***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**
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In Sotto Voce
By The Wolfess
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Chapter 25
Another life played on the inside of her eyelids. It was a life where she woke up every morning and felt Impa's strong arms slide around her waist. A life where they were late for breakfast because they held on too long trying to capture this last moment of peace like a firefly in a jar. And while their various responsibilities kept them separate for much of the day, in this life they made a point to eat dinner together. They rarely supped in the big hall her father preferred with its echoing dead space. Rather, they enjoyed an intimate dinner in the queen's solar where they first met. In this life, they took strolls after dinner on warm summer evenings. They watched fireflies burn in the darkness and Impa stole a kiss while Zelda studied the stars.
But all the fireflies gathered too close about Zelda's eyes. Their greenish lights burned too brightly, so hot and brief were their lives, until they just blinked out all at once. All the queen saw behind her eyelids now was darkness. She tried to pull up the memory of her love's face and all she could conjure was Impa in her battle armor as the queen had last seen her—but now her skin was gray, and her blue clothing was red with her own blood. Her dead eyes stared at Zelda with empty condemnation: Why couldn't you choose me? Why did you have to bring me into any of this at all? Why did you have to make me love you? Why?
Someone was clapping. The slow, rhythmic sound echoed through the cave, and Zelda's eyes opened. It felt like waking up, but the nightmare wasn't over. It would never be over now. Every morning she would wake up with the sharp, lonely reminder that she chose this. This was her own choice.
"Well done, child," Kishla said. "You can make the right choice given the right circumstances. But I'm afraid it's too late after all. It will take a while before your hero will be ready to fight anyone with those wounds, and the ritual has already begun."
It wasn't really Zelda's choice, though, was it? No, Kishla took that from her. She could see it clearly now. Kishla always tried to tell Zelda what to play with and who to talk to and how to act. She always discouraged Zelda from making close friends or trusting people. She always stood in the way of everything Zelda wanted in life. And now she had taken the one thing Zelda wanted most of all: her ability to choose her own future.
"This is your fault." Zelda hands shook at her sides, and light magic flickered around her rapier in a panic. "You sick, greedy woman. You did this!"
Before Kishla had time to finish laughing at the angry outburst, light exploded outward from the queen and her rapier thrust straight at Kishla's chest. The old woman jumped back, any sign of her false arthritis gone. She drew her kunai just in time to deflect a rapid follow up swipe from the queen. The rage in her features betrayed her surprise—she had not expected the queen to be proficient with a weapon. She had not even expected her to fight back.
Zelda was relentless. The days and nights of constant training during Impa's absence finally turned out to be worth something besides feeding her own angry downward spiral. She thrust and parried and danced around like she'd been training for years, and all the while her magic grew brighter. It emanated from her blade and radiated about her person with such intensity that Kishla could feel it burning her skin away in thin, peeling layers. Zelda was like a vengeful goddess come to vent her wrath upon mortal kind—or so it felt to the old Sheikah as her own body began to fail.
Under her breath, Kishla began to chant something that Zelda couldn't quite hear. A dark counter energy engulfed her. It acted as a barrier to the onslaught of light, and for a moment the burning stopped. Despite the thin strips of burnt skin hanging off her, the Sheikah seemed bolstered by this energy and shifted, getting on the offensive for the first time. Zelda fell back on her heal and focused on parrying and counter attacks. It worked for a little while, but she could feel herself slowing at a more rapid pace now. The light around her dimmed. It took her a few moments to shake the fury from her mind long enough to feel the pulling sensation, but once the queen noticed it became clear what was happening. Every time she attacked the dark barrier with light magic, something was siphoning it away.
Cursing, the queen stopped using magic. She didn't know why or how her power was being taken from her, but she didn't have time to figure it out. She would just have to rely on her skill alone. She did not have Link's versatility or Impa's power, but the Queen of Hyrule would fight to the death for her kingdom if that's what it took.
