Violence warning

Zelda watched the battle in fascinated horror.

She was unable to turn away, let alone speak, when Daltus rode over to her and asked her something. But his words didn't reach her muffled ears. All noise sounded like she was caught underwater, a muffled thing that she couldn't hear but for the rush in her own ears.

But she still had her sense of touch, so when Daltus reached over to grab her arm, her brain clicked into an entirely different overdrive as she turned to him.

"I said it looks like they're doing well," he repeated gently. "They got through the gate."

Every now and then, though rarely, an arrow would fly from Kasuto's bow—or one of the other guards'—at a stray soldier or moblin who tried to reach them. Any larger forces that tried to head towards them were met by the field soldiers.

Several of their own people ran back, carrying wounded or bleeding friends back to the medical tent and then running back to the battle.

"Did they?" she whispered back, trying to distinguish where the gate was at all. Everything was a blur. She didn't know how long they'd been fighting, but she was sure that the next time she fell asleep, all she'd hear would be the deafening ring of thousands of clashing blades.

Auru rode up next to both of them and scoffed. "Have you not paid attention? We are winning."

"How?" she choked out. They didn't have the numbers. They didn't have the training. They didn't have the home advantage.

Daltus leaned forward, his eyes darting around. "They have something to fight for."

Zelda's attention didn't go to Daltus, but she looked at Auru, who was smirking. Then, she heard the sound of a bowstring snapping back.

She could see the arrow coming for her, but it didn't come from the battlefield. It came from her right. From Auru's guard.

Closing her eyes and bracing herself for the hit she'd never avoid, she waited, but it never came.

She looked up just in time to see Bardo ride between her and the arrow, falling sideways off his horse as the arrow lodged sideways just under his arm and into his chest. Epona reared up in fear, not a trained warhorse, and began to back up, almost like she was instinctively trying to get away from Auru.

Kasuto, Ezlo, and Leon were in front of her in an instant, blocking her from Auru's troops. Daltus' soldiers converged around him, attention split between Auru and his guards.

But Zelda didn't have the luxury of time to look around. She felt Auru's grip on her arm, pulling her from Epona as he raced forward, throwing her a decent distance from her guards and into the grass.

He dismounted and hurried to bend over her with his sword.

Zelda fumbled for the knife in her boot, pulling it out just in time to scratch Auru's hand. But he had the upper hand, and he was stronger, pinning her hand back down with a hard force that had her cry out as her shoulder twisted backwards at an odd angle.

"You have my troops, but not my allegiance," he growled, bringing his sword down again. She closed her eyes, unwilling to watch her own death.

But again, the sword didn't connect. Instead, she felt the force of something else on her, and she opened her eyes to see… Daltus.

Leon had tackled Auru off to the side, and Daltus was pulling her to her feet, his own guards dealing with Auru's, while hers took on the King himself.

"Thank you," Zelda said as Daltus helped her find her footing. She rolled her sore shoulder, relieved that nothing felt broken or dislocated, merely strained. Grabbing her knife off the ground and returning it into her boot, she went over to Auru and let out a long breath when she saw the pool of blood beneath him.

"Daltus," she called over her shoulder. "Do you trust your men?"

"I do. Why?"

Zelda stood and looked around at Auru's dead guards, and her bloodied ones. "You know the punishment for killing a king, even if they were defending us. Get Auru on a horse." Hurrying to Bardo, she felt for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint. "And get him to Owl in the medical tent." She turned her attention to the remaining guards. "Auru decided to ride into battle to defend Hyrule. He died a hero, killed by an unknown. That's what happened. Do the same for his guards. Do it now!"

Bardo's eyes were darker than usual as he looked up at her when she moved to kneel beside him. "He didn't think we were watching him. You… you told us… to watch him."

"You did well, Bardo," Zelda whispered with a kind smile, brushing his hair back as he closed his eyes. She stood up for a guard to take him away, and she was beyond grateful that she didn't know if that had been his final breath or not. It wasn't something she could focus on.

"Daltus!" she breathed, grabbing his arm. "It's time. You have to go, just in case he had other plans. You have to be as far from here as possible."

"Zelda," he started to protest.

But she silenced him with a finger. "No, you have to go. I'm going to ride down to the battle so it doesn't look suspicious that Auru isn't here, but you have to go."

"I don't want to leave. These are my people."

"I outrank you, Prince Daltus. Ride out."

His lips tightened into a thin line, but he nodded and re-mounted his horse, waiting for his guards to return.

