I don't recognize your authority over me, so is it still disobedience in that case?"
He crossed the cell, and there was nowhere for her to go. She felt his hard gauntlet hit her cheek and she whimpered involuntarily when his hand wrapped around her throat. Though his grip was light, the small, threatening twitch of his fingers had her gasping. His threat was beyond clear. He could kill her with one hand.
"We're re-doing your isolated cell. I think you'll like it when its done. You'll be here for now. But you're coming with me, Little Doll."
She pulled his hand away from her, which she knew he allowed. His strength was far greater than her own. Taking steps towards the cell door, she felt someone wrench her arms behind her, restraining her as they walked.
"I am not some fragile doll, and it takes more than a words, executions, or dark cells to break me."
Ganondorf's laugh was dark, low, and frightening in its own right. It had her heart speed up without needing words as his threat, but he continued anyway. "I intend to find that breaking point."
When they returned, Ganondorf pressed Zelda against the wall while his soldier unlocked her cell. Zelda was breathing hard, feeling the sticky blood splatter still on her face. She'd nearly thrown up at the horrific sights she'd endured, and now was lightheaded and ready to pass out. In truth, Ganondorf might be the only thing keeping her from falling.
She realized her vulnerability too late, and felt him shake her, banging her head back against the stone wall with a hard thud.
"You can make this end, or I can make you watch every execution. I'll slowly execute every person in here. Then, I'll take you back to your real cell. I can't wait for you to see it when it's done being fixed for you. Then, you'll only come back out for more executions until there is no citizen left loyal to the royal family of Hyrule, and I am all that's left to bow before."
"I'd sooner bow to the nearest moblin," she spat.
Closing her eyes when she saw his hand raise to hit her again, she never felt the impact. Instead, the bars of the cell beside her rattled and she turned, seeing a foot banging against them. It distracted Ganondorf, though a bokoblin held her in place when his hands left her.
Ganondorf moved to the next cell and started to laugh.
"Oh, it's this boy again. I was beginning to miss you."
"Well, here I am," Link's cocky voice echoed through the quiet dungeon. When the Demon King was here, all was quiet.
"Let him out for a moment," Ganondorf said. "I want to see my masterpiece. Perhaps it will give this child some sense of what happens to those who disobey me and live."
Zelda shook fearfully at Ganondorf's piercing gaze that froze her in place. A moblin went into the cell, followed by two soldiers. There were several scrapes of the chain before a young man was dragged out.
Zelda gasped, covering her mouth as she looked at him.
He had no shirt, though the rivers of blood that caked his chest acted as one, no shoes, and tattered pants. Open wounds were scattered all across his body, from his face, to his neck, his chest, his arms, even through the pants on his legs.
But amidst the red, his blue eyes shone out defiantly as they stared at Ganondorf. He took the boy's chin in his hand, his knuckled turning white with force. Link grimaced, but didn't look away.
"Care for another, boy?" he hissed, his hand resting on a knife in his belt.
Link shrugged as best he could, though he was being entirely held up by the two soldiers on either side of him. "I doubt I'd even notice."
Link's eyes finally flickered to Zelda. She was sure she'd made a noise by accident. He stared at her, his eyes drinking her in before he lost sight of her once again, putting a face to her voice. But his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
Ganondorf looked between them and made a face of his own, sensing something odd about the encounter.
Then let out a cry of pain.
Link was pressed against him, having feigned his physical dependence and waited for an opening. Something was clenched in his fist, pressed against Ganondorf's skin.
The Demon King forced Link back into the bars and wrapped his fingers tightly around his throat. He squeezed until Link was at the edge of consciousness, gurgling as he fought to breathe, his eyes rolling back into his head.
"Stop!" Zelda screamed, though she was held back.
Ganondorf let go of Link, albeit only to grab her again. "You do not command me. Do you understand?"
She nodded quickly, feeling his rage in the tightness of his grip and needing him to slacken his hold on her throat before he crushed her to death.
Looking between the two again as they both gasped for breath, Ganondorf adjusted his cape and pulled the object that Link had stabbed him with from his side. A giant nail-like spike. Ganondorf could see the chain in the cell had been pulled off the wall, and he scoffed, tucking the spike into his belt. "Put her in there with him. Let her look at what happens to those foolish enough who try to oppose me."
Someone dragged Zelda inside, holding her while Link was pulled inside by the hair and forced flat against the wall while his arms were pulled up and chained to a different, more secure spot that had very little slack just above his head.
"Bring them some water," Ganondorf said with a smile.
Zelda watched as two buckets filled with water were brought in, and Ganondorf grabbed a guard, whispered something in his ear, and watched him run off. He waited with his shimmering eyes on both Link and Zelda's burning ones.
The guard returned moments later with several things and tossed them into the cell. Zelda looked quickly and saw rags and some food. Mostly disgusting food, but food nonetheless.
The guards only released their hold on Zelda just before locking the cell.
Ganondorf leaned against the bars and lowered his voice to a growl, so low that Link couldn't hear, but Zelda could. With a wicked smirk, he bared his sharp teeth. "I want you to take care of this kid. Don't let him die, Zelda. You can't help but care for even the most pathetic rats in Hyrule. And when I come back for you, if you don't give me my kingdom, I'll kill him in front of you, like all the others. It will be slow, and I'll make this soldier beg to be killed. I'll tear his lungs from his body while he breathes. I'll bring him to the brink of death and back, again and again until you give me what I want. And if you don't break with this boy, I'll make you grow close to another in the dungeons. And another. And another. And each death will be on your conscience. Or, better yet, tell him or the others who you are. I'll rip out their tongues and then kill them. So, do it. Take care of him. He only has you for help, or he'll die of dehydration soon, so make your decision quickly. Or, would you rather let him die, like you let your family die?"
Zelda brazenly strode up against the bars of the cell. "Letting him die of thirst before meeting your blade is a kindness, not a punishment. I fail to see your logic."
Ganondorf reached his hand between the bars to lightly grab a piece of her blonde hair, letting it fall as she jerked away from him. "And you fail to see that your heart is your greatest weakness." He lowered his voice so no others could hear him. "It's what would have made you an excellent ruler in your world. But not in mine."