The combatants were so focused on their duel that neither Zelda nor Kishla noticed a single, strange pink fairy with a crumpled wing fluttering in through the cave entrance. It flitted over to where the other fairies hovered and began to swirl around them. This motion affected the others, until all the fairies seemed alive and moving together in one swirling mass. The two women noticed now. They stopped fighting and watched with mouths agape as the group of fairies flooded into the water of the tainted fountain. The bloody liquid bubbled and surged for a moment before it gushed out of the fountain water onto the cavern floor and soaked into the dirt. The water ran clear again, and a raucous laughter filled space with pink light.
The strange light and the laughter grew to a fever pitch. The water heaved. Something just below the surface strained against an invisible seal. Suddenly, a geyser of glowing healing fairies spewed from the water. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of healing fairies gushed out of the cavern. A few of them landed on Link's body and swirled about him. His remaining cuts and bruises healed, leaving behind clear skin and perfectly set bones. Link's eyes flew open. He grabbed the Master Sword off his chest and sat up.
Zelda saw Link rise from the corner of her eye, but her gaze was fixed on the fairy fountain. The flood of fairies stopped, and the laughter gave one more enthusiastic roar before the Great Fairy herself emerged from the clear water.
"Young goddess," she greeted, winking in the queen's general direction. "Your prayers have been heard. Please…do give your adorable Sheikah up in the Sanctum my gratitude. I owe her. You're both welcome at my spring any time, you hear?" With that she blew Zelda a kiss, laughed once more, and disappeared in the fathomless depths of the fairy portal.
"Link!" Zelda exclaimed, rushing over to the hero. He was jumping off the altar and adjusting his grip on the Hylian Shield and Master Sword. "Oh, Link, are you okay? I am so sorry I was not there to defend you."
The young knight shook his head. "I shouldn't have run off by myself," he said. "But we can talk later—look." He pointed his sword toward the cave exit. As her eyes followed where he was pointing, Zelda caught sight of Kishla limping out the door with her hand covering a good-sized wound in her side. The queen nodded and they both ran to catch up with her.
Outside, the sky was an ominous shade of red. Darkness fell quite suddenly it seemed. Small particles floated through the air like ash, making Zelda wonder if Death Mountain had erupted. She looked around for sight of Kishla, but instead she saw her own soldiers. Some were finishing off their poe enemies. Others were still being kissed by fairy wings and lifting themselves out of the mud. Her heart swelled with emotion—pride, regret, gratitude, love, relief. But all these emotions turned to despair when she raised her eyes back to the heavens.
Peeking out from just behind the crumbling tower, a full moon dyed red with a bloody light hung low and large in the sky.
"The blood moon," Zelda breathed. "But it is not supposed to happen for two days yet. How could this be?"
"Kishla," Link said, coming to stand at the queen's side. "The ritual…she must have made the blood moon come early."
Zelda sheathed her sword. "Then we will have to hunt her down later. There is no time to lose, Link." She put her two pointer fingers in her mouth and whistled. A feint neighing was heard in the distance. Before long, her white horse galloped up to them and skidded to a halt before the queen. She swung into the saddle and reached a hand down for Link. "Come on. I will explain on the way." Link let her pull him up behind her and they galloped through the combatants toward the blocked off front entrance to the Sanctum. A well-trained equestrian, Zelda crouched low over the horse's neck and urged it to leap over the low fence onto the stone landing beyond.
"Kishla has revived the King of Evil," Zelda shouted over her shoulder to Link as she guided the horse through the narrow passageways. "He will come for us—so we need to lure him to the most defensible location. The Inner Sanctum is our best chance." Where Impa died, Zelda added in her mind, though she said nothing of her love's demise out loud. She had to steel herself for whatever she would see when they reached their destination. There would be no time to mourn until Ganon was defeated once again.
"Makes sense," Link shouted in return.
The white horse took the last turn at a sharp angle and almost lost its footing, but Zelda calmed the beast with a soothing touch and helped it gets its hooves under it. She stopped just outside the final room of the Sanctum. Once she and Link dismounted, she slapped the horse's rump to send it away and turned toward the inner room with its high, defensible walls.