Zelda, Leon, Kasuto, and Ezlo rode down, closer to the battlefield. She felt sick, seeing the arrow coming for her every time she blinked. She tried to wipe Bardo's blood off her hands. She tried to forget the empty look in Auru's eyes with his throat slashed.

But she was hastily broken from that trance by a shake of the ground and a horrible noise that sent a wave of a dust cloud into her eyes, even from her position furthest from the battle. Riding closer when her vision cleared up, she could see everything.

Ganondorf was standing on the parapets of the castle's outer wall, and beside him were two archers. Ganondorf's raised hand went down, and the archers let their arrows fly, but they sparkled with something that most certainly wasn't the glint of the sun.

When they hit the ground, they exploded, like bombs, as they tore through the soldiers, regardless of whose they were. He waited, letting his archers load another bomb arrow into their bows.

Their soldiers were running back towards her in a desperate attempt to survive another blast. She saw blood splattered over every face, barely covering their fear.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was urging Epona toward the bomb arrows.

Towards Ganondorf.

When she was close enough that she could see Ganondorf's eyebrows raise in surprise at her appearance, she stopped.

He leaned forward, almost casually or bored. "Well, well, well. This is a surprise," he said, just loud enough for her to hear him, though it wasn't exactly the volume of a yell.

"Because you expected Auru to have me killed by now?"

"He's dead then?"

She nodded sharply. "And Daltus is gone. I sent him away at the start of the battle. You and I are the only two left."

"Then you should come up here and cede the kingdom while we have everyone's attention. You're in my way down there."

"I figured."

Ganondorf smiled, baring his sharp teeth as he did. "So you decided to save your warriors by getting within the blast range. It's smart, but oh, Zelda, it tells me so much about you. So much more than those letters I'd been sent. It's too bad you stopped those. They were informative. Where's the prison rat you escaped with?"

"Dead."

Ganondorf laughed, throwing his head back. "So, he's here in the castle looking for me. Good to know that you're still protecting him." He turned around, keeping his voice loud, as he spoke to someone she couldn't see. "Find me that soldier we discussed earlier. Don't kill him. You can likely lure him out by using Zelda."

Her grip on the reins tightened as she watch him turn his attention back to her. "Oh, Zelda, I almost forgot; I have a present for you inside. Come, see who… I mean… what it is."

"Because I'd do that."

"Fine, then stay there. I'll come to you." He turned his attention to his archers. "Fire if she leaves. Actually, fire if she so much as moves. Kill everyone but her. Our soldiers are acceptable losses."

"Yes, My King!" one replied.

If Zelda had been nervous before, it was nothing compared to the torturously long wait for Ganondorf to appear from beyond the courtyard as he strode out to meet her. Any soldiers who even attempted to move close to him were shot. There were archers everywhere, their eyes scanning the battle for anyone who might be looking to aim at their King. And he purposefully moved so Zelda acted as a shield between him and most of the battle, protecting him from any quickly fired shots.

"I must say, Zelda," he practically cooed. It was then that she noticed blood splattered all over his dark clothing and his practically impenetrable armor. "You are looking a bit more grown than you did in the dungeons. You've lost some of your childish innocence, haven't you?"

"I haven't been a child in quite some time."

"Perhaps not, but you are still young. Naïve. Foolish. And brave." The way he said it was definitely not a compliment but oozed with an insulting venom. "You've been holed up in Damel. You knew I couldn't attack there. It was smart, I'll give you that one. But you opened its walls to refugees, did you not? Open walls, open arms. How many soldiers did you leave behind to defend it? Not enough, I'd think."

She made a face, a mix between confusion and disgust. "What does that mean?"

"I'll negotiate with you, Little Flower. I will stop this battle right now, and I will send my fastest riders to Damel and have them call off that attack. And you can save that little maid Auru said you left in charge. Does she know how to defend against an ambush? If not, I doubt she'll last very long."

"Seres…" Zelda muttered, her face visibly falling. She hadn't even entertained the idea that Ganondorf could have sent troops there. With no way into the city past the walls, they'd agreed to simply leave a peacekeeping force. But it dawned on her: they didn't need to find a way past the walls when she'd opened the doors to every refugee in Hyrule.

"Look at this field. Think of those people. You can end it by simply coming inside with me."

"You wouldn't keep your word. I would be doing nothing, and if you hadn't noticed, we're winning."

