Taming the Tiger Chapter 6

He dragged in a rasping breath and turned his head to see his vanquisher staring down at him. The Hylian's sharp, young features were carefully composed, but he could see the triumph shining out from his blue eyes. It made him sick to know that he had been bested by a boy.

He managed a dry, hacking laugh that flecked his dry lips in blood. Link's face did not change. "So you have finally done it," Ganondorf wheezed. He paused to swallow and tasted blood on his tongue. "And it only took you facing me after I had fought and defeated four men before you to do it. That is truly an honorable victory. I'm sure your weak and pathetic priests will sing your praises to the goddesses."

The boy's eyes hardened at his words. Good, he thought, at least, I have struck a nerve.

"It does not matter what you say," he whispered so quietly no one but the dying Gerudo could hear him, "in the end, you still be dead, and I will be the one remembered as finally finishing you."

With those words, he turned on his heel and walked slowly away across the yard.

Ganondorf closed his eyes against the fading pain. He could feel his strength draining from his body as the grass soaked up his blood greedily. With a great amount of effort, he managed to turn himself onto his back with his face towards the sky. He stared up at the sky blankly before realizing with a slow seeping that his vision was growing black.

At least, he would die outside beneath the sun.

She felt something inside of her break as she watched him tumble to the ground. Some ancient and frozen part of her thawed and cracked then like a winter gripped river in the spring. Emotion fountained within her and set her heart hammering in her chest. Her throat closed up, and she felt tears pricking her eyes. She did not even hear the swelling cheers around her as the audience celebrated the death of their most hated enemy. Her eyes remained locked on his form as Link stood over him with his sword gripped casually in his hand as if he had not just slaughtered another human being for the entertainment of others. Then the carrier of the Triforce of Courage walked away from his kill. The former king of the Gerudo somehow turned himself onto his back, and she knew exactly why.

She wanted to go to him. She wanted to leap from her throne, vault over the railing, land on the ground, and sprint to his side. She could save him. She knew she could. One of the few gifts that the Triforce of Wisdom had given her was the special gift of healing. Still she remained seated while she struggled to keep her face immobile and her emotions hidden. Her fingers gripped the arm rests, her nails digging into the wood. Her eyes darted over to Felipus to see if he had caught wind of the storm raging inside of her heart. His eyes were fixed on the body in front of them, but she thought she saw him studying her out of the corner of his eye. She swallowed and sat up straighter in her chair.

It wouldn't do to go running out there to his side crying and wailing like some grief stricken widow. It would ruin everything. Felipus would know. The Council would know. Her kingdom would know. Know what? She would have laughed at herself if there was anything left inside of her that could. Here she was having all these ridiculous revelations, and it was too late. Far too late. If they had even the slightest inkling of what she felt, at best, Felipus would return home and start the inevitable war that would come about. At worst, she would be forced off the throne one way or another, and her country would still face a war. Then though they wouldn't even have her to reason with the Council. Those cowardly old men would give into Felipus's demands as soon as they could turn a tidy profit for themselves. Hyrule would be no more than a province of Holodrum. The thought sickened her, and so she stayed on her makeshift throne as solid and rigid as the wood that composed it.

Soon the cheers died down and the gossip began. No doubt this story would entertain many for weeks to come. Even the King of Holodrum at her side had begun chatting to a servant. Zelda remained still and unblinking, afraid that if she moved from her stiff position she would shatter. She would cry later she promised herself. She would cry after all this had been done, and she could lock herself in her room and scream and throw things.

"Milady, are you alright?" the King at her side asked.

She nodded, still staring straight ahead.

"Is something bothering you? I can have a servant bring you something to drink."

She shook her head slightly, mindful of keeping her face as blank as possible.

"That was quite the show. I must admit he put up quite a good fight, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," she replied reluctantly and slowly, "he did."

"I didn't think he would last so long, though he was very imposing do to his size. He was surprisingly cunning."

