Warning: This chapter depicts acts of torture, including the likes of blood & violence. Read at your own risk.

Chapter 25: Excruciating Chit-Chats

Much Earlier…

A small ounce of pain panged in his head when Fledge opened his eyes. The sixteen-year-old found himself lying on his side on a warm stone floor, letting out a tired groan that echoed through the room. His eyes examined the chamber as he slowly sat right up. The room had various mural designs, and the columns surrounding it appeared to be bird-like, two of which reminded him of Loftwings, all of which were in the colors of white, red, orange, and gold. The door behind him was massive in the shade of red. A stone door with the Goddess Din's symbol was across from him.

More pain struck his head right as his eyes gazed at the door. The image of flames appeared in his mind. The flames were large, bright, and red, like Din herself. It was intense enough for Fledge to let out another groan. He moved his hand to his head to soothe the ache. That's when he made a startling discovery.

Both of his hands were bound together by black shackle chains. Fledge used all his power to pull them apart, but not even Din enhancing his strength was enough to break the shackles off.

"Don't even bother. Those chains will be there for as long as I wish." Ghirahim's voice bounced out through the chamber. "Even if you somehow broke free, the only exit is locked so you can kiss your chances of escape goodbye."

Fledge quickly got up to his feet. The boy darted his eyes rapidly in the chamber, trying to see where The Demon Lord could be. The sound of his heavy breathing echoed in the room. No sign of him was seen anywhere. When Fledge turned his body to look in a different direction, he was greeted by Ghirahim standing still. It scared Fledge enough to trip back, causing him to land back on the floor. All Ghirahim could do was smile in amusement.

"Why so jumpy? Aren't you happy to see a familiar face?" Ghirahim leers at the orange-clad student, who does not say anything back. "Well, I am surprised you and your little friends made it this far. I would think that Tentalus would eliminate you all. Yes, I was the one who brought Tentalus back to life, so there is no need to ask the obvious."

Fledge still did not have any sort of response. Everything returned to him as he realized he was now Ghirahim's captive. What can he do? The sword he had and his supplies were nowhere on him. Even his hat was gone. And even though Fledge had great strength, he was locked in this chamber. He was trapped in here with The Demon Lord.

"Where am I?" Fledge asks.

"We're deep in a place called The Fire Sanctuary. And you, little Fledge, are my guest." Ghirahim circles around the boy like a predator stalking its helpless prey.

Fledge kept his eyes on the Demon Lord as he walked around him. "I'm sure you're not supposed to shackle up your guests like a prisoner."

"Now, now. There's no need for hostilities. It's unbecoming of you. If I wanted to do any harm to you, you wouldn't be here right now."

"Why haven't you killed me, then? Isn't that what you've been trying to do this whole time?"

"I just want to have a… chit-chat with you while we wait for our friend Link. I want to know what you know. That's not too much now, is it?"

"I doubt that I have anything of importance that you want to know."

"Oh, I'm sure you do. You and your merry band are such an interesting group. Since we started this endeavor, I know next to nothing about all of you. The humans I've known tended to be not very…interesting, to say the least. Yet something about four interests me. No matter what I threw at you, you all kept going. I think it would be only natural for me to be a little curious. For instance, I don't recall them having the type of magic some of you have."

Fledge hitched a breath, thankfully quiet enough for Ghirahim to not hear. Somehow the Demon Lord must know about his friend's abilities given by the goddesses. Fledge did not want to share the detail of them and himself having each of the Golden Goddesses' essence with them. He did not answer the question, trying to give his best 'I have no clue what you're talking about' expression to Ghirahim. In response, the Demon Lord rolled his eyes, releasing an irate breath.

"If you want to know why I'm bringing that up, I watched you and your little friends fight with Tentalus. Your two other friends showed some rather interesting abilities. That Pipit summoned a gust of air to leap high above to save that girl from Tentalus before he was smacked away. Hilarious, might I add. And let's remember how that girl, Karane, managed to conjure up enough water to disarm Tentalus. Makes me wonder, how did they learn that magic? For as long as I've been around, I've never seen anything like that before…" Ghirahim ceased his walking. After a moment, he stalked his way to Fledge, who moved his glance toward the ground. The Demon Lord crouched to the boy's level, grabbing his face roughly to look at Fledge's face, examining it as if he was an object. "Interesting eyes you have here…I've never seen a human with such red eyes before. Odd, I could've sworn your eyes were brown when we first got acquainted."

"...It's a rare genetic condition. From my…dad's side," Fledge hastily lied. "Nothing special about them."