But Ganondorf smiled. "There are your thorns. I was wondering when they'd show again." He turned his attention back to his archers. "Shoot wide. Keep it as far from her as possible and let them rain down."

Zelda glanced beside her at Leon before the sickening sound of another set of explosions behind her rocked the earth again and again until there was nothing but a constant tremor.

"Stop!" she shrieked, seeing spurts of blood, decapitated limbs, hearing the screams of her soldiers, the screams that she was sure she'd never unhear. "Stop! Call off the attack on Damel and stop this! I'll come inside!"

Ganondorf held up his hand and the relentless bombardment stopped. "You won't be needing those arrows anymore. Put them away. And send our rider to Damel. Call it off."

"Yes, My King," one of the archers said, putting the bow down.

"Wait to leave until she comes to me."

The archer watched her closely, and she took a deep breath before dismounting Epona and taking several tentative steps towards Ganondorf, trying to fight her body's natural response to flee.

Then, there were three whooshes of air past her, and she turned in time to see Leon, Kasuto, and Ezlo fall from their horses, each with a fatal arrow lodged in them.

"You try my patience, Zelda," Ganondorf said as she stifled a sob, turning to look at Leon's frozen look of surprise. "Move faster."

Nearly under his chinin height, Zelda could see that he was decked out in the finest armor, his own sigil embedded in the metal, though the entirety was black and difficult to see. Every part of him was covered in the impenetrable mail, and for what it was worth, it showed Zelda that he was, in fact, afraid. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be so heavily guarded and armored.

Without ever needing words, Ganondorf was a sight of horror. The blood all over his body—a mix of human and monster—showed his ruthless way of carving hrough the battlefield inside the castle for this one triumphant moment in front of Zelda.

She'd vowed to never again enter the castle alive while Ganondorf sat on the throne, yet here she was, walking through the courtyard, surrounded by Ganondorf and his guards.

Zelda made the breathless walk up to the castle for the first time since before the war. Her eyes rested on four cages outside, three that were occupied. She'd heard rumors. She'd heard vague threats. But no matter how much she'd braced herself for the sight, she was sorely unprepared.

Hanging just to the sides of the main gate into the castle were three skeletons. None of them were fresh, but some of the skin and fabric remained and each still retained a telling crown. Picked to the bone by the birds and weathered from months of being on display.

Zelda collapsed to the ground, clenching her throat as her raw sob ripped from her. Her father's regal crown: the blood ruler of the royal family had the most elaborate of the crowns, decorated with different gemstones on each of the sharp prongs that jutted off the top.

Her mother's more modest crown: a tiara with only four gems, but they were the gems that unofficially represented each member of her family. Blue for her husband, the royal color and royal jewel. Red for herself, the flaming spirit she'd brought to the kingdom. Purple for Zelda, the combination of the two, the next to rise. And orange for her sister, the child born with the sunrise, the one with less weight on her who would be allowed the benefits not afforded to the eldest.

Aelia's crown, simple and golden, circling her head with etched designs that embellished it rather than stones, one of Zelda's older ones that had been hastily retrieved for her sister on the day of the invasion. Their final sign of defiance.

There was another cage near her sister, empty, but with the crown that Zelda had been wearing that day. She remembered taking off her favored circlet to put the diamond crown on. Designed entirely with interlocking loops, the symbol of the eternal Goddess' favor that was bestowed on the Royal Family.

Zelda looked across the four cages again before losing her stomach, violently coughing into the ground as her body shook, no matter how hard she tried to regain her composure.

"Do you not like my decorations?" Ganondorf asked, kneeling beside her.

She turned to him, her eyes burning with all the hate and rage she'd ever felt, and before she could control herself, she spit into his face.

He bit down on his lip, his face contorting into one of forced control. Ganondorf was not only violent but intimidating. His muscles alone were inhuman, twice the size of the largest Gorons she'd ever met. So, when he hoisted her up to her feet by her arm, she was sure he'd take it clean off as he all but dragged her inside, his fingers inevitably leaving deep impressions in her arm.

Her foot stepped into a puddle, and she heard the splash before she saw it. But the puddle was red. She gasped at the sight she was met with. The pool of blood led to some beast lying in the center of the room, torn apart and utterly destroyed. And beside it was its casualty. Ashei.

"No," she whispered, feeling her heart clench.

But she quickly realized her mistake at speaking aloud. Ganondorf knew instantly that Zelda had known the Commander, and he dragged Zelda over, throwing her straight into the pool of blood and holding her in place in front of Ashei's lifeless eyes.

