Within the Lair

"What happened, friend?"

Gan let the question poised by the Bulblin King fade into the darkness of the room. He himself didn't want to speak of the destruction Ghirahim and his band just unleashed upon the peaceful, innocent lands of Calatia. It was a final nail in the coffin of the memory of the Hero of Hyrule, a way to wipe the existence of his story altogether. To make a mockery of his situation, of his condemned bloodline, Gan was given a front row seat, and watched as the lava plume burned the pages of the kingdom of Calatia out of the book of history. It...it felt so familiar, yet so much different.

Gan had seen his own land fall, heard how Midna's home was ransacked, heard from Auru and the other generals of the day the Imperials took over, but none, not even Lorule's destructive fall, compared to the destruction of Calatia. That what strickened the former Gerudo prince the most. A few days ago, he had his reasons to fear that the Resistance couldn't beat the Imperials, due to lack of resources and manpower, but that was not the weakness of the Resistance. They had men and women ready to fight. They had resources to take on the Imperials. What the Resistance lack was power, true power. The kind of power that will make men quake in fear. The kind of power that...that will make men bow. The kind of power that kings wield...no, that the gods themselves possess. Yes, the Resistance deserves that power, and...and Gan deserves the wield it.

No...Why would he think such thoughts? There's no such possible way he would obtain the power of a god.

"There is a way."

Gan looked up, knowing that voice wasn't of the Bulblin King (who had figured Gan wouldn't answer his question and recessed back into the darkness), but it was familiar. He had heard it recently...but where? Before he would consider himself hearing voices and going crazy, gan answered the call, speaking lowly that he barely elicited a whisper. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am...abni."

"Abni" in ancient Gerudo meant "my son," and while Gan knew who his father was, the last few days and the coincidental location put a spark in the boy's mind. "You," Gan grunted.

The voice chuckled. "Me."

"You're supposed to be dead."

"But I am not. My body is gone, but I fed on the fear this country has of their dark ruler. It is only enough that I can make such a connection with you."

"The fear you created so long ago."

"Not the fear that destroyed a country, nor the fear that beat down our people… In that sense, we are the almost the same. You know my story, and I know yours."

Gan denied the claim. "I am nothing like you."

"That's right… I was weak once, like you, but instead of sitting around in a prison, I made myself powerful. The same power I took, I offer to you. You would be foolish to deny me."

Gan couldn't deny that, but something told him that his infamous ancestor was hiding something. "How can I trust you of all vile beings?"

"I present you with a olive branch of information. The Resistance fought the Imperials at Clock Town, and defeated the usurpers decisively. The resistance also has the Pendants of Courage and Wisdom, but Power slipped into the hands of the Imperials…" As Gan heard this, his countenance morphed into fear as the Dark Lord finished his broadcast, "...along with that lady friend of yours, Midna." All Gan could feel...was anger. Anger at himself for not being able to protect Midna and the pendant. Anger at himself for allowing himself to be captured instead of joining her. Anger at himself for allowing her to join him in the first place. But most of all, anger at the Imperials for being a throbbing pain in his ass for the last five years of his life. He already lost three girls most important to him in his life. He would not lose another.

"Just listen, Gan, and you will know my words are true..."

The first thing Midna felt as her consciousness flashed back on was the dull cold of metal on the anterior side of her body and the circumference of her neck,wrists, and ankles. Confused as to why she was locked down, she slowly forced her eyes open. She found herself in a dark, rectangular room, the color gray surrounding her on the walls and floor, messaging the despair that she will suffer. There was a speck of black across from her, her curiosity leading her eyes to gaze upon the new color. It lead to her remembering where she was as well.

She was within the Imperial Base, the Lair.

That black speck was her watchful captor. A battle between fear and her normal, hardened self waged on her face, and the man either noticed it or not. Whatever the case, he looked back at Midna through his mask. Feeling quite self-conscious, Midna looked down to the ground, and gasped as she noticed that the Pendant of Power was gone. Rage overtaking fear, Midna scornfully looked back at her captor. "Where is it?!"

