And I'm back with another chapter! Last chapter we got a new setting change and the reason Cia was helping and a bit on her past, in my perspective on how she became corrupted in the first place. And so, here's chapter 7!
(Ganondorf's P.O.V)
I observed the three swordsmen as the trekked through the desert, known as The Wilds, in search of Galleom 2.0. Meta Knight lead the trio with Ike trying not to complain about his facial injury. I could sense that he was quite uncomfortable with the dried blood smeared everywhere. His hair, hands, and sword. Marth would sometimes ask if he was okay with continuing. But, the answer was the same every time.
"I'm fine." Ike told the prince who knew that he was not fine and was most likely getting an infection in his body from the open wound being exposed to the harsh conditions of the desert. Wind, sand, dryness, everything. It was honestly quite amusing to see his reactions.
"Uh. Guys?" Meta Knight said as they approached Galleom in his tank like form, but the two were still arguing about if Ike needed to rest or not. "Guys?"
"What! Whoa-" Marth yelled and then realizing what Meta Knight was talking about. "What the hell?"
"Well? Someone touch it!" Ike shouted as he held his face in pain.
"I heard that these things are called-"
"SHUT UP MARTH! This is not Finding Nemo!" Meta Knight smacked Marth with the sword. "God, you are such a blonde."
I heard Anastazia yell, HEY! From the other room, which made me laugh. Suddenly, Galleom changed from tank form to huge bad ass robot form.
"Ana, you know he can't hear you, right?" I called to her. She opened the door and glared at me while shaking her head in a 'Shut up' manner.
"Do think I don't know that?" she responded with an iciness in her voice, while closing the door. I resumed watching Galleom beginning to take form and challenging the two that looked up to the fight, and Ike who, in gut-wrenching pain, nearly toppled over while unsheathing his sword.
"Oh, this is going to be interesting." I said as I set my feet up on the desk while conjuring up a Pepsi and Lays (Like all Evil Kings do). I drank the soda but ended up spitting it out almost instantly.
"UGH! Gross!" I complained while staring at the horrendous soda. "How dare you call yourself a drink! Damn Diet Pepsi, being all fancy with no flavor!"
"Well...maybe you should think before you conjure." Anastazia said from the room, without opening the door at all.
"Shut it, Ana." I told her. I didn't even dare to look at the drink, so I just ate the bag of potato chips with an annoyed look on my face as I observed the fight.
Galleom began attacking in a childish way, as if he was having a tantrum. He was programmed with a strange set of attacks, like becoming a tank, stomping on people, and doing a ballet spin. The three fought one on one, each being horribly defeated one after the other. Once Meta Knight was thrown to the side where Marth was lying, holding his bloody arm and his sword on the ground, scratched from dealing with a robot, Ike stepped up to the plate. He dragged the double-handed golden sword behind him in a sluggish way. Galleom just stared at him.
"Yo, you have a pair of highly talented swordsmen who were overall defeated, and now you think this injured boy is going to weaken me? HA!" Galleom taunted while laughing.
"I'm not weak, if that's what you're implying!" Ike yelled in an ailing way. Galleom just stood there as Ike began attacking the robot. He was QUITE incapacitated, to be honest. His slashes had no effort, stance was horrid, and all Galleom did was laugh in his robotic way.
"You really think that is going to kill me?" He asked while looking down at the blue haired boy."Well, you are wrong! HAVE AT THEE!" Galleom then made a swift arm movement, tossing Ike to the side with ease. Once he hit the ground, he didn't even move at all. The sword Ike held was thrown past the boy. Blood began seeping out of Ike, making him drenched in crimson. Before Marth and Meta Knight could go help their fallen friend, the nodded at each other, got up weakly and in one quick unplanned attack, they dashed at Galleom, making him fall back. Once he managed to stand his ground, the robot cursed at them and jumped off of the ledge they were on. Meta Knight and Marth rushed to the fallen soldiers side.
"D-do you know what to do?" Marth asked shakily.
"No! I was just going to ask you the same thing!"
"Sorry, but I was raised so I didn't get hurt like THIS!"