Inside the final room of the Soul Sanctum, Link and Zelda found a surprising scene. Goron, Zora, and Sheikah soldiers all intermingled in a circle around the Sanctum with their long-range weapons pointed toward the center of the room. There, the Dragon Knight in his black armor was on his knees with his eyes wide, his jaw hanging open.
Standing in front of him, looking worse for wear but gloriously alive, was her Impa.
The young tribal leader had her Naginata in position like she just executed an attack. But Zelda barely had time to register everything her eyes were seeing before the dragon knight's head slid off his shoulders and tumbled onto the ground with a wet thump.
The whole keep erupted in cheers. All around her, people were clapping Impa on the shoulder and shaking her hand. Zelda's eyes filled with tears. For a moment she forgot the urgency of their situation in the flood of relief that washed through her body. Elsewhere in the keep, soldiers uncorked bottles with healing fairies inside, clearly captured from the ones the Great Fairy sent, and those fairies buzzed about to every soldier with a burning dragon-fire wound. Several flew to Impa and lingered on various wounds still closing on her body.
Darunia walked over to Impa and started commenting on her idea to capture the leftover fairies. Zelda could hear his resonant voice from the doorway. She tried to tell herself to say something, move, bring some king of attention to herself and what was coming for them, but her legs were rooted to the ground. Impa was alive. Had she even really died, or was that just another cruel lie? Did it even really matter if it was a lie or not as long as Impa was alive?
Something in the Sheikah's body language shifted. Darunia was still talking, but Impa was no longer listening. Instead, she turned around and looked right at queen. Of course, she could feel that Zelda was there. The queen's heart felt like it was going to burst with joy. She took a step forward but stopped when she got a good look at the three giant holes in the front of Impa's clothing. Whether made by a weapon or dragon fire, nothing that left holes that big could have left her love unharmed. Kishla wasn't lying that time, was she? Impa had really died.
"Your grace," Impa finally broke the silence. She bowed. The rest of the soldiers in the keep took notice and dropped to one knee with a fist over their hearts. The Sheikah straightened back up to continue her progress report. "The Dragon Knight is dead, and we have taken the inner sanctum. Kishla wasn't here but—"
The queen was no longer listening. She sprinted across the distance between herself and the Sheikah, their bodies colliding with an audible thunk. Tears flowing freely from her eyes, Zelda pressed her face into the other woman's chest. She breathed deeply and just held on.
Impa's face was almost as red as her tattoos. Beside her, Darunia snickered and averted his eyes. "Zelda, this is quite public…" Impa murmured, but she wrapped her arms around the queen anyway.
"You are alive." Zelda raising her eyes to examine Impa's face. "Kishla told me you were dead, but…"
"I mean, I wasn't really dead," Impa started, but Darunia snorted. His back was turned like he wasn't listening, but he turned around at that and laughed.
"She was dead as a doornail, don't let her spare your feelings," he said. He was trying to make light of the situation, but there was a sorrow in his tone that betrayed the seriousness of what had happened. "And I was almost dragon food like my father before me. But then these fairies came and just…woke us all up. Like we'd just had a long nap. It was amazing, Sister."
Impa didn't say anything. She looked away from Zelda to a large bloody spot on the white stone floor. Zelda wanted to probe further, but there was no time. She had already wasted too much.
"I want to hear more about it," she said, "but right now we have more pressing issues. Kishla revived the King of Evil. He will arrive at any moment." Zelda pulled away from Impa's arms but didn't leave her side completely. She stayed close as she addressed everyone in the keep. "Listen—the evil one is on his way here. And I must ask something terrible of all of you—I must ask you to help weaken him. Link and I are the only ones who can seal him in the end, but he must be weak enough to do so. Do you understand?"
They all shouted yes, your grace! and readied their weapons. Impa looked at Zelda with a questioning gaze, but the ground started to shake. There was no time left. Link rushed over to stand alongside Zelda and Impa, and they all turned to face the keep entrance as the rumbling grew.
A blast of plum-colored energy exploded around the sides of the door. The stone cracked and crumbled, but there wasn't enough power behind the blast to send stone flying at them. Then the source of the energy reared his red head around the corner. He was a giant made of muscle and wild magic. An untamed mane of red hair cascaded down his back and tossed about his shoulders in the waves of dark energy that radiated from his body.
