A/N: Violence warning.

Also, just a reminder, the Link/Zelda chapters are still overlapping and are happening at the same time. There are things in each of the chapters to tell you when the overlap happens (like Link feeling the ground shake a few chapters ago, and the bomb arrows in Zelda's chapter being the cause of it. And Zelda saw Link go over the railing before seeing Finn). So that's just a reminder that they're not sequential, because it'll overlap again here. Okay, that's all. Let's get back to this super happy battle for Hyrule!

Zelda never learned of Finn's fate as she was dragged from the old study, following Ganondorf up a familiar stairway that led to their work rooms: her parents' rooms full of papers, and desks covered in half-read books.

But as they made their way up the stairs, Zelda's thoughts turned to Link. She had no idea if he was out in Hyrule Field, or even here in the castle. But she had to do something to ensure that Ganondorf kept his word, letting everyone go, especially Link. If she gave up the kingdom, she had no bargaining chips left, and she was defeated. There had to be something she could do to maintain her hold on the kingdom while stalling any further executions.

She'd been surprised that, as they passed Ganondorf's soldiers, he gave them a vague command, and the fighting that rang out through the castle became less frequent.

More surprising, she was able to take in her surroundings, far calmer than she had before. And she noticed that Ganondorf walked with a distinct limp that added to his hulking intimidation but was unmistakably from an injury to his leg and not a natural gait.

She gasped to herself, earning Ganondorf's annoyed attention, as she remembered:

"What did you really do to deserve such horrible treatment? There are other soldiers in here, but they aren't chained to a wall or covered in their own blood," she'd asked Link when they'd first met.

And Link had laughed, finding humor even in that moment. "I personally fought the Demon King during the final battle for Hyrule and injured him pretty badly. I was just here to deliver a message to the castle commander from where I was stationed, and all hell broke loose."

"You injured him? Where?"

"His left leg. But he had far too many followers, and I didn't stand a chance. He wanted me to suffer."

"What?" Ganondorf snapped.

Despite herself, she felt a sly smile spread across her face. "I see that Link actually did a number on your leg. I never knew the extent of it."

She wasn't sure if she actually regretted the words, even when Ganondorf's hand snaked around her throat and squeezed.

"If you speak of him one more time, I will ensure he has a long, painful death and you will bathe in his blood, do you understand?"

Her head bobbed up and down as she struggled. He held on a moment longer for good measure before relaxing his hand, letting her fall to the floor as she gasped for breath.

And that's when a terrible idea hit her. She let her arms collapse, taking her all the way to the ground as she exaggerated her labored breathing. Ganondorf bent beside her to pick her back up.

And her armored boot kicked out directly over Ganondorf's kneecap.

He let out a howl, and Zelda scrambled madly to her feet as she dodged past his guards and made it into a long hallway that would eventually lead down to the kitchens. But she didn't think she had the physical stamina to run that quickly or that far.

But this was her home, and she knew it well.

She rounded a corner and hastily pulled at the spear a statue held, pushing a trick wall open. She dipped inside and closed it with a thud, enclosing her in a pitch-black passageway that would lead upstairs. She didn't want to go up, even just the one floor, but she wanted to get away from Ganondorf and get out, so she kept her hands along the wall and closed her eyes so the darkness felt more natural as she navigated the steps and the pebbles that tried to trip her.

She followed it slowly for some time before she reached the end and felt blindly for the inner switch to open another trap wall. When she slid out, she looked around before ducking into the closest room.

And regretted it immediately.

"Viscen!" she cried, running up to him, reaching for the chains that bound his hands above his head.

"Princess," he muttered, "You should not be here."

She swallowed a thick wad of spit down her throat as she looked at his mangled bones and hundreds of small wounds. But she knew how badly too many small wounds could hurt, and these were deliberately placed, deep, torturous. "I tried to negotiate with Ganondorf, but I don't think I'm there yet. I can't give up the kingdom and still save my people. You need to come with me and help me. You need to fight, okay?"

Somehow, somehow, he managed a small smile at her. "Do you not believe in yourself the same way we do? You do not need us, Princess. Now run."

"I do. I need you, Viscen. What happened here?" She looked around, fumbling through bloody papers and pushing things off of desks to try and find a key.