"Well, we should at least make sure he's not dead." They flipped Ike over on to his back. Once seen, it revealed a horrifying sight. Blood caked his hair making it almost purple, sand was inside the open wounds, Ike's shoulder was dislocated due to the swollen red area.
"Jeez, he shouldn't be last." Marth said trying not to be sick due to his face becoming a sickly greenish color.
"What are we going to do?" Meta Knight asked getting up and looking down at the injured man.
I heard Ana's door open and I turned my chair to see her. She had her hair the same color as before, foot wrapped in bandages, cloak covering her shoulders. She walked past me, without any acknowledgment.
"Whatcha doing?" I asked her.
"Helping the boy." She responded quickly. I took my feet off of the desk and spun the chair around to face her.
"Uh, no you're not. Didn't we just have a conversation about this?"
She sighed. "Y-yes. I-I"
"Anastazia, I can't let you help Ike, okay? I don't want you to-" I stopped when I noticed a change in her presence. She became misty eyed and started to pout. "Oh, not this again."
"B-but I-I l-like h-him!" she whined.
"Anastazia Lillian, I told you, and I'll say it again, NO!" I yelled.
She then went on a full on crying spree. Not knowing what to do, because this NEVER happened at all, I got up and wrapped my arms around her.
"Uh..." I struggled to say something that would make her stop crying due to not being able to help someone. Irony. I then knew EXACTLY what to say. "Anastazia, stop this nonsense, crying should I say" She didn't do anything.
"B-but I-"
"Ana, who are you?" I asked her firmly.
"W-what?"
"Who are you?" I repeated. "I will keep asking you the same question until you answer correctly."
"You are s-such a dad." she said through her sniffles.
"Who are you, Anastazia?"
"A-Anastasia Lillian."
"You may be that, but who else are you?"
"The Duchess of Darkness?"
I stopped embracing her and looking into her eyes. "The Duchess of Darkness, you say? And what exactly does she do?"
"Stop with the strangely worded sentences, Ganondorf. I hate when you do that."
"What does The Duchess Of Darkness do best?" I asked again.
"I thought Cia was the original Duchess of Darkness."
"Cia? Where did you get a crazy idea like that? She's the Black Witch, not Duchess of Darkness."
"No, more like Black Bitch, and The Duchess of Darkness is someone who people fear."
"Does she help people?"
"No, she-" Ana stopped when she realized what this game was. I was trying to tell her that she is not meant to help people due to her rank on the scale of evil. Her and I being at the top. Helping people would put us or her at a lower level. "I get it now."
"Yes, you aren't meant to help. You are the one who causes people to need help, not fix it. I know how much you want to fix the boys face, but dammit, Ana, you are unable to. And why is that exactly?"
She looked at her wrapped foot while wiping her eyes. "The Duchess of Darkness." She mumbled.
"Ahem, what?"
"I am Anastazia Lillian, and I'm The Duchess of Darkness." She said loudly.
"Indeed you are, Ana. Now, what-" I was stopped mid-sentence when she threw her arms around my neck, catching me by surprise and nearly making me fall. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"Thank you." she said plainly.
"For what? Having you realize who you are?"
"Not just that," She unhooked her arms from my neck and smiled at me. "For everything I could have. Now, I will go and watch Ike be incapacitated." I expected her to go to the room she was supposed to be in, but NOPE. She just sat in my chair assuming that this was her place now. I cracked my knuckles and walked over to her.
"What do you think you are doing?" I asked crossing my arms.
"Well, what does it look like I'm doing?"
"Stealing my spot. If you want to be over here, bet your own chair."
She groaned with annoyance. "Fine! God, you make me do ALL the work." Anastazia got up and went to grab the chair out of her room while I sat back with my feet on the desk once again.
"You're despicable." I heard her say.
"Sticks and stones, my dear. Sticks and stones." I said as I messed up her hair, which earned me another classic death stare in return. "I know you really don't hate me, because if you did and tried to kill me, you would have been dead over a hundred years ago."
She rolled her eyes and turned her head to the screen showing Meta Knight and Marth arguing over something other than Ike and his current situation.
