Castle City; the beating heart of Hylian life and civilization. Over the thousands of years that the Endless Cycle had repeated itself, the city had been through innumerable changes. It had grown, shrunk, been drowned by an ocean, been sacked and pillaged by invading armies, been fortified, been reduced to only a handful of houses, and so on, and so on. In the past two hundred years, it had grown once more, into a bustling metropolis. However, most of the people who called Castle City home, would hesitate to call it a 'Thriving' one. Corruption, both political and on less grand levels had run rampant through the city for decades, however nobody was able to do anything about it while the military put in place by King Link to "Protect the Peace" remained.
So instead, most people simply bowed their heads and went about their daily lives, preying to the Goddesses that nothing bad would happen to them. It was through this culture that a woman moved, her steps careful and full of fear, her eyes cast down, so as not to attract any attention to herself, her head covered by a shawl. However, if one were to actually look her in the eye, they would see the fire of pride, and the glint of defiance in those twin sapphire orbs. She moved carefully through the city at a measured, swift pace, careful to avoid the patrols of guards, but also making herself seem like a completely natural part of the city crowds.
Her path brought her to a tenement building, old, and seemingly sagging under it's own weight. After a brief glance around, she entered the building, making her way towards the top-most floor. There, she walked down a short hallway, and entered a small apartment.
As the door closed behind her, she turned the lock and let out a small sigh of relief. "I hate this city." She said, pulling the shawl from her head and shaking out her long golden blonde hair, and running a hand through it. "There's so much fear here that I can barely breathe." She moved to the apartment's window, and sat down at the small table there, and gazed out. The window had a perfectly unobstructed view of the royal palace, it was the main reason she had taken the place.
Settling down into her seat, she watched the various comings and goings of the palace. For hours she sat, unmoving, as if waiting for something, or perhaps searching. Finally, as the sun began to set, she sighed. "And as usual, he cowers in his fortress... I'm disappointed in you Link. You used to be so brave... so noble... In ages past, if you knew your enemy was out there, you would hunt for him yourself... not hide behind soldiers and walls of stone." Standing and making her way to a small cupboard, she pulled an apple from it and ate thoughtfully. "This is a waste of time... Link is gone this cycle. He's become a cowardly tyrant. And all he does is sit on his throne and send his legion forth to enforce his will."
She sighed once again, and walked to the small dresser. Closing her eyes, she quietly allowed a small incantation to take effect, when her eyes once again opened, gone was the sapphire blue, replaced instead by a deep brown. She then pulled open the dresser and retrieved the clothing hidden within. "Well then, it's been three years." Shiek said to herself as she pulled her mask on, "I guess I should go make sure my favorite nephew is still alive."
She finished dressing, and then climbed agiley out of the window and up onto the roof. Once there, she took one look back at the palace before turning to the west. Suddenly, a massive gust of wind ripped it's way through Castle City. It was strong enough to nearly knock Shiek off her footing, and did impressive damage to several surrounding buildings as well. As she recovered from the near fall, Shiek winced as a stinging sensation made itself known on her right hand.
"Ganondorf..." She said, gazing towards the western desert,"You've found something."
The Castle City palace echoed with the clashing and clanging of metal, as the many guards and soldiers made their rounds. And yet, despite the presence of so many people, the palace always seemed to feel so empty to Link. As if something were missing... He had never been able to find what that something was, but it always nagged at the back of his thoughts. The feeling had grown worse in the past seven years, after Ganon had escaped him in the desert.
As Link sat upon his throne, once again desperately trying to figure out what he was missing, a terribly strong, bitingly cold wind ripped itself through the halls and windows of the palace. Several guards were knocked from their feet, and dozens of decorations were shattered across the floor. When the wind reached Link's throne, he felt a chill of fear crawl up his spine, and he heard words that had been spoken to him thousands of years before echo through his mind. "When the sun rose into the sky, a burning wind punished the land. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came, the wind always carried the same thing: Death."
Despite himself, Link felt himself smile, a strange sense of almost eagerness creeping into him. "So that's it..." He murmured to himself quietly, "That's what has been missing. So now the hunter becomes the hunted. Very well Ganon. Come. Come and face me."