"I told them nothing. But Princess, they are going to attack Damel. I got word out, but there is no way they will make it in time. Not before he…"

"No, I will not lose Damel, Seres, Finn, Ashei, and you too, Viscen! Let's go! Get yourself together while I find the key!"

"Princess," he mumbled. "You don't need me. You need yourself. Your mind. Your memories. Your strength. What would your parents do? Learn from that, good and bad… trust yourself and you will be the finest Queen Hyrule has ever seen. Go. You still hold all the power, My Queen, so do not give it up too soon."

She fought back a whimper as she took a step back, preparing to leave him, but just as she reached for the handle, the hulking frame of Ganondorf stood before her.

"Do you think I don't know where these passages go? I found that one just days after murdering your family, Zelda. You cannot outmatch me."

She bit down on her lip and braced herself as she watched his hand clasp down onto her, gripping her shoulder tightly.

"The Princess doesn't honor her word. We could have saved this poor man. But no, she ran. And for that… kill him. He's given us nothing."

"No!" Zelda screamed, trying to run to him out of instinct and guilt. This was her fault. It was entirely her fault. If she'd just stayed with Ganondorf, Viscen had a chance. But Ganondorf's massive hands held her back, and no amount of fighting them could break her free. Her screams, her sobs, her mindless writhing, nothing could loosen his grip on her.

A soldier took over Ganondorf's place, holding her too tightly to even squirm, as Ganondorf took a massive sword in his hands and waited until Zelda was forced to watch him. And then, with slow, deliberate motions, Ganondorf moved the sword up through Viscen's stomach inch by inch. It was torturously slow, a snail's pace, and absolute torment.

She felt hopeless tears roll down her cheeks as she kept his eyes locked on his for as long as he was able to keep hers. It was the least amount of respect she could show him in this situation.

When the sword had buried to the hilt, Viscen looked up at her one more time before Ganondorf violently reared his sword back and sheathed it in a single swift motion, not bothering to wipe the blood off of it.

"Now, Princess," he hissed, returning to tightly grab her arm. "Let's get this over with and I will spare the rest of your people, your little soldier included, even after your insolence. That's the kind of King I am."

She wasn't offered the chance to respond before he was bringing her along with him again, and it was likely for the better.

Ganondorf led her up another flight of stairs, towards the royal bedrooms and a few sitting rooms for any night-reading or sleepless wandering. He pushed her into a room, and she looked around at the storage room. Not quite where she was expecting him to stop. There was a door that led to the adjacent room. This was primarily a servants' door, so they could gather supplies without disturbing anyone inside.

But she saw an ornate box, one that she'd seen a few times when she'd been prisoner, and she knew what was inside.

Ganondorf all but threw her into the wall so he could gab the box in peace. "I have more copies of this order, Princess, so don't bother ripping it. I'll just fetch another for you to sign." He laid out the parchment on a flat surface and pulled a quill and ink off a shelf, sliding them both towards her.

"Oh, and if you need further incentive, I can offer it. Do you see this?" he asked, pulling a letter from inside his armor. He slid it towards her.

My King, we are in position in Damel, awaiting the signal at your command. -K.

"The signal," he said with an easy smile that made her sick, "Is me dropping fire out a window. A burning log, a torch, it doesn't matter. It will start a chain signal through my troops, and your citizens and friends will be slaughtered in Damel. The city will be a husk by sunrise."

Zelda watched him replace the letter in his armor. Armor that covered every single piece of him. Her knife sat safely hidden in her boot, and she looked him over, hoping to see a small bend that would expose his skin. She couldn't break through his heavy chainmail with just her little knife. He was too tall for her to effortlessly reach his neck or face. His legs were covered.

She knew where to look. She remembered Link's demonstration of where her own armor was weakest, looking at those same spots on Ganondorf. The small gap she had at her waist didn't seem to exist on his armor, though that would have been her best opening. There was a major artery there, and he would bleed out, no matter how long it took, as long as he didn't have a fairy hidden on him, or a medic nearby. His thighs were plaited, his arms were covered in chainmail, heavy gauntlets went up his arms, pauldrons kept her from his shoulders. His feet were in well- protected boots. The only reason she'd managed to kick his knee was the bent position he'd been in that had left her with a decent opening, but he'd be wary of that now.