"Why don't we spice it up for them, eh?" Ana said as she pressed a button labeled 'Let's Spice things up'. How convenient. Suddenly, their fight was turned into a panic as Galleom emerged from the ground below the ledge with two people in his grasp.
"SAY GOODBYE!" Galleom bellowed as a Subspace bomb in his head was about to explode with the two in his hand.
"GOODBYE! PK THUNDER!" Lucas, the boy from the zoo, yelled as a blast of static energy released the pair, sending them into a free fall, and Galleom was killed by the now activated Subspace bomb. Lucas held on to his different friend for dear life as the camera paned to Meta Knight and Marth.
"Well, if you aren't going to save them-" Meta Knight revealed his wings and flew to the falling pair, thus saving them from their impending demise. Once the two were brought to safety, Meta Knight and Marth shook the saved pair's hands in alliance.
"I'm Marth, that's Meta Knight." Marth said as he gestured to them both, leaving Ike out so the others wouldn't be worried.
"Thank you for saving us, Mr. Meta Knight. The name's Red and this is Lucas. Sorry we interrupted your-" Reds words halted when his eyes darted towards the dying Ike.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM?!" Lucas panicked as he saw the blood oozing out of the boy. Ike had become a deathly pale along with sunken cheeks, and overall did not look healthy.
"Are you a doctor?" Marth asked with worry in his voice. Curious to see what Red's answer was as he observed Ike and his wounded appearance.
Red frowned. "I happen to be a certified Pokémon Nurse as well as a trainer, Champion of 6 regions. I've dealt with many obstacles, but nothing compared to what-"
"Ike. My name is Ike, boy." Ike said as he opened his eyes weakly.
"I could have done that." Ana said in disgust.
"Don't get up, Ike. Do you not see or know that you are covered in blood, have a dislocated shoulder, cuts everywhere, along with a black eye?" Red told him. Ike looked at the Pokémon Trainer with a 'Do you think I'm stupid?' face.
"I can feel everything. I-, wait where are the other two? They are supposed to be helping me!"
"Marth and Meta Knight are behind us. We have to get you to an infirmary before you end up dying from infection or exhaustion. Either way, we have to get you to a doctor."
"Ike, no matter how much you keep saying you are fine," Marth said taking a knee, "you need help. If you don't accept help, you are going to die."
Ike cringed in pain. "Y-you're right."
"I knew you would see it my way! Now, help him up, boys!" Marth instructed the others to get Ike to his feet.
"Guys, this is not working!" Lucas yelled as they were attempting to pull Ike up, most likely causing even more pain to his already weakened body. Everyone looked at Lucas with wide eyes, ready to hear what he was going to say.
"Go on, we're waiting." Ike yelled in his raspy voice from the ground.
"Why don't you have Charizard fly him to a place with an infirmary, Red? I mean we just went through a series of ruins to find the Pokémon you lost, so why not put them to work?"
Red looked shocked due to what Lucas was saying. "Lucas, that's not a bad idea. GO! Charizard!" Red yelled as Charizard appeared in a glowing red form and merged into an orange fiery beast.
"Are you buying this crap, Anastazia?" I asked turning my head to face her. She looked at me with a 'seriously?' face. "I take that as a no?"
"That is the best plan they could have come up with?" she said in disgust. "I could have made up a plan, put it into action, and watched the aftermath unfold, before they could have come up with a plan to get help for Ike."
"Why don't we send them some help." I pushed a button that caused a fissure in the ground and released a mound of shadow bugs that morphed into primids. The army stormed across the barren land with ease. Everyone didn't notice until a primid walked up to Lucas, taped him on the shoulder and scared the little boy.
"W-what the hell?" Meta Knight yelled as the army began rushed towards them.
"Someone is up to something and...these guys are a part of it!" Marth said backing away. Ana nudged me with her elbow.
"Looks like they're catching on." She said plainly. "They have a sense of something going on and their part of it."
"That's EXACTLY what we want, Anastazia."
"Really?"
"Yes. Yes indeed. Lets just watch this spectacle unfold. Perhaps we might see someone be killed, we never know." I leaned back in my chair with a menacing grin on my face.