Sitting back on his throne, Link felt his smile continue to grow. Then, a single crystalline thought shot through his mind; Is this how He felt? When he knew that I was coming for Him?
The King of Hyrule sat upon his throne, and laughed, a hint of terrified madness echoing through the cavernous halls of the palace.
Ganondorf sat at the place of honor in the large gathering hall, his mind absorbing the events of the past few hours. Ever since his memories had first begun to return, almost seven years ago, he'd had his suspicions that this incarnation of him was Garudo born. But until his meeting with Lussana, he'd never been sure. And now, here he sat, gazing around the gathering hall.
The hall itself was massive. Constructed deep within the stone Gerudo Fortress many hundreds of years ago, in an age when the Gerudo had been a nation to be feared rather than a small group of bandits. An enormous fire-hearth roared with crackling heat in the wall behind him, while before him, past the slightly raised dius where he sat, the Gerudo tribe all knelt, their heads bowed to their King. Ganondorf himself sat cross-legged on a simple, but comfortable rug, it's design calling forth memories of hundreds of past lives when he had sat in this very spot.
He smiled at the irony. In all of those memories, he had sat here plotting how best to take the powers of the Triforce, or how to gain dominance over the world. In all of those memories, he had been a creature of darkness. A demon wearing the skin of a man. Yet now, he looked upon the emotions that had been within him with disgust.
Shiek was right. He thought with another smirk, Something in this cycle is very different.
Finally, he pulled his attention back to the matter at hand. He had almost four hundred beautiful women bowing to him, and hailing him as their King. With a small gesture, he spoke, his voice reaching through the depths of the hall with ease. "Please, cease this kneeling foolishness." He said, beckoning the Gerudo to rise. When they all seemed to look confused at his order, he sighed, "At least sit down and relax, please. You all are making me nervous." He chuckled lightly.
The Gerudo women finally seemed to get the idea, and each of them shifted, from the kneeling bow that they had held, to sitting cross-legged on small rugs similar to the one upon which he sat. Letting out a small sigh, Ganondorf spoke again, "Listen, this whole 'King' situation was a little unexpected. I've spent most of my life on my own, or living with the woman who raised me." He said, "I'm not exactly what one could call royalty material."
"That matters little in the long run, my King." Lussana spoke from her place in the front row of Gerudo. "The simple fact is that the Gerudo belong to you. What you command, it shall be done."
"And I'm sure that every single one of you have absolutely no problem obeying a man. The exact things that you all have spent your lives fighting." He shook his head. "No. As I am now, I am no King. Had the events from twenty one years ago unfolded differently, perhaps. But for now, I am not your King." That drew several confused and possibly scandalized glances. "Until I have learned what it means to be a king, and more importantly, until I have earned the respect of each and every one of you, I am nothing more than your equal. I am a thief first, and many other things after that." His gaze fell upon Lussana, "Is that acceptable Mistress Lussana?"
Lusanna sat silently for several moments, thinking. He's more humble than I expected, She thought with a smile, Whoever that Shialla woman was... Mistress Nazhia chose well. "Very well, Lord Ganondorf." She finally nodded, "Until such a time as you are prepared to take command, we shall treat you as our equal. The only male Gerudo is due at least that level of honor."
Ganondorf bowed his head in thanks, before casting his gaze back across the gathered Gerudo. "Thank you. I look forward to working with all of you." He smiled warmly, causing many of the gathered women to murmur among themselves.
From her seat off to the side, Nobooru watched her former travelling companion curiously. Is this why he wanted to meet the Gerudo? She wondered silently, Did he use me to get here just so that Mistress Lusanna would notice him? But then if that's the case... why is he turning down the Kingship now?
Beside her, her sister hummed in thought, "Hmm... I like him more and more Nobooru. You really did bring home a keeper." She grinned mischievously.
"What are you talking about Missan? He's being an idiot and turning down what may be the most incredible gift of all time."