He lifted one of his hands, revealing the pendant with him. Midna would have made the feeble attempt to lunge for it, but she knew that would make her look very stupid. She could barely move anyway. Lowering his hand, the captor crossed his arms and leaned back. "Now you will answer my question, Midna. Where is the Resistance base?"

"Oh you know, a little over yonder to the west, then to the south." Sarcasm aside, Midna knew that her captor wouldn't believe her, even as she just told him that the Resistance base was quite in her given directions. Her interrogator did fumed, although he kept his position.

"Lying will get you nowhere. After all, your boyfriend is on the other side of this room. Hello, Prince of Thieves!" Zant's chant echoed through the room, but Midna was unsure whether he was lying to get her to comply or Gan was truly on the other side of one of these walls.

"If you dare hurt her, I will break these walls down."

"Gan? Is that you?"

"It is me, Midna."

Zant chuckled, "He's there, full of primal rage. But I will test his words."

Midna frowned, her sassiness returning. "Oh, because you're so big and bad, having to knock a girl out to beat her? How about you take off that mask, freak!"

At this, Zant stood. "Whatever makes you comfortable. But I think we got off on the wrong foot, Midna Twilight." Zant bowed his head, his mask receding back. Once his head was fully revealed, he lifted it, and Midna gasped. He head short red hair, bright yellow eyes on a pale white face. His nose had an animalistic curve to it, with a tattoo above it. Around his neck and covering the back of his head was a brown hood. Midna shuddered as the man before her bared his pointed teeth, not in fear, but in displeasing surprise.

"Zant?"

"Hello, sister."

Midna could feel her entire world crashing down. For eight years, she had the belief that her brother was a casualty in the assault of her hometown, only for him to be alive and a leading in the Imperial force. She...felt more than betrayed. "H-H-How? Why? How could you join them? They destroyed our home, killed our friends, killed Mother!"

Zant shook his head. "Oh no, they did not kill Mother Dearest. I ended her myself. I brought the Imperials to Rauru Town. As your boyfriend knows, I led them to Nabooru Town. And now, five years later, we come full circle. Two kids I thought dead are alive, and have greatly assisted me with finding the Pendants of Virtue. We predicted the three would gather at Clock Town at some point, and the goddesses delivered. Nayru isn't so lawful after all. Din, no so powerful. Farore, not so protecting over her own creation. Your gods have forsaken you and Hyrule, so, dear sister, I ask you again, where is the Resistance Base? Where would they take the hero and Princess? How did they get the ships? Who allies with your rebellion? Who leads it?"

Pushing back her fear, Midna sighed and dropped her head on the table. "You're right, we're beat. You managed to catch the best team in the Resistance, and if we're beatable, the rest is a cakewalk. So the Imperials must have sacked Clock Town, then? Or is there a reason Courage and Wisdom are not here with you?" As Zant lowered his head in anger and embarrassment, Midna etched a toothy grin. "Oh, did the Resistance ruin your day? Did we blue-ball your chance of victory? Good, it is what you deserve, dear brother."

Zant tsked as he walked away, pausing for a moment as he looked towards a wall. "Prince, if you can hear me, then I know you can hear her. If you can hear her, then you can imagine her being strapped, defenseless to this table. Orders from His Fabulousness dictate that I am not to hurt you, and quite frankly, you are no fun anyway." Zant turned around and analyzed his little sister's tied form, and smiled. Midna's fear instantly returned. The look Zant had on his face now…he bore it before when she was just a naive child. A look of incestual lust. He walked up to Midna, softly caressing her hair. "Tell me, Your Majesty, what color is Midna's hair?"

"Orange."

"Have you ever waved your hand through it?"

"Yes I have."

"Strong fibers, they are. Strong enough to get a good grip on them. " As he said this, Zant yanked down Midna's head using the conjoined ponytails. She winced a little, but audible enough for Gan to (hopefully) hear. "What of her skin?"

"It is a very faint blue during the day, but when it's dark, the blue stands out more, especially the tattoo-like marks. Hair shines brighter too."

Zant nodded. "Her eyes, red as your hair, would you agree?"

"Yes."