"Shit Marth!" Red yelled as they began fighting off the army of primids. "What do we do?"
Marth looked around, and seeing no other possible way, "We have to run for our lives!" he said with no expression on his face but fear. The other three looked at him then at each other.
"We have to run, or else we'll be killed." Lucas admitted shyly.
"Come on!" Meta Knight urged the others as they began to run away.
"HEY!" Ike shouted from the ground that he was still on. Marth turned, realizing that they had forgotten the one person that represented the plan of running away.
"Oh right! Ike!"
"Charizard! Carry him!" Red yelled at the Pokémon, who without any disobedient action, grabbed Ike and began flying away. The others following close behind.
"Ana, why don't we change to another feed, I'm guessing it will have for livelier people." I told her.
"Yeah, I'm getting bored with 'dem boys."
I smiled. "I knew you would see it that way." I ended up changing the screen to the only one that looked worth observing. It showed-
"LINK, MARIO, PIT, KIRBY, AND YOSHI!" Ana gasped as she flew out of her chair and was face to face with the screen. I almost laughed at the spectacle due to it being sudden and unpredictable. "They must be...DESTROYED!" Ana's fist became flooded in a purple magic due to her anger. I grabbed her shoulder.
"Anastazia, calm yourself. They will be destroyed. You just don't necessarily have done be the one." I told her as I guided her to sit down.
"Y-you're right. I do need to calm down. It's just a group of people trying to stop us." she said with rapid breaths. "A group of people with a DUMB ASS FOR A LEADER!" Ana then shot a flaming orb of energy at the screen, which bounced off and began dancing about the room, until it hit the back of my head.
"Um..." I turned slowly to see her with her hands covering her mouth in shock.
"I-I swear I didn't mean too!" she exclaimed beginning to panic. I felt the back of my head to make sure there was no head trauma, but surprisingly enough all I felt was hair. I looked at her with a 'what did you do?' face. All she did was shake her head and stare at me with her amber-colored eyes. I ran up to one of the monitors that was turned off, so I could see my reflection.
"Anastazia Lillian." I said. "What did you do to me?"
"I honestly didn't mean for it to happen! I'm serious!"
"YOU MADE MY HAIR...LIKE YOURS!" my hair was no longer like it was, It was now long and luxurious. It was a deep scarlet and not a red-orange. "How..." I was honestly speechless at what I looked like.
"Are you mad? I can't tell if you hate it and want to-"
"I don't hate it, Anastazia. Don't worry. I know you didn't know what you were doing, I understand that." I told her with a weak smile. I ran a hand through my, now long, hair and sat down next to Ana, who still had a 'what have I done?' face. "You didn't kill me. You don't need to have a face full of guilt you know. If you fatally injured me, that would be a different story. In this case, you caused my hair to be long, like it once was, but I mean, it's not all bad."
"You really mean that? Or is it your fathers intuition that told you to say that to make something horrible seem fine?"
I raided my eyebrows at her. "Wow, the perfect chance to be all Anastazia and you go with the fathers intuition plan, instead? What happened to you?"
She looked at her fingernails. "Nothing happened. Well, if it's now that I can accept you as my father, then yes."
"I don't know about that." I said flipping my hair how Ana would constantly, after a good comeback.
"You didn't do that right, Ganondorf. Just a fair warning." She told me, turning back to the screen showing the group of five heroes.
"Pit! NOW!" Link yelled. Pit fired an arrow that was engulfed in a blue light at Ancient Minister who was there with a bomb attached.
"So, he recovered." Ana said crossing her arms while leaning back. "Took him long enough."
"Damn kids and their arrows!" Ancient Minister complained as he dodged out-of-the-way.
"Dammit!" Pit exclaimed. The other three came rushing up to the pair.
"HOW COULD YOU MISS, PIT! HE WAS RIGHT THERE! EVEN KIRBY COULD HAVE HIT HIM!" Link shouted at the angel boy.
"Now, Link calm down-"
"NOW MARIO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! Zelda is gone, this chick I met in the woods last week kicked me in the groin, and now I'm thrown into this mess! Matched with an archer who can't hit a fucking robot!"