Right away, Zelda knew something in the ritual must have gone wrong. There were red and black streaks all through his green skin—like every vein in his body was visible just beneath the surface—and two sizable tusks grew out the sides of his mouth like tumors. The worst part was his eyes. Somehow, they had no pupils. No Irises. Just an empty expanse of white that looked around the keep and only half saw what was in front of him. The queen could feel him reaching out with his dark power—using it like feelers to see where his targets were. And he had found them.
The queen grabbed Link's arm. "There's something wrong with him," she whispered into his ear. "He's already weak. Link…you can do this. I have always believed in you."
Link nodded and stepped forward with his sword and shield at the ready. Ganondorf's empty gaze followed the hero. His deformed jaw hung open as he was unable to sufficiently close it with the protrusions in the way. Behind the queen, some of her soldiers shifted to get a clearer shot with their bows. The king of evil did not seem to notice them. She turned and signaled for them to move a little farther. They complied, and still Ganondorf only looked at Link.
Realizing that the king of evil seemed to be tracking only herself and Link, not the soldiers, Zelda made eye contact with Impa. She made a motion that she hoped the Sheikah would understand to indicate that Ganondorf couldn't see the soldiers. Luckily, Impa nodded and began to give further instructions to the soldiers in silence.
Zelda stepped forward and drew her rapier, drawing light out of her body to pull Ganondorf's attention away as the soldiers repositioned. The Gerudo lurched into the keep, the stone beneath his odd, cloven feet cracking with each step, and soldiers closed in behind him. He tried to swipe at them, but they dodged his slow attacks. Finally, he was in position. Every bow and spear and boulder were trained on the king of evil and he only had eyes for the two destined heroes right in front him.
"Now!" Impa shouted.
Link and Zelda jumped back. Arrows pelted Ganondorf's thin skin, boulders smashed against his tusks, and spears cut and buried themselves in his soft flesh. He roared—more of an animalistic sound than the cry of sentient being—and stumbled backward. The soldiers stepped back and readied a second volley, but the Gerudo King was already pulling their barbs out of his skin. He shook his head, little droplets of green blood sliding down his face, and took another step toward Zelda.
Link leapt into action. His sword flashed in and out, stabbing and slashing and cutting from all angles. The hero was faster than the last time Zelda saw him fight. His feet almost seemed to hover over the ground as he fought, and her eyes widened. She hadn't doubted that he was the hero all along—but seeing him in action was a sight she would never forget.
Ganondorf lashed out with dark magic, wielding it like a whip that he slashed around the keep. It lashed a few soldiers across their armored chests, propelling them backward to slam against what was left of the keep walls. He whipped the energy around again and this time it slashed across Zelda's cheek before she could even comprehend that it was coming her way.
The evil energy burned like fire in her skin. She could feel it burrowing into her like a parasite. Biting back a cry of pain, she placed her hand over her cheek and let her own light magic purge the darkness from her. It wasn't so different from purging a poe spirit from someone's mind, but this had to end soon before more of that got into her soldiers.
As if hearing Zelda's thoughts, Link increased the intensity of his offensive. Ganondorf was forced back on his heals with all his attention focused on the hero rather than on the others in the keep. He dodged and deflected, but he was not even close to his full strength. This mindless, half-animal abomination—though full of wild power—could not mentally keep up with a fully powered hero. It was not long before all movement abruptly stopped and everyone in the keep could see the Master Sword sticking straight out of Ganondorf's gut.
"Now, Zelda!" Link shouted, holding the blade with both hands. The blade's blue power radiated out over the king of evil, holding him in place for a moment. It would have to be long enough. Zelda stepped out and dropped her rapier onto the stone floor to free up her hands. Golden power was already filling her hands and emanating out of her body as she approached the King of Evil. She closed her eyes and drew deeper than she ever had before, touching on the deepest, unexplored depths of golden power hidden deep within her. She could not see it emanating off her form in waves just as strong as Ganondorf's. And when she opened her eyes to look down at the King of Evil on his knees, she did not know that her eyes were gone as well—leaving just empty, glowing golden rays of light emanating from her eyes.