"Is he though?" The question caused Nobooru to pause, "He said that he want's to wait to claim the Kingship until he's earned the Gerudo's respect. That tells me that he not only knows that he knows nothing about leading, but he also respects our culture enough to know that no matter how much Lusanna want's us to accept him as our King, we only have her word that he is who she says he is. Regardless of what Lusanna says, there would have been dissension among our sisters, and many of them would have refused to follow him, or even tried to remove him as a problem quickly, before he got too 'comfortable' in his position."
"So... by turning down the Kingship for now..." Nobooru thought for a few moments, following her sister's line of reasoning. "He's allowing our sisters to get used to his presence, until they themselves are ready to accept him as King."
Missan smiled widely, "Well, not just a pretty face there after all are you oh sister mine?" Chuckling at the glare she received, she continued, "That's right. This way, he not only will be able to earn the respect of the Gerudo as a whole, he'll also learn what he'll need to become a true King."
Nobooru returned her gaze to the young man now moving away from the King's seat and towards an empty space near her and Missan. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes were completely unreadable. Nobooru gasped slightly as she saw his eyes, something about them gave her the impression of eternity staring back at her. They made her feel like she was staring down not a man, but a force of nature. Ganondorf Dragmire... She thought as she smiled lightly and gave him a silent nod, Just what in the Goddesses names are you?
"How in the hell did you bastards let him get away from you?!" Screamed General Faz. "Are you all truly so incompetant that you let a woman steal our prey away from you? And when he was half dead too?"
Captain Heidero quietly rolled his eyes. The General had been like this for almost two solid weeks, and now it was starting to get old. "With all due respect General, Why in the hell should we care about what happens to this man? I met him. Had the chance to speak with him. Sure, he's a card cheat, and he may, or may not know a bit of magic, but how the hell does that make him such a huge threat to His Majesty?"
The General's glare was one of pure hatred. "Watch your tone Heidero. You're on thin ice as it is for letting that bastard get away from you back at the Crossroads. Don't make me add insubordination to that as well."
The other soldiers glanced nervously between the two officers. On the one hand, Heidero was popular with the rank and file, he always joined in their jokes, and generally made sure that his men were as well taken care of as was possible in the 'Goose Chase Brigade'. On the other, it was a well known fact that General Faz was well connected, and rumor even held that he had the favor of King Link as well, although that particular rumor was also coupled with a similar one that said the General's favor with the King had been steadily falling over the past seven years.
Heidero meanwhile matched the General's glare with his own look of pure disgust. "So, it's insubordination to ask what the fuck we're doing wasting our time, resources and manpower scouring the desert trying to find and capture a SINGLE man? Listen to yourself Faz, we've been out here for years! We have spent seven years just trying to find this guy, a lot of us honestly didn't believe that he was even real! Now, guess what? We fucking found him! You want to know what we learned from that? We learned that the king has a hard-on for the death of a fucking card swindler, that's what." He gestured around himself to the others, "We deserve to know the truth. Just who is he that the King would dedicate so much just to get rid of him? Why the hell would His Majesty even care about a scoundrel like him?"
Faz's fist struck down on the staff table behind which he currently stood, splintering the wooden frame with a roar of anger. "That's ENOUGH!" Field reports and paper maps scattered about, knocked in all directions from the force of the blow. "I have endured your blatant disrespect for authority for far to long Heidero. But you have now crossed a line. Demanding an explanation from the King? You should know better than to question the legendary Hero of Hyrule." He reached down, drawing his sword, much to the shock of all present. "Your treasonous audacity ends now."
Faz lunged forward, thrusting with his blade in a brutal stabbing motion. Unfortunately for him, Heidero recovered from his shock far quicker than anyone else in the tent, and in a flash of motion, he stepped forward and to the side, catching the General's sword hand in a vice-grip.
"A good rule of thumb Faz." Heidero spoke quietly, but his voice seemed to echo through the tent, "If you're going to kill a soldier like me, you should really spend more time actually training with the weapon you plan on killing with, rather than sit on your ass all day and shout orders." With a savage twist, he quickly broke the General's wrist, catching the sword as it fell from his now loose grip. He then brought the stolen weapon up and around in a glistening arc, cutting clean through the man's throat before plunging it into his heart.