Once again, she nodded, unable to bring herself to force unnecessary words from between her lips.

"But that boy, what his name again? Ah yes, I remember now. Link. That boy Link was more than a match for him. I've never seen such a gifted fighter. Did you not say he served in the war against the Gerudo?"

"Yes, he did. That is how he became so well known," she said mechanically.

"I can see why now. He certainly must have put fear in to the hearts of those savages he fought. He should be proud of his victory today. No man of power can stand before him," the King prattled on as he took a goblet of wine offered and drained it.

Something in his words caught Zelda's ear. She whirled around to face him, able to draw her eyes away from Ganondorf's cooling body for the first time. "What did you say, milord?" she asked in an overly eager voice.

Felipus stopped in mid-sentence to stare at her before blinking slowly. "I said that no man of power can stand before him. I merely meant that it doesn't matter if his opponent is a king or a peasant his skills seem boundless."

"Yes, yes, I agree with you completely," she said hastily as she shot up from her chair.

"Are you sure nothing is bothering you?" The Holodrummer narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her strange behavior.

"It's nothing really. It's just that I am not accustomed to seeing so much bloodshed in one day. It makes me ill. I think I will go lie down now. I am so sorry to leave you, but I am afraid that I make terrible company when I am sick." She tried to keep herself from bouncing from foot to foot in her urgent need to get away. She could feel her brain buzzing as if a fever had taken hold of her. There was so much to do.

"Of course, go get your rest. I'm sorry to keep you here," Felipus said as he reclined back in his chair without losing his suspicious expression. Zelda knew that he was puzzling over her strange behavior, but she didn't have the time or the energy to spare at the moment to care.

Without another word, she dashed off past the other nobles and towards her destination.

The Queen stepped lightly down the steps leading into the crypts. The light of her candle cast fitful shadows on the wall that made the place seem more eerily alive than usual. She took a deep breath as her foot struck the last step. She closed her eyes and braced herself for what she knew was waiting for her down there in the darkness. The smells of musty decay and the strong tang of iron mixed in her nose, reminding her all too vividly of the blood soaking the ground earlier that day. She opened her eyes and moved down onto the floor. She could make out a vague hulking shadow in front of her beyond the light of her candle. Her heart stopped and her step faltered. She breathed out heavily once before moving forward.

She could make out his profile as she came closer. His body was laid out on the stone slab in front of her still in the bloody and dented armor he had died in. His face was composed and placid looking, but she would not call it serene. She did not know if a face like his was even capable of expressing that emotion. Now that she was alone in the dark with him when he could not stare at her with those strange golden eyes of his and speak to her with that terribly deep voice, she took a moment to study him as she never had. She knew she would never call him handsome. That was almost too delicate a term for him. His features were proud and fierce and savage. There was nothing soft or yielding in his face. Even without his piece of the Triforce, he somehow exuded raw power and force. Sometimes she thought he could level her with just his gaze.

The clicking of boots on stone steps made her turn around. The glow of a torch lit up the corridor and grew brighter as the figure approached. Link appeared in the archway, glancing around warily before entering the catacombs.

"Your Highness," he greeted her, dipping his head in acknowledgment.

He looked so young to her in the bright light of the fire. Sometimes she forgot that she was older than him. It now seemed impossible to ignore. Beneath all of the skill and talent and bravado, she saw an insecure teenager on the cusp of manhood. It was hard to believe that a boy barely capable of growing a beard had slaughtered hundreds. Still despite his youth and lack of worldliness, his eyes seemed ancient and timeless, and she could tell that given a few years he would come to be a comely and intimidating man.

"Thank you for coming," she said smoothly.

"Of course, but why did you call me here?" His eyes flicked to the body in front of them.

"I need your help with something." She turned back to the cube of rock jutting from the floor.

"With what exactly?" he asked sharply.