Zelda reached out, feeling that the girl wasn't warm, but nor was she cold. It had been a fairly recent death.

"This is what happens when you care about your soldiers, Zelda. They are killed. I imagine it hurts. Come, let's see who else you know. Maybe we'll come across Link. That fourth cage outside is neglected."

She felt his fingers bruise her arm deeper as he pulled her up again, this time, dripping with a combination of the creature and Ashei's blood on her hands and knees.

He dragged her down a hallway that once led to her father's study, but before they could reach the door, Ganondorf slammed her into the wall. She whimpered in pain as her head whipped backwards and began to throb.

"Will you give me the kingdom? Or shall we continue?"

She'd escaped once before. Thousands of soldiers were outside. Countless were inside. She could still escape this alive and with her family's kingdom. So her head shook.

Off to the side, out into another hallway than the one they'd come in from, she watched in horror as a blood-soaked soldier in her armor was pressed against the railing of a balcony before it splintered with a sickening crack, sending her soldier and his assailant plummeting down a floor. She moved instinctively to go to them, but Ganondorf pulled her again as they finished the trip into the study.

Zelda's eyes widened as she looked around. About fifteen of her people, and fifteen of Ganondorf's were in the room. Her people were on their knees, swords to their necks. And one of them was Finn.

Her eyes locked on him. He was bloody and bruised, but his eyes met hers and he shook his head ever so slightly. She could read his words in his eyes. Let them kill us. Let them kill me.

Every one of them had the same look in their eyes, prepared to die. And that was exactly what Ganondorf intended to do. For good measure, he nodded to one of his people, who slowly drove his sword down through one of her soldier's neck.

Zelda cringed and looked away, but she felt Ganondorf's hands tightly in her hair, forcing her head back. "Is Hyrule mine yet, or will we go through each one of these poor souls?"

She swallowed hard, seeing their eyes on her. And though she knew they were dead either way, she knew her words were directly murdering fifteen people in front of her when she choked out "no" once again.

And she stood, forced to watch eight of them die at her feet before he got to Finn. There were already tears streaming down her cheeks, but when the sword went up, she felt her throat croak out a weak sob as she closed her eyes.

"Wait, wait!" Ganondorf yelled, holding out his free hand and involuntarily yanking Zelda's hair in his hasty movement. "She knows this one. Stop."

Zelda's eyes flung open and widened as she met Finn's. "I don't,' she tried.

"You do. Hold him to the wall!"

"No!" she choked.

"Stop trying to command me! You have no power here!" Ganondorf roared as he dragged her closer to Finn. "Take his leg first!"

"No!"

The sick sound of metal tearing through flesh had her stomach rolling, but it was Finn's desperate scream in pain that had her legs give out, only supported by Ganondorf's hand in her hair as he let her lower to the ground.

"Again! Above the knee. When I say leg, I mean his leg!"

When the sword connected, it didn't take it clean off. In her mind, she could see Link instead of Finn. Because of her, if he was caught, it would be far worse. She couldn't even imagine a fraction of what he would do to Link do, but she'd seen Ganondorf torture others in front of her, and this was child's play to him. The thought alone had her sick yet again, and she lost the sensation in her arms as the pool of Finn's blood reached her knees, mixing with Ashei's blood.

"Stop! Stop! I'll do it! I'll sign!"

Ganondorf looked at her skeptically before kneeling beside her, placing a disturbingly gentle hand under her chin to make her look at him. "Is this all it took? We did this when you were my prisoner, but you didn't break. I showed you worse. Are you thinking about that? About what I'd do to everyone you ever knew? About what I'd do to your Link when I find him? About how I'd make you watch every second until he begs for death. I'll see him reduced to nothing, like the sewer vermin he's always beem." He punctuated every word with sickening precision before clicking his tongue. "You're weaker than I thought. I was going to give you credit, but love has made you weak. Your love for your people. Your love for the soldiers who'd die for you. Your love for some filth you can never have."

She looked up at him, her body shaking beyond her control as she tried to keep her eyes firmly on Ganondorf and not at the bodies strewn in front of her. "Let them go. Let him live. Let everyone in this castle live, and you'll have Hyrule. I'll sign, but please, stop. Don't touch Link. Don't touch any more of my soldiers. I'll sign."

Ganondorf motioned for his soldiers to lower their weapons and smiled. "Perhaps now you understand what I once told you. Your kindness and your heart are your greatest weaknesses and would have made you an excellent ruler in your world. But not in mine."