General Faz fell to the ground, stone dead. The stunned silence that followed was almost painful as Heidero stood there, gazing down at the man who had made his life hell for the past five years since he had been transferred to the brigade. Finally, he turned to look at the soldiers. "Alright. I just murdered a superior officer. Since you all look to shocked to think strait, one of you had better get smart real quick and arrest me and send word to Castle City."
At his words, one soldier finally seemed to snap free from his shock, "But Captain, that was clearly a case of self defense."
"Doesn't matter. I'm still currently a murderer." Heidero's gaze was hard, but oddly calm. "Only problem here is that because Faz was an idiot... I'm the only one that command of the brigade falls to if he should die. Which means that officially, this brigade is without a command structure."
The man who had spoken looked around for a few moments, and then nodded. Pointing to a pair of men, he spoke, "You two! Get something to restrain the Captain. You, you and you, get this mess cleaned up and prep the General's body for either burial here, or to be returned to Castle City for burial. Move it soldiers!"
Heidero smiled and slumped down to sit next to Faz, a strange look in his eye. "Well... I really did it this time didn't I Faz?" As the two soldiers selected to detain him approached, he spoke up towards the man who had taken charge. "I would like the opportunity to plead my case before the crown sir."
The soldier nodded. "I will include that in my report. It will take a few days for a reply to reach us you realize." At Heidero's nod, he continued, "Good. Then you will remain under guard until then. I... suppose that introductions are in order. I am acting captain Feris Ingvar."
Heidero nodded once more as one of the soldiers locked a pair of manacles around his wrists. "The men are in your hands until this mess sorts itself out Ingvar. I'm sorry for the trouble."
Ingvar shook his head with a small smile. "Honestly, with the way Faz treated the men, I'm a little surprised he survived as long as he did. Not to worry sir, we'll get this all sorted out." Heidero saluted as best he could in the chains and was then led away, leaving Ingvar to start cleaning up the reports and maps that had covered the General's small table. "I know I say that..." He said quietly, "But honestly sir... what the hell were you thinking?"
Link sat in the meeting room, reading the report that had arrived from the Desert Hunter Brigade, an odd look on his face. The captain of his personal guard stood just off to his side, and several generals were seated around the large table, each of them had read the report, and each of them was silently terrified at the thought of how their volatile King would react to the news.
"So. Faz is dead, and the Brigade is basically crippled because of it. Is that what I am reading here General Kaida?" At the general's nod, Link sighed. "Dammit. Alright, have this 'Heidero' brought to me. If he truly thinks that he can plead his case to me, I could use the entertainment. In the mean time, General Imeraz, dispatch a group of officers to take command of the Desert Hunter Brigade until this 'acting captain Ingvar' fellow can get his people in order. And have them evaluate Ingvar, see if he is proper command material. And find out if it's actually true that the Brigade let Ganon escape them. That's it, you are dismissed."
The gathered Generals all stood and saluted, before making their ways to go about their duties. Link meanwhile sat back in his chair. Turning his glance to his Guard captain, he smiled thinly. "What do you think Captain Volge?"
Volge sighed, "I think that Faz was a bureaucrat, not a soldier. He tried to kill a rather well decorated officer for asking simple, if... ill advised, questions, and he paid the price for his idiocy. That being said sir, he was a General, and that fact shouldn't be overlooked."
"True." Link nodded, looking back down at the report. "Still, I am curious about this Captain Heidero. According to the testimonies of his fellow soldiers, he's the model captain. And he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Perhaps I can use him..." The king of Hyrule tapped his chin in thought, as the cold wind of death once again blew by in the night outside.
Nobooru fell back onto her cot, the comfort of it a welcome and wondrous change after the weeks of sleeping in a bedroll on the hard, unforgiving ground. As she lay there, watching the sky darken through the small slit of a window in her room, she once again found her mind on Ganondorf.
He was a strange man, and the more she learned about him, the stranger he became. A fighter, a thief, a magician, and now suddenly he was also a King? And there was more as well. She had noticed it slightly during their trek through the mountains to the Fortress, but paid it no mind. However she had seen it again during the gathering in which he had turned down the Kingship. He was hiding something.