She drew a deep breath as she prepared to tell him. He wouldn't like it. She didn't particularly like it, but it was the only option she could see besides the grim alternative, which she would not even tolerate the thought of now that she could see a brighter horizon. "It will take both of our pieces of the Triforce to restore his to him."

"What?" he said incredulously. She didn't have to turn around to be able to know that his sharp, dark brows were drawn together in a scowl. "Why?"

"To put it simply, balance needs to be restored. I have felt . . . a shift ever since his piece was taken away from him. It needs to be righted. Without the Triforce of Power having an owner, I fear our own pieces will return to the Sacred Realm." She hoped her voice sounded calm and steady. She had practiced the speech over and over again like a prayer.

"How is that possible? He is dead." The hero's voice grew grim as he spoke as if he dreaded what she was about to say.

"Not quite. There is still some part of his spirit clinging to his body, some part that the Triforce of Power touched. I believe that it somehow absorbed the relic's essence when it transferred to him."

"No, Your Highness, he is dead. I killed him myself. I saw him bleeding to death on the ground. Believe me, if there is one thing that I know it is what dead men look like and how to create them."

The sureness of his voice and the pride in his words angered her. "I am very well aware of that . . . skill of yours." She stopped herself for a moment and was surprised to find her hand trembling. "But look," she continued as she stepped forward and touched his hand, "he's not stiffened at all." She grabbed his huge hand and bent it back at the wrist to demonstrate. Bile rose in her throat as she touched his flexible but cold hand. "There is still something in him clinging stubbornly to life." She turned to face the hero.

Link shook his head vigorously. "I do not care if part of his spirit still lingers. He is dead. If another bearer is needed then why don't we find one?"

"He is the original carrier, thus, he is the one best suited for it. If we were to find someone else I am not sure that it would transfer, or what would happen to the person once it did." She was proud as realized that her voice hadn't quavered as she spoke.

The hero shook his head again. "No," he said vehemently. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I do not like it. I do not care if I lose my piece or you lose yours. It is not worth bringing him back and restoring his power to him."

She fought back a tide of frustration and anger. It seemed that he wouldn't be as easily led as she had hoped. No matter, she would use other means. "If we lose our pieces, Link, the consequences for Hyrule could be devastating. I do not know if you have realized this, but Hyrule is on the brink of war. Even now, I'm sure Felipus is chatting away with his ambassadors and councilors about redecorating the castle when he conquers it. If he goes to war with us and we do not have the Triforce, we stand no chance of winning. We will be crushed."

"If we return the Triforce to him," he thrust the arm holding the torch out to point at Ganondorf, "there will be war indefinitely. He will use it the same way he did last time. He will rip Hyrule apart. I would rather take my chances with Holodrum than risk another war with him."

The Queen felt something cold rush through her that replaced the hot anger. She could feel her piece of the Triforce echoing inside her head. Like her, it longed to restore its counterpart to the rightful owner, even if it was for different reasons. It granted her a rare insight into the young man's mind. She could see his faults, his desires, his dreams. There was only the remaining question of whether she would act on this new information or not. Her fingers reached out and grazed Ganondorf's cold skin again. It was answered.

Her lips curled into a cold and reptilian smile as she began to pace a slow circle around him. His wide blue eyes followed her. There was a certain animal-like wisdom in them, but he was still a guileless boy from the forest. She was a creature of politics and intrigue, raised and groomed to be able to manipulate those who would go against her will. She had not become and remained queen for this long by luck alone.

"You say that you are willing to lose your piece if it means keeping the other piece from him, but do you mean it?" she asked slyly.

He nodded. "Yes, I do. I am sorry if that displeases you, but my answer will not change."

"Really? You say it so easily and so confidently. I do not think you realize the full consequences of your actions."

"I know enough to make my decision. I can promise you I am certain of it."

She threw back her head and gave a short bark of laughter. "Only fools are certain of anything, and you don't strike me as a fool."