Ghirahim seemed unconvinced with that answer but did not press it on. "You still haven't answered my question on the magic part."

Fledge did not give him an answer, only responding by yanking his head out of Ghirahim's grip.

"How about you tell me what the large blue fire I saw on that ship back in Lanayru, hmm? What do these flames do? Was there one back in The Ancient Cistern? Is that why you and your friends came here as well?"

Yet again, Fledge did not answer the Demon Lord's question. Once he realized he wasn't getting answers, Ghirahim released a disappointed breath.

"Adamant with the silent treatment, huh? Here I was hoping you were a chatterbox. It's been a long time since I've had any conversation. Finding someone to talk to is not easy to come by, you know," Ghirahim expresses woefully.

"I can't imagine why…." Fledge uttered out loud without even thinking.

A faint cold glare painted Ghirahim's expression, clearly not pleased with Fledge's snarky response. Ghirahim backhanded Fledge's face in a flash, knocking the boy to his side. Fledge let out a groan, soothing his stricken cheek as best as he could. The orange-clad student didn't expect the impact of that to be painful. It was almost like a piece of metal had struck him in the face. Ghirahim's expression did not change while he watched Fledge groan on the floor.

"Fine then. Keep those secrets. I was only merely curious. Besides, they weren't vital for me to know anyways. But I suggest you cut back on the snarky attitude. The next question I have, you will answer."

"And what would that question be then?"

"I'm glad you asked, my boy!" Ghirahim exclaimed rather cheerfully before he vanished in a flash of diamonds. Fledge slowly sat back up, trying to find where he went. "Take a look over here!"

Fledge turned to see Ghirahim standing way above the floor, perched on the wall high above the door with Din's symbol. Behind Ghirahim was a mural depicting a winged statue he had seen in the previous temples. Standing on his feet to get a better look, Fledge could see that on each side of it appeared to be two cogs. One on Fledge's left is surrounded by a tan color with images of cacti. The other one on his right depicts the same cog surrounded by the color green with pictures of trees. Fledge gasped as he realized what these images represented the Gate of Time he saw back in Lanayru Desert. The image on the right also represents the Gate of Time at the Sealed Temple.

"Notice anything familiar? If your little brain can't figure it out, this image is over here…" Ghirahim pointed to the tan-colored side. "...Was the Gate of Time back in the desert. The one that the Goddesses' lapdog had destroyed. I was beyond upset when that happened because I believed my only pathway to The Spirit Maiden had been lost. But this image is over here…" Ghirahim directed over to the green side of the mural. "...Suggest the existence of another Gate of Time hiding somewhere in a forested area around these lands. You have no idea how joyous I felt with this revelation! The amount of relief that filled my heart! The mere idea of ANOTHER Gate of Time is enough to make me positively giggly! I finally found another way to retrieve The Spirit Maiden. The girl will be the key to bringing back my master!"

Ghirahim vanished again. Fledge stood still, waiting for his captor to reappear out of nowhere again.

"But before we get into that…" Hands clasp both of Fledge's shoulders. Ghirahim peered his head over them. "...There's still the matter of your punishment for you & your friends interfering with my plans."

Fledge jerked away from the Demon Lord, turning his body to face him, doing his best to keep a neutral expression to show Ghirahim that he was not afraid.

"Do you remember when I said that I would punish you all by making the affair excruciating enough that you'll be deaf from the sounds of your screams? This discovery has put me in an unusually generous enough mood and made me think more clearly. Perhaps I think maybe corporal punishment may be a bit much. So I thought I should try a more diplomatic solution and offer you a deal. One that you cannot refuse. Should you agree, I promise that I will let bygones be bygones. I'll let you go free and leave you & the rest of friends be…" Ghirahim pointed to the teen. "...If you tell me where the other Gate of Time is."

"W-What makes you think I know anything about it?" Fledge lied as best as he could.

"Don't play coy with me, boy. I know that you know. So save yourself the trouble and tell me. If you don't, I will take some…unpleasant measures."

The demands of Ghirahim played through Fledge's head. Potential other options came up, but none sounded helpful. He was left with two options. If he doesn't give her up willingly, Fledge knows Ghirahim will no doubt do horrible things to him. Maybe even kill him. But…If he gave up Zelda, there's no telling what unspeakable horrors Ghirahim had in store for her to bring back this mysterious master he had mentioned. He could never betray Zelda like that, not after everything she did for him throughout their friendship. The number of times she helped nurture him when he was sick, the number of times she brought a smile to his face after a bad day, and the amount times she made sure he never felt left out. Fledge knew he would never forgive himself if he gave Zelda up. So his options are to either give up his friend or possibly sign his death warrant. Listening to the worried voices in his head, he had one that sounded like his late mother.