Every place where he might be stabbed and bleed out was—at least as far as she could tell—covered to perfection, and she saw no openings.

He paced away from her, giving her a moment to quickly grab her knife and tuck it into her sleeve before he returned to her, his expression betraying his impatience.

"Do it now, or I will grab wood from the other room and your people will die thanks to your lack of urgency. You have killed every soldier on this battlefield. If you'd signed the kingdom to me when I killed your parents or your sister, they could have been the only ones you lost. Now, families no longer have fathers, sisters, daughters, uncles. They're dead because somebody," he screamed, spit flying from his mouth, "couldn't sign her name. They think you're brave! You're a coward. You are a murderer. You believe I am sick because I am defending myself from an invasion, but you are nothing but a whiny bitch who managed to kill anyone who dared show you loyalty. You've seen this castle. You've seen the death! It's all on your conscious, not mine. Which of us is truly the evil? End it, Zelda. End it!"

Viscen's last words banged around in her head: "You don't need me. You need yourself. You still hold all the power, My Queen, so do not give it up too soon."

She let out a shaky breath, feeling fresh, hot tears falling down her face. All of myself for the Kingdom of Hyrule. Those were the words she'd been taught her whole life. And as she looked Ganondorf over once again, taking in every sliver of his armor, she knew where she had to lodge her knife. But if it went wrong… if he caught her first… if he could read her mind, if she hesitated for too long…

Turning back to the paper with the long edict on it, she steeled her will and let the knife slide out of her sleeve and into her hand.

Ganondorf's impatience was boiling, and he spun her around with a serious force, prepared to scream or physically force her hand to the paper. And when he turned her, his eyes widened in surprise as he stared into her eyes, shocked, and completely thrown off guard.

The knife, the blood, her hand. It took him a moment to process it all.

She'd dug the knife deep into her own skin, in the gap between her chest plate and the waist of her pants.

"No," he whispered, holding her hand in place as she weakly fought against his grip to pull the knife out, the only sure way to ensure that she'd bleed out faster. He wanted anything but her death. As it was, she knew she could live far too long with the knife where it was lodged. While it acted as a stopper, keeping the blood from spilling out onto the floor and inside of her body, it was saving her, and she had to rip it out. She had to give up her power, but not to Ganondorf.

"Daltus is long gone," she laughed briefly, recoiling from just how much pain that caused her. "He'll keep Hyrule from you and return with more troops. You've suffered too great a loss here today. And I'll be laughing from the Goddess' side!"

She felt her body start to shake, though this time, not from fear. She tried to break from his grasp to reach for the knife again, but he snapped her dominant wrist back with a sickening crack, rendering it useless to her. She let out a sharp scream, bending forward and digging the knife in deeper as she did, her mind reeling through an onslaught of different kinds of pain.

Ganondorf's hands shook as they hovered over her bleeding wound, muttering a string of curses. He reached for a dirty cloth and vaguely wrapped it around the wound, trying to clot it.

"That won't work. You can slow it down, but we're too far from any help. The nearest surgeon is a town away. I'm going to die, Ganondorf. Just end it. End it!"

He looked like he was about to say something, but the crash of several bodies against the door had him turning, watching several Hylian soldiers stumble inside with their swords raised. They noticed Ganondorf, but they reacted to the Princess.

Their distraction gave Ganondorf a moment to sprint into the other room.

"Go!" Zelda hissed, stumbling as dizziness began to take over and she clutched her wrist to stop the throbbing pain, her brain only barely managing to focus on any one thing. She looked down at the knife inside her as they ran past, giving chase to Ganondorf, and—without his looming presence and the need to put on a brave face—she began to whimper, focusing on the harsh pain that was searing through her body. And whether or not Ganondorf was here, or killed by those soldiers, they'd return to find her dead, or close to it. There was no surviving this, no matter the outcome.

Daltus got the kingdom after all, she thought ruefully as her body started to sag. She leaned against the nearest object and closed her eyes, trying to fight back tears. If she was going to die, she was going to do it like a Queen.

"No…"

Her eyes flung open at the sudden voice, and she gasped.

"Link."