He narrowed his eyes at her, staring at her like she was a snake that might strike. "I am not a fool, but I do not go dabbling in things I shouldn't. If it leaves then it leaves."

Zelda blew out the flame of her candle and continued her stroll around him. He squinted as he tried to watch her from the light of his torch alone. "Like I said, I don't think you quite realize what will happen when it leaves you. You think that it only leaves Hyrule vulnerable, but there are other more personal tragedies that await. The only reason why you are even standing here before me is because you carry the Triforce of Courage. It is how you are able to defeat your enemies, is it not?" She cocked her head to the side quizzically.

His eyes shifted nervously. "It does aid me, but I am skilled enough on my own."

She nodded in agreement. "True, you are gifted, but that little treasure of yours has amplified it. It has withdrawn you from Death's clutches many times. I know. I've seen it happen. I've seen you almost beaten down, and then soar up again to defeat your enemies. When it leaves you, you will be as vulnerable as the rest of us mortals."

"I do not care," he said stoutly, but she could hear the indecision warring in his voice. "All men must die."

"Yes, in the end, all men do die but not all men live the same sort of life. You rose from obscurity out of a village in the forest that no one had heard of before you. You rose from nothing to become the kingdom's most beloved hero and knight. What do you think will become of you when you are like everyone else?"

He shrugged. "I will deal with that when it happens."

She chuckled, and it sounded so sinister that it surprised her that her throat could produce such a noise. "You say that now, but wait until they realize their beloved hero can't protect them from the armies of Holodrum. Wait until they don't see their knight in shining armor come surging onto the battlefield and crushing everyone in his path like you did in this past war. The only thing people love more than raising someone up is tearing that same person down."

He blinked at her as her words sank in. "You can't know that."

"Oh, but I do. I've seen what happens when the masses turn against you. When they understand that you can't save them, you won't save them, they'll turn on you. They'll shun you and hate you. They raised you from nothing, and they will reduce you to nothing."

"I-" he started, but she cut him off.

"But there is a way to prevent it. Help me restore his piece of the Triforce and yours will remain intact. You can remain the adored and beloved hero that everyone thinks of you as. You will never again be that faceless, nameless lonely boy you were in the woods."

"But what of Ganondorf?" he said weakly.

She ducked her face into the shadows to hide her smirk from him. "Do not worry about him. There are certain spells that I know that will bind him. He will possess it again, but he will not be able to use it." It was a lie of course. She knew of no way to bind any piece of the Triforce magically, but Link didn't know that.

"Are you sure?" he asked, his eyes darting from side to side as if he expected something to leap out and grab him.

"Positive," she lied.

Zelda took the knife f

rom the inside of her sleeve and bared her left palm. With one quick movement, she drew the blade across her hand without a sound of pain. Link stared at her. She handed the knife to him, and he repeated the gesture.

"Why was that necessary?" he asked.

"Because magic like this always demands blood. The two most powerful forces in magic are blood and sex. Death and life." She began to walk a wide circle around him and where the body lay sprinkling a mixture of salt and silver as she went. She began to mutter words to an old spell that she had learned long ago from some of her distant Sheikah relatives. She wasn't completely sure of their meaning, but the chill that they sent up her spine reassured her of their power.

She could tell that magic frightened him. It was odd to think that after all he had seen anything would be capable of scaring him. Then again, men often feared what they did not understand, and for years magic had solely been the realm of women. She studied the circle around them carefully to make sure there were no breaks in it. It was whole. She wished vainly that she had had time to gather up the right herbs for extra protection. She was not sure how much of him there was left to save, and the less there was the less likely her plan was to work.

She gestured for his palm. He lifted it up for her inspection. She dipped her finger into the blood welling from the cut and mixed it with her own. Her lips curled in distaste at such a primitive and barbaric ritual, but all that mattered is that it would work. She knew that when dealing with these sorts of things only the most basic of all procedures would work.