Zant moved one hand down Midna's face to her lips, and telekinetically kept them shut. The other floated to her chest, causing Midna to protest. Her voice, of course, was cut off, so Gan never heard a thing. "So tell me this, prince: Have you ever looked at her thinly crafted lips, and wondered how warm their interior could be? Or the comfort of her breasts and ass in your hands? Have you looked at my sister with such thoughts?"

Midna tried her best to fight Zant's abilities with her own magic, but Zant must have spelled her to be unable to fight. She watched helplessly as Zant traveled down to the center of her body.

"Why are you asking me such things?"

Knowing what was to come next, Midna closed her eyes, and tried to focus on other things. The first thing that popped in her head was of Gan rescuing her. "Gan…"

"I think you know what is about to happen, Prince."

Clock Town

"You still wearing that itchy-ass tunic under there, aren't you?"

Shade casted aside a part of his cloak, revealing his old tunic underneath to Auru, Error, and Bagu. "It is not itchy."

Error shrugged. "At least you learned to put on pants." The three men roared in laughter at the expense of the former hero, while he crossed his arms and fell back into his hood. The young adults, Ravio, Link, Hilda, Zelda, and Ralph just gazed in amazement. None have seen their respective men look so...happy.

"You guys are never going to let that go. Don't we have more important things to discuss?"

Auru coughed and cleared his throat. "Right. So that light in the sky...that was from Death Mountain, you say?"

Ravio nodded. "Yes sir."

"And it went where?"

"Calatia," Shade said sorrowfully.

"Oh… Sorry about that, Link… We're calling you Link, right? There's two of you now, and both of you are wearing warm-ass green tunics. Please, Link, tell me you got rid of that dumbass cap too." Shade lowered his hood, reached into his pocket, pull out some cloth, shook it, and set it on his head. Zelda and the others now notice that both Links now looked so similar, except that Link's green tunic and brown undershirt was slightly darker. Whereas Old Link wore brown pants, Young Link donned brown shorts, much longer than Shade's original look as a kid. The hats were different in color, matching the tunic's color but Old Link's hat had a yellow coloring around the opening. It was quite weird seeing two generations of heroes standing together, but it made some of the people attending the meeting feel like there's a chance of salvation.

"Shade will be fine. Link's the hero now, not me."

Error nodded. "As for her (gesturing to Zelda), what do we do? She's no one important, is she?"

Shade smiled. "She is. She's my daughter."

"And you named her Zelda? Left her in Impa's care? Was she the mother?"

"You are in error...Error. I didn't know she was alive until I met her. As for Impa, why else would she care for a girl named Zelda, unless…"

Error looked at Shade's twirling hand for a moment, wondering why he left the sentence dangling. Then it hit him. "Her Majesty...and you? You two...made her? That means she's...she's…"

"She's Princess Zelda, rightful heir to North Castle." All eyes made contact with Zelda, and she nervously bowed her head. Unlike Link, who continuously denied being the Hero until he literally had to dress the part, Zelda quickly accepted being the long-dead Princess. After analyzing her childhood before Ordon and everything the last few days, it made logical sense.

"Great, more royalty," Ravio muttered under his breath.

"Princess? Well, if I must be polite." Zelda heard footsteps approach her, and she looked up to the cheerful face of the Prince of Labrynna. He held out his hand, and she took it, unexpectedly watching as he kissed her fingers. "As you know, I'm Prince Ralph Ambi of the Kingdom of Labrynna. That beauty with the dark hair is the Princess of Lorule, Hilda."

"Lorule," Zelda quizzed the other princess. "Isn't that another realm? The other world?"

Hilda shrugged. "Yeah. But our worlds connected once, if you hear the story of the Hero of Two Worlds. When Ravio and I escaped, it was coincidence that we would end up here."

"What happened this time," Link asked. "I haven't seen that painter guy yet."

Ravio touched Hilda on the shoulder, looking at her discomforted face. She looked up to him, nodding. He nodded back, and looked up to the others. "I'll spare the story, but it is no different than what happened in our story. When the Imperials arrived, they...destroyed our Triforce, and accelerated Lorule's ruin. Her Highness and I are lucky the gods allowed us to escape."