"Life will throw obstacles at you. There will be moments when the easy way out is to give up. But giving up is not how you live. Promise me this, Fledge. Promise me that no matter what life throws at you, you have the strength to overcome all the obstacles and live your life. And I know you will because you are strong in many ways. I believe in you."

"I'm waiting for an answer," Ghirahim's voice broke through Fledge's thoughts. "What's it gonna be?"

Hearing his mother's words was enough to have him make a hard, but in the long term sense, the right decision. Slowly, Fledge turned to Ghirahim, sucked in a breath, and gave his answer. "...No."

"That's your answer? No?"

"It is," Fledge said more confidently.

A frown crept across Ghirahim's lips, and his eyes grew disappointed. "Seems like you need some…persuasion."

Ghirahim's fist collided with Fledge's face. A pain-filled moan escaped the orange-clad student's mouth as he clutched his nose, which suffered the most from the impact. Fledge moved his hands away from his nose, only to see blood on them. Before he could soothe his bleeding nose, Ghirahim struck him again, punching him in the gut. Ghirahim punched Fledge in the face, enough to send the boy flying to one end of the chamber. Fledge barely got up to his feet when Ghirahim teleported back to his side. He grabbed the teen boy and slammed him against the wall hard several times. It was enough that several cuts appeared on his face.

"My goodness! That looked like it hurt," Ghirahim exclaimed in a feign shock tone.

Ghirahim then tossed Fledge to another end of the room. Fledge lay on his stomach as he tried to lift himself. He was only on his hands & knees when Ghirahim appeared next to him. He kicked Fledge's torso many times until the boy collapsed on the floor again.

"Hold on now…That looked like it hurt a lot more," Ghirahim stood over Fledge, who let out heavy pants. "I honestly can't tell which is more painful. Why not you try to help me out here, my boy? What hurts more? A…?" Ghirahim gave several hard kicks to Fledge's rib cage. "...Or B?" Ghirahim grabbed Fledge's hair, slamming his face onto the hard stone floor even more times. After that, the Demon Lord forced the teen onto his knees with a firm grip on Fledge's hair. "Forehand or backhand?" Ghirahim punched Fledge and followed immediately with a backhand hit in his face. The final hit was powerful enough to knock Fledge a few feet away.

Cuts littered around Fledge's face. Blood trailed down his nose, the side of his forehead, his lips, and the corner of his mouth. Several bruises were also on his face. Tears trailed down his eyes from the pain he endured. A majority of his body felt sore. So much so that he could barely move without feeling pain. Despite that, Fledge still mustered enough strength to sit upwards. Noticing this, Ghirahim stalked his way toward him. Even though he was trapped in this room, Fledge desperately crawled away from his captor to be as far away from him as possible. This had only proven futile as Ghirahim soon caught up with his prisoner. The Demon Lord grabbed the teen back the back collar of his knight uniform. He dragged him over to the door with Din's symbol, practically throwing him back on the ground. A sadistic, satisfied smile grew on him as he watched Fledge give out labored breaths.

"Now then, with that out of the way, perhaps you're more…motivated to tell me where that gate is." Ghirahim crouched down, grabbed Fledge by the shoulder, and propped his back against the door. "My offer still stands. It's not too late to change your mind. But this is your last chance, for my patience is growing thin. Deny me an answer again, and I promise the beating I just gave will not be the worst thing to happen to you."

Again, Fledge considered how to respond to his captor. Still, he wasn't going to give up Zelda. Another idea did come to him.

"This is probably gonna get me killed...But if I'm going to die anyway, I might as well do something crazy at least," Fledge thought.

A decision was made. Fledge muttered some words, but they were too quiet for Ghirahim to hear.

"What was that? You're gonna have to speak louder," Ghirahim stated mockingly, cupping his ear. "I think it may be possible you might have a collapsed lung or a concussion. I've heard that it impedes the auditory."

"I said…Lean in close."

Ghirahim gave a bewildered look but complied with Fledge's request. Several seconds pass by. Fledge then did something that not even he thought he would ever do in his lifetime.

Fledge spits on Ghirahim's face.

The spit, a mixture of saliva & blood, landed on the Demon Lord's cheek. The sudden action startled Ghirahim back. Frozen, still in shock by the teen's stunt. He moved his hand on