She lay there, wondering what he could possibly be hiding, as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, until it was beyond the edge of the canyon, and the Fortress was shrouded in night. Finally, realizing that she'd be unlikely to get any sleep with her mind moving in overdrive as it was, she rolled back up and decided to go for a little walk to clear her head.
For Nobooru, 'a walk' at this time of the night meant her testing just how good she had become at sneaking around. She entertained herself be trying to get as close as she could to the women who were on guard without them noticing her. As she was creeping up on her fourth guard, about to startle the woman with a good natured poke to the ribs, a small flicker of movement caught the corner of her eye. Just as she turned her gaze towards it, she caught sight of Ganondorf moving out of a pool of torchlight and into a corridor of the Fortress.
"Now where is he off to at this time of night?" She asked herself quietly, eliciting a quiet, shocked squeak from the woman she had been sneaking up on. "Sorry," She said with a chuckle, "But now you know to watch your back better at night."
Nobooru quickly dropped down to the level where she had seen Ganondorf, making her way into the hallway. Taking the only direction he could have gone, she moved swiftly, and silently, trying to catch up to the mysterious man. As she rounded the corner, she threw herself into a roll to come to a stop behind a crate, and peeked out, catching sight of her quarry.
He was standing before a blank wall in a storage room. "So..." He said to himself, "Nobody ever found it huh? Interesting." As he spoke, he reached up and pressed one of the stones. Much to the surprise of the hiding Gerudo onlooker, the wall slid silently open, splitting in the center and both sides sliding back. "I know you're there Nobooru." He smiled as he heard her squeak in surprise, "I had a feeling that you would be the one to follow me around."
"Well can you really blame me with stuff like this?" She asked accusingly, regaining her composure and stepping out from her hiding spot. "I want a real answer. Just who the hell are you? And what the hell is this?" She gestured to the new hole in the wall.
Ganondorf stood there, his strange golden eyes seeming to search her for something. Finally, he sighed, and beckoned her to follow him, before turning and walking through the gap in the wall. As they walked down the revealed corridor, he spoke. "I am Ganondorf Dragmire. And I know more about this fortress than probably any living person. Mostly because I more or less built it."
"That's impossible. You're barely older than twenty. This place was ancient when my ancestors were kids."
"Both statements are in fact true. However, I am going to guess that you are familiar with the tale of the Hero of Time?"
"You mean the stuff that prick King Link says? About how he's the reincarnation of some Hero who can remember all of his old lives?"
"Exactly. Well, he isn't actually the only one who has memories of their past lives. There are three of us. The Hero, the Princess, and the Demon. I'll give you two guesses who I am." He flashed her a humorous smile.
"If you say 'the Princess', I'm going to hurt you."
He suddenly burst into laughter. "No, I'm no reborn Princess. In my previous lives, I was Ganon, the Demon King. The lord of darkness and monsters, the enemy of Hyrule, and more specifically, the enemy of the Hero of Time. In many of those past lives, I was born as the Gerudo King, and each time that happened, I tried to make this fortress stronger, more impregnable. I halfway succeeded... sort of... the fortress could hold off entire fucking armies, but Link still killed me every damn time."
Nobooru paused, a smirk on her face, "You realize how absolutely fucking crazy you sound right now right?"
He turned to her, his face completely serious, "Trust me, if it weren't for close to three or four thousand different lifetimes worth of memories bouncing around in my head at any given time, I would think I was insane." He then turned and continued walking.
Nobooru hurried to catch back up to him. "Ok, so you're some super ancient super-villain, who used to use this place as a hideout. What does that mean for us now?"
"That's the thing." He said, "I don't know. Something about this reincarnation is different. Link is a psychopath, and I look at the things that I've done in my past lives with a mix of disgust and depression. It's almost like we've switched rolls this time around. I came here in hopes of finding some kind of clue, or at least a place to finally take a break from being hunted all the time." He paused, looking back at the Gerudo woman with an unreadable expression, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this before now. But tricking you the way I did was the only way that I'd have been able to gain access to the valley safely."
"That does then beg the question; why are you telling me all of this now?"