She smeared the mixture on her finger onto the dead Gerudo's forehead and the backs of his hands, chanting the entire time, trying to keep the rhythm straight in her head. She passed around him three times before returning to her original starting point and held her hand out to Link.

He looked down before taking it. His fingers were slick with sweat as they slid over her palm. She took a deep breath to center herself and shut her eyes.

The hero beside her cleared his throat.

"Yes?" she asked, trying to keep her voice clear of annoyance.

"What exactly do we do now?"

"You simply need to call upon your piece of the Triforce and leave the rest to me. I am the one who removed his piece of the Triforce so I will take care of that part. It's just going to take the combined powers of both of our pieces to restore his to him. So just close your eyes, find your core, and tap into it. "

They both slipped into silence as she entered her meditative state again. She let the currents sliding deep inside of her take her to the source of her powers. She could feel its strength ebb and flow through her. It seemed to sing to her as she approached it. She could feel it chiming through her blood, and it flooded her with that familiar warmth that she had come to love. Off in the distance, she could hear the twin call of Link's piece. It responded to hers. The back of her left hand grew warm as the symbol of the Triforce flared to life. She knew that Link's was doing the same. The golden light filling the room was so intense that she could see it burning through her eyelids.

She could feel the power building up inside of the room around them until it was pressing down on her shoulders, until she felt that she would become stooped underneath its weight. Her fingers squeezed the hero's. "Now," she panted, "lend me your power."

"What?' he said, alarm evident in his voice.

"Just let your power flow from you, down your arm, and into me. It's not hard. Just let your shields fall."

He made a noise of discomfort in his throat, but within a few seconds, she felt a new rush of heat passing up her arm from his. It was jarring. His power was alien and strange to her own. It was bold and aggressive with none of the sly cunning she had felt when she had removed Ganondorf's piece. She still found it odd that each of the three pieces had such distinctive features. It was almost like they shared the personalities of their holders. But then did that mean that they took on the traits of their bearers or did their bearers take on their traits? It was an uncomfortable thought to her to say the least.

She took another deep breath and opened herself up to this new source of energy. The Triforce of Wisdom hummed inside of her and seemed to pacify it's sibling part. She could feel the buzzing energy of Courage die down to a tolerable level. She let out the breath she had been holding.

A part of her reached out into the void between the Realms where she had stored the Gerudo's piece. She saw it rotating slowly before her eyes in the blackness. It winked goldenly at her. She pushed herself towards it and felt it respond to her. The force it exuded was the exact opposite of Link's piece. It was deceptively weak, but she could feel the undercurrents of its power like the undertow of the Zora River. Placid on the surface but roiling beneath. It begged her to take it. It pleaded with her to use it however she wished. She had within her grasp right then all three of the pieces. It was an overwhelming realization. Link still had his piece but with a few pulls she could rip it from him. She could lay Felipus's army flat with a thought with all of the pieces combined within one body. She could build an empire that would dwarf her father's wildest ambitions. She could do away with the Council. She could be the queen whose name was spoken for a thousand years. She saw infinite possibilities and universes unfurling before her, each one more tantalizing than the next.

Then something inside of her woke up out of the state spun by the blissful futures laying at her feet. Yes, she could have all of those things and more if she submitted to her greed, but she also realized it was her own destruction. She knew that it would slowly eat away at her. It would steal everything from her. It would burn her alive from the inside out until nothing remained but a husk.

She drew back from the remaining piece as if it had stung her. She contemplated it for a moment that seemed to last eons. It almost seemed as if it watched her. Carefully, she reached out again and touched it. She felt its smooth temptation glide over her like silk. Using the two other pieces, she caged it and drew it out of the void.

Without opening her eyes, she started walking towards the body. Link trailed blindly and reluctantly behind her. Her free hand came up and rested on the back of Ganondorf's left. Her fingers laced through his as she undid the bindings around the Triforce of Power. It pulsed once inside of her before singing a high, joyful note and flowed down her arm and into him. She felt the flickering spark left within his body flare to life for a moment as it reunited with the relic before the connection was severed.