"He complimented me!" I heard Ana say. I looked over to see her with a hand over her heart. "So nice."
"Well lets not stand here and bicker, we have to catch that robot and it'll take all of us." Kirby informed. "ALL OF US!" He yelled at Pit and Link who were both crossing their arms and sporting unhappy faces. They eventually ran with the rest of the group, forgetting their argument.
"I get what you were talking about, Ana."
"What do you mean?"
"The day before yesterday, when you were talking about Marth and Meta Knight becoming alies in an instant, despite their differences."
"Oh that, yes. I frankly do not care what happens to Link, he can be disembodied, quartered, and-"
"ANASTAZIA!" I yelled. "You don't need to be-"
"Evil? Well, sorry about expressing my opinion about the boy who called me dumb blonde!"
"Just calm down, alright?"
She sighed and buried her face in her hands while rubbing her eyes. "Fine."
"Are you tired?" I asked taking notice of her head falling forward.
"No. What makes you think that?!" she said getting defensive. "Although, sleep does sound nice. But, I don't feel like sleeping in a chair. It was not comfortable to be honest."
"You did sleep on the floor as well."
"That was worse, thank you very much."
"Hm. You know what I say to that?" I snapped my fingers and a couch appeared where we were. "COUCH!"
She looked at me. "Okay, where did you get that?" she asked crossing her arms.
"What? Can't I do things I want without being questioned?" I then sat on the piece of furniture like I was the King, which I kind of was. I looked at Ana, who automatically fell onto the couch, face buried in the fabric. "Ana? What are you doing?"
"-being tired, duh!" she said with a muffled voice. Ana ended up pulling herself up and sitting next to me, where she set her head on my shoulder.
"What am I, a pillow?" I asked her.
"Well, you are now, do deal with it!" she responded with her head still resting where it was. I glanced over at her. I could defiantly tell that she was going to fall asleep. She had dark rings under her eyes, the purple eye shadow spread sparkles over her face, and she held a very drowsy look to her. I looked at the talon fingered gauntlets I wore that were plated gold and had a ruby embedded at the forearm. I bent my fingers which allowed the talons to look quite the dangerous weapon. I mean if I can cause a deep cut on Anastazia's face with a single backhand slap, then who knows what else I could do. I continued observing the group as they made their way through the desert they were in. Eventually, Link and Mario caught up with Ancient Minister, with him shooting lasers at the pair.
"It would be must more helpful if he would stop trying to kill us!" Mario shouted.
"You got that right!" Link and Mario were soon stopped by two R.O.B robots.
"WAIT FOR ME SIRE!" The R.O.B said, who was attached to the bomb Ancient Minister was carrying. Annoyed, the Minister dropped the bomb, causing the R.O.B to be killed. Two others attached themselves to the bomb and began to start the countdown.
"STOP IT, YOU STUPID ROBOT!" Pit yelled as he and Mario tried to knock the heads off of the R.O.B's hooked to the bomb. Yet, two more carried them away from the plan of action.
"Guys, we need to get out of here, or else we are going to die." Kirby told the group as he glanced back at the bomb, which was due to detonate within 30 seconds.
"Link, Pit, you two are with me. Mario and Yoshi, I bet you both have a plan, am I correct?"
Yoshi and Mario looked at each other and nodded. Kirby hopped on a star, Pit and Link held on for dear life as the bomb exploded, sucking in the desert area into Subspace. Mario rode on Yoshi as they escaped to safety, just as the sun was about to take its final bow and the moon stepped in. As the screen turned dark, I darted my eyes towards Anastazia, who was still resting on my shoulder. She was fast asleep. I could already tell there was no way of moving her without pissing her off due to waking her up.
"Anastazia. Really?" I whispered, hoping that she wouldn't hear me. Everyone in this world has to be resting for the resuming of their journey, so no one would be awake. Leaving me with nothing to do but make sure not to wake up Ana.
So, there was Chapter 7! I hope you enjoyed and how i included Ganondorf's new Hyrule Warriors redesign! Next Chapter we have the reappearance of Cia! Thanks for reading!