"Back on topic," Auru smoothly transitioned, "we now have the Hero, Princess, and their pendants. We're just missing one, Power, and the two who went to search for it. We know the Imperials are by Spectacle Rock, aka Level 9, Ganon's former lair. That's where our two objectives will be. The Pendant of Power. Gan and Midna. The latter is priority. Last, we have our third objective, which is to find the source of the Imperials' awakening Death Mountain. Then we drive them out of South Hyrule altogether."

"All easier said than done, General."

"I know, Bagu. Two of them can be done with soldiers. Two will require us to infiltrate the Lair." Auru looked to Hilda and Ravio. "You two can handle the last part, right?"

"Actually," Shade interrupted, "I rather go with my two. I know the dungeon, and can easily traverse it."

Hilda shrugged. "You can have it. I wouldn't want to gloat in Gan's face that Ravio and I saved him for once."

"When has he ever saved us?"

"Exactly."

Auru nodded. "Then you have your assignment, Hero of Hyrule. Infiltrate the Lair, get my kids, find the pendant, get the hell out. For the rest of us… Prepare for battle. Using a portal, we'll jump to the western side of the path leading to Spectacle Rock. While we make the Imperials assemble, Shade and his team will infiltrate the Lair. Ralph, you and your forces will attempt to close off Death Mountain's peak by any means possible. Error, Bagu, we'll go over strategies in here. Ralph, Link, take your teams and get them prepped. We make our way under the cover of night. Is there anything we missed?"

"There is one thing." Everyone looked to the door, where a beautiful amphibious creature walked in, staring daggers at Ravio and Hilda. "Just how could you forget that I, Princess Oren of the Zoras, Sage of Water, am here?"

Ravio groaned. "Like I said, more princesses."

Her cries and moans of displeasure still rang in Gan's sullied ears hours after Zant performed such vileness upon his sister. But it wasn't that he did it to Midna that made him sit in rage. No, it went deeper than that. Zant didn't just despoil Midna, he despoiled Gan's best friend, his most trusted confidant, his partner, his shield and sword, his second love, his Twilight Princess. But lo, Zant's crimes went farther back as well.

Zant marched the Imperials on Nabooru Town, and Gan remembered that day as if it was a minute ago. He remember the arrival of the Imperials into the town square, where his mother and former member of the Hyrulean military, Nabooru Spirit and his father, Malladus Dragmire, meet with the masked Zant. He remembered the preemptive strike against his father, the first to fall as Zant's blade went through her like a hollow wall. His mothe4 tried to fight back, but was nearly cut down as well. He remembered the resulting chaos, the battle between the Gerudo and the Imperials as his city began to burn. Gan would face Zant in combat, but even in his rage he failed to win. Hearing of his sisters' capture and death, and the torture and defilement of Aviel was just the peak of Gan's own mountain of fury.

So for the hundredth time today, Gan looked to his chains hands, and closed his fists. Concentrating hard, he relinquished his clouded and submitted it to a much clearer one. "Ganon… give me your strength." Pulling on his chains, Gan used all of his strength to free himself. As he did so, he felt his power increase, and the chain on his right whining as it tried to hold him back…

CLACK!

The right chain snapped, to Gan's surprise. Chuckling to himself, he transferred his strength to his left arm, groaning as the chain loosened. It popped just as the right had, and the former prince stumbled forward as a free prisoner. Wringing his arms, the clamps around his wrists fell, and Gan now truly felt free. There was only one thing left to do. Looking across the room, Gan could see a fearful and hopeful King Bulblin staring at him. "Bulblin… If I save you, you are in my debt. Understood?"

The beast nodded, and Gan tightened his fists, telekinetically breaking the Bulblin's bonds. The brute stepped forward, and kneeled at his savior's knee. "What is thy bidding?"

"At first opportunity, escape this place, and find your subjects. Once you gather you people, meet me at the ruins of Nabooru Town." Gan turned around, and raised his hand towards the door. "As for me… I have a heirloom to collect."