Her eyes fluttered open as she stepped away from the body, swaying on wobbly legs. She heard Link let out a sigh of relief. She took an involuntary step forward and leaned against the stone that the dead man laid on.

The hero shuffled forward and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she snapped, waving him away.

A few moments of tense silence passed between them before he spoke up quietly. "I did not like it."

"What?" she asked, not bothering to turn around. Her eyes remained fixed on the still body in front of her.

"Being without it."

"But I didn't take it from you," she answered.

"I know that, but I could feel it . . . fading inside of me. It made me feel cold and empty."

"Like a tomb?" she said laughingly, looking up to the stone arches above her.

"Yes, it was like that. I have been in many places like this, and I have never liked them. I think maybe now I know why. So what now? Is there something else to be done?"

"Now we wait, or I wait. You may leave if you like." She sounded tired even to herself.

When she didn't hear him leaving, she turned around to see him standing where he had been.

"Milady, I do not like the thought of leaving you here alone in this place. If I do not like them, I can't imagine how you must feel." His voice was somber, and his expression was sincere. She was surprised at this new display of maturity from him.

"Thank you," she whispered, "but I am fine. I am quite acquainted with this part of the castle." She did not elaborate on how or why. It was none of his business that she had been trained in the many dark and secret arts of the Sheikah down there.

He hesitated for a moment before bowing to her and heading back up the way he had come down.

She stared down at Ganondorf's body and looked for some sign of life. She did not see any. Her finger gingerly pressed the skin of his wrist and felt it disconcertingly cool to the touch. The last of her strength left her then. Her knees buckled, and she allowed exhaustion to set in. Pressing her forehead against the cold stone, she felt tears leaking down her cheeks. She wasn't sure how long she stayed that way before a noise made her lift her head up. She looked around for its source but saw nothing. Her eyes landed on the still form in front of her. It took her a moment to realize that the noise she had heard was breathing. Now she could see the chest rising slowly in a shallow breath. She struggled to get to her feet and leaned over him.

Her eyes widened as she saw him draw another breath.

"Ganondorf? Ganondorf, can you hear me?" Her voice was a whisper threaded with desperation.

Her hand reached forward to touch his forehead but stopped as his eyes flew open.

Oh, Jesus something tells me this chapter might have pissed some people off. I'm sorry for that but if you read the long-ass author's note at the bottom it might clear some things up.

I have a few things to say about this chapter. As usual, I'm not exactly happy with it, but it was the best I could do given the time crunch I've been in. Also, I know that Zelda was OOC in this chapter, but I did this to show that she can be manipulative. Also, I admit that it was a little self indulgent, and I just wanted to write her being a little evil XD. Link is a different story. I find it hard to ever consider Link OOC when he really doesn't have a character because he doesn't speak in the games and you control his actions. This interpretation of him was different from what I typically do though. I usually try to write him as more mature then this, but I wanted him to be younger than Zelda and insecure so it would be more believable for her to manipulate him.

Also, I did originally plan for this to go another way. I thought of writing Zelda running dramatically to his side and healing him in front of everyone, but I knew that's not the Zelda I'm trying to portray. I want her to be someone who is cool headed even in extreme situations. I want her to be someone who doesn't let her emotions rule her actions, and I just thought that this version of her would think it would place her kingdom and her throne in too much jeopardy to do such an act.

I hope this makes up for the lack of Ganondorf and the discrepancies between characters you might feel occurred in this chapter. As always, I want to know what you thought, even if you weren't exactly pleased with how this turned out.

P.S. I'm not sure if you any of you have read the other GxZ fic I've written called The Brightside of Darkness, but I actually found a picture making fun of it. I actually thought it was funny. If that same person is reading this (I doubt they are) I hope my writing has improved, and if you don't think it has, I hope you at least find it as amusing at you did in the last story :)