Link held still while the queen approached the king of evil. She placed one hand on his head and the other flat on his chest just above where the Master Sword was holding him in place. She spoke something to him in a language no one in the keep understood, not even Link or Impa, and he responded in a slurred form of the same forgotten language.
Suddenly he surged upward, struggling against the combined power of the goddess reincarnate and her champion. Link's grip on the master sword slipped. Zelda's power flickered. Ganondorf's roar reverberated through the air, shaking the very ground they stood upon.
The hero doubled down on his grip and roared in return, putting his whole body behind the sword. He shoved it even deeper into the deformed body of the Gerudo. Link and Zelda's power grew brighter—this time the blue energy of the master sword and the golden energy of Zelda's power seemed to combine into a blinding green energy. It swept over the Gerudo King's body. His own dark energy shrunk and disappeared. Empty and powerless, he screamed out in pain and confusion and hatred.
Zelda shouted something else in that forgotten language. A hole made of pure, white light appeared below the King of Evil. He sunk into it, all the while screaming obscenities that sounded half like curses and half like pig squeals until even his head disappeared and the portal closed over him.
The shaking had stopped. Link and Zelda's combined power separated and faded. The light in the master sword faded entirely, and Link put it back in its sheath. But the power surrounding the queen's body didn't entirely go away. Her eyes were still flooded with light, and the golden power still radiated off her like Ganondorf's dark power once had.
All was silent in the keep. All eyes looked from Link to Zelda and back. She could feel the fear in their bodies. Still charged with the remnants of the goddess power, the queen could feel all the energy in the valley like a network that ran through all things. She could see, now, that this was the nature of magic itself—magic was the essence of life, and life was intrinsically tied to magic. Every being was a part of this network if they showed talent for magic or not. If one could tap into the essence of life itself through the magical network, they could control anything. It would be easy to be considered a god.
"Zelda?"
Impa's voice pulled the queen back into herself. She took a deep breath and let the goddess power recede back into her core. Ganondorf was gone. This kind of power was no longer needed. The light around her faded.
"It is over," she said, turning toward Impa and the other soldiers in the keep. "Ganondorf has been sealed in the void of the evil realm. While we still need to capture Kishla, the day has been won. And for this I applaud all of you. Link and I could not have sealed the King of Evil without your support."
Behind the queen, there was a commotion out in the hallway. Impa and the soldiers within the keep readied their weapons, but it was unnecessary. General Auru came around the corner with his surviving forces in tow. He had a long chain in his hand. He tugged it, barking at someone to hurry up already. Soon, Kishla stumbled into the keep. Her hands and feet were bound in manacles and her wounds, while still bleeding, had been treated by the healers.
"Your grace," Auru said with just the barest hint of a smile on his face. "A gift to celebrate your victory today." He shoved her forward into the keep. The old woman stumbled a bit and fell onto her hands and knees before the Queen of Hyrule.
A shocked murmur went around the keep. Zelda held up her hand for silence and then motioned for Impa to come to her side.
"You should know," Zelda started, "that you failed. You did not kill Link, Impa, or myself, and you botched the ritual to resurrect your master. Perhaps it was too far before the natural blood moon, or you did not draw enough power off me before I stopped feeding it to you…who knows. It hardly matters now. The abomination you brought into the world had to be put down like an animal."
Kishla sneered and spat at Zelda's feet. The queen just shook her head.
"I am more sad for you than angry. You could have aged gracefully and with the highest honors in my father's service. Now, you will be tried for crimes of war and sentenced. Either you will spend the rest of your life in the dungeon, or you will be executed. Before I send you to your fate, do you have any final words for us? Anything you can say to justify your horrendous actions?"
Kishla laughed, but it was a broken sound now. "The history of Hyrule has always been written in blood. Your bloodline is tainted, and history will correct the flaw. If not in this lifetime, then in the next. Mark my words: I will not be the last servant of Hylia to try to take your family's dynasty down."