"Because I don't feel like dredging up a spell to erase your memory." He chuckled lightly at her horrified expression, "I'm sorry, that was a terrible joke. The truth is, telling you this is...helpful to me. I've carried the secret of my identity with me for a long time now, and it honestly feels good to finally be able to tell someone. Also, I'm not entirely sure why, but I feel like I can trust you with my secret. A bit odd considering your occupation."
By this point, the two of them had reached the end of the corridor, and had entered a large, dark room. Ganondorf extended his hands and spoke an incantation for a spell, causing several dozen torches set into the walls of the room to ignite. Nobooru gasped slightly at the sight that awaited her as the light filled the room. "Incredible..." She said quietly.
The room itself was a little smaller than the assembly hall of the fortress. In the center, there stood a large stone throne on a raised dias, several steps leading up to it. At the base of the steps, were two ancient suits of armor, standing on either side of the lowest step, facing inwards towards each other. Behind the throne, carved into the back wall, was a massive statue of Goddess Din. And around the room, were dozens of thick stone pillars, all reaching up to a ceiling shrouded in shadow.
"This was my true throne room," Ganondorf said, noting the woman's awe. "While the assembly hall was used for 'official' purposes, I always preferred that my personal chambers be a bit more heavily defended."
"Your 'personal' chambers?" Nobooru asked with a raised eyebrow. "You mean you slept on that throne or something?"
Ganondorf chuckled and walked along the wall to the left, shaking his head as he went. "No, although I may have had my fair share of 'fun' there." He laughed again as the emphasis of the statement sunk in, causing her to blush slightly. "No, my actual chambers were back here." He continued along the walls until he came to the base of the goddess statue. There, carved into the base of the statue was a doorway, well hidden to a casual observer. Ganondorf pushed it open with a small effort, grumbling about how the hinges had rusted, and then made his way inside.
Nobooru didn't know what to expect when she followed him through the door, but it certainly wasn't what she found. Ganon's personal chambers was a room that seemed to fill the entire statue of the goddess, as well as it extended further back. The entire chamber was a massive, tiered construction, the ground level of which was occupied by a large stone table and several chairs. The next level up was a terraced platform that ran the circumference of the room, and seemed to have a small door in the back wall. The platform itself was occupied by various small tables and chairs as well. Above the second level, were another four, each one smaller in width as they got closer to the head of the statue that held the chamber. Along the walls of every level, were bookshelves, all filled to the brim with books so ancient, that it made Nobooru's head hurt just thinking about it.
"You uh... you really liked your books, didn't you?" She asked, chuckling nervously as she glanced over a few of the titles on the shelf closest to her. She wasn't surprised when she discovered that she could not read the language they were written in.
"I started this collection after being killed by Link one too many times. I decided that I would begin to stockpile as much knowledge as I could, in hopes that it would someday help me beat him. It never really helped in the end. He and Princess Zelda were still always able to thwart all of my plans, but, that didn't stop me from trying." Ganondorf looked around fondly, smiling, "I'm glad he never found this place. That's one of the reasons why I hid the doorway so well. If Link knew about this library... I highly suspect that he would have burned the fortress to the ground to ensure it's destruction. Especially in this cycle."
Nobooru took one of the books from the shelf and leafed through it gently. The old paper was in surprisingly good shape, considering how old it was. "So you think you may be able to find a clue as to what happened to you and Link somewhere in here?" She gestured around them once more.
"Perhaps." Ganondorf walked to another self, taking a book from it and sitting down in one of the chairs. "It's a slim chance at best. But, even if I don't find what I'm looking for, at least I have my collection back. I've honestly missed it." He smiled warmly as he settled into the seat and opened the book in his hands.
"You are a very strange man, Ganondorf Dragmire." Nobooru set her book back on the shelf and made her way over to the man. Grinning mischievously, she dropped down onto his lap with a contented sigh, drawing a look of surprise from him. "Well, you may as well teach me how to read this stuff, since I plan on helping you." She said, shifting to get comfortable, and turning so she could see the text.
Chuckling again, Ganondorf nodded, shifted himself so that he was more comfortable, and began to read.
OK! Finally got the next chapter up! Sorry about the long time between updates. I'll try to start getting these up faster in the future, but for now, please read and enjoy.