Link gripped the small chain above his head and leaned back against the wall, savoring his energy. His eyes rested on Zelda.
She was on the ground, face down and hair splayed. Her leg looked like it had collapsed under her, and her hands were reaching out for anything at all. She wasn't too far from him. If he kicked his foot out, he'd be able to touch her.
The dungeon burst into erratic shouts as they did every time the guards brought food and water to the prisoners. And when the guard arrived at their cell, he dropped the bucket, splashing the water all across the floor as it crept down the dungeon hall in a long river.
"What happened?"
Link looked over at the guard with hooded eyes, the eyes of a man who had no strength left. "She fell and I can't wake her." He lowered his voice, letting it croak. "Please! Help her."
The guard hurriedly reached for his keys. Ganondorf's palace guards knew who she was and the danger of her revealed identity and her death.
"Get the King!" he shouted down the hallway before finally sliding the key into the lock. No other guards were with him, as the rest had gone to inform their lord.
He bent over her body, moving the hair from her face and placing his finger under her nose.
"I'm dead! I'm dead!" he began to hiss, shoving her body harshly.
But Link let out a cry and the man fell backwards.
Zelda knew her cue and sat up, pushing the man closer to Link, keeping him on his knees with all the strength she had. Her job was to keep the guard in the crook of Link's knee, while he suffocated the guard without being able to use his arms.
It was much harder, and the only leverage Link had was his ability to hold himself up on the chain. The pain from his dislocated arm, the strain on his body, and the force he had to apply to the squirming man had his screaming out as if his arm were being torn off. Zelda let out her own cry as she held on.
But finally, the guard stilled, and Link let go, hanging limply against the chains again.
"Go!" he hissed, gesturing to the open cell door.
Zelda turned for it, but she couldn't do it. Instead, she grabbed the keys from the guard's belt and stood on the tips of her toes pressed against Link, using him for balance, as she tried the few keys in the lock that bound him to the wall.
"No!" he grunted, twisting so she couldn't stay balanced. "Get out of here!"
She returned with the next key, and he lowered his forehead to hers, pushing her back.
"Get out, Zelda."
She looked up at him and moved her head away, allowing her to move back into place. "This one is the last one!" she said, sliding it in with ease. But before she could turn it, the door at the end of the hall opened with a bang.
Hurrying to grab the key from the cell, and pulling the key off the ring, she slid the two keys into Link's hands and tossed the ring back onto the guard to avoid suspicions.
Link's face was incredulous, stunned that she had wasted her escape on him.
"You're a soldier," she said hurriedly, hearing the footsteps grow louder. "Escape. Find Prince Daltus and join his army. Then come back here and kill him." She backed away and ran out of the cell, away from the footsteps.
Link watched as Ganondorf and several guards raced past his cell.
"Zelda!" Link called, but it was lost under the loud calls from every other cell.
Link could hear a sharp scream and several thuds. He fumbled with the key in his hand and stopped. As much as he wanted to break free and help her, it would make her sacrifice in vain. He'd be captured immediately or killed, as would Zelda.
Instead, he felt behind him. Somewhere, there was a small gap in the stones that was just large enough to slide the keys in. He found it just before two guards ran back his way and peered into the open cell.
Then, Ganondorf appeared behind them, dragging something behind him.
Zelda's thin wrist was clutched in the Demon King's hand, and her body was limply following where he dragged her. Her blonde hair was red with blood, and her eyes were closed.
He stopped to give Link a sick smile. Ganondorf raised Zelda's arm up so Link could see her unconscious form better. "Looks like we won't be needing you today. Guards, take care of this mess." Ganondorf chuckled and let Zelda fall lower again. "She got her wish after all. You'll escape the sword when you die of dehydration. It looks like you offered her one final act of kindness."
Link struggled against the chain in anger, but Ganondorf let out a full laugh this time and continued walking, leaving the guards to take away the strangled soldier and the discarded, useless keyring without a second glance back.
Zelda awoke to a throbbing headache and blurry eyes that wouldn't clear with just a few blinks. But she could see the massive shadowy form in front of her, and she hurried to back away, only to find herself already against a wall.
Ganondorf's smile was the first thing she could see. It was sickening, sharp, cold.
"Princess Zelda. I've thought many things about you, but 'murderer' is not one that would have crossed my mind. And a fruitless murder, at that. How does that feel?"
Taking a deep breath to fight back her headache, Zelda rested against the wall. "Is it murder if we're at war?"
He hummed and grabbed her by the arm, hoisting her to her feet.
"Will you give me this kingdom?"
Zelda blanched. "You know that answer."
"I figured."
And with a hard shove, Zelda felt herself falling, crashing several times against something hard until her feet burned with the pain of a landing.
But it was dark, and she couldn't see, could barely move. Her arms had just enough room to come up and feel the wall in front of her, and she took a small step back, feeling another wall behind her.
Breath hitching, she dared to move her arms to the sides. Walls.
She looked up at the one beam of dim light from above. Ganondorf's face covered it as he leaned down and laughed at her panicked expression.
"I told you you'd like your new cell. You'll be begging me to let you out of there. And I'll only let you out for an execution, or when you give me my kingdom."
"No!" she shouted, banging against the wall in genuine fear. She couldn't move, couldn't sit, couldn't see. "No!" she tried again.
There was a harsh scraping noise as he slid a grated cover over the hole and stared down at her one last time before leaving her.
She shook and took a deep breath, steeling herself for a battle that she could only fight from within.
A/N: Thanks for the input! Instead of spacing them out, I'll just post one chapter at a time rather than two so it's a happy medium!