Zelda sighed and shook her head. She started to send Kishla away, but Impa put a hand on her shoulder. The queen stepped aside to give Impa the floor.
"How can you still call yourself a servant of Hylia when you have betrayed everything she commanded us to do? Betrayed your tribe?" Impa demanded. She had to hear this. After everything that Kishla taught her and everything she did, the tribal leader had to hear her reasoning from her own mouth.
"I would never betray the Goddess Hylia." Kishla seemed offended at the implication. "I am her truest servant! It is your lines that have betrayed her intent for the sacred bond between our tribes, your lines that have been tainted and twisted beyond redemption. The fact that Tikala even named you Impa is laughable! It was an obvious play for the throne. That's all she ever wanted—to rule Hyrule herself instead of going through the weak royal family. I foiled her plans, but she was cunning. If she couldn't have the throne herself, then you would take it and she could rule through you. And that pathetic princess just sat back and let it happen like a love-sick pup. You make me sick. You're an abomination. You don't deserve to be named Impa."
"Take her out of my sight!" Zelda commanded. "Before I finish the job I started in the fairy fountain. Link, Darunia—will you both escort her? If she tries to escape, I want your capable eyes on her."
The hero and the Goron nodded and followed behind the kicking, screaming Sheikah elder as General Auru dragged her out of the keep. Zelda released the other soldiers as well so they could tend to their needs and regroup with their unit captains. A larger debrief would happen later. Impa indicated that the Sheikah and Zora troops should go with their Hylian brethren. They all started filing out of the keep, but before Impa could follow them Zelda grabbed her wrist. The queen pulled her love into her arms. With soldiers still filing out of the keep, Zelda held Impa tightly and kissed her.
The Sheikah Tribal leader turned deep red. "Uh, isn't this too public?" she asked, looking around that the staring faces.
Zelda shrugged. "Probably. But ask me if I give a damn what anyone thinks."
Impa laughed, and soon Zelda was laughing too. It honestly wasn't that funny, but they needed something to laugh at to alleviate the heaviness of the day. So they held on to each other and laughed like madwomen until tears born equally of mirth and sorrow rolled down their cheeks. Eventually, Impa wiped tears from her eyes and shook her head. Zelda kissed each of her cheeks. She raised a hand to cradle the Sheikah's face and smiled.
"I am going to marry you, Impa," she murmured. "The rest of the country can learn to live with it."
"Are you sure?" Impa responded. "What Kishla said…"
"Was wrong. Kishla was wrong. What happened today proves it. The goddess's power would not have come to me if I was not fit to wield it, and the Great Fairy would not have saved you if you were not worthy of being saved. She says thank you, by the way."
"For what? You're the one who made the wish that saved us all."
Zelda shook her head. "The Great Fairy was shattered. One sentient piece of her escaped, and you saved it. It came back and brought her back to life. You saved her. You saved Hyrule. And you saved me most of all. Even in death…you protected me."
Impa drew the queen tighter into her embrace and kissed her more deeply. Zelda melted into her love. The battle was won. The war was over. While there would be a long road ahead of them to heal Hyrule after everything that had happened, in that moment, on the field of victory, the work ahead seemed a trivial matter. There was also joy ahead, and love, and unity. And Zelda would never have to live someone else's vision for her life again. What they did with the future that spread out before them was theirs to define through their choices. If they could help it, their lives, along with Hyrule itself, would be defined and joined in love, as all things should be.
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Author's Notes: And that's a wrap! After over six years, the end is finally here and I think it turned out pretty great. I always pictured this Ganondorf to be a mindless creature like the one from the two Oracle games or A Link Between Worlds, never the main antagonist really...more like the final piece of the puzzle. It was fun to put my own spin on a botched Ganon revival.
This Epilogue is going up the same day as this final chapter (you can thank my wife for that. I was going to upload them separately, but she convinced me to do it on the same day), so keep on reading and I'll have some final words at the end.
Thank you all for sticking with me and these characters through all of this.
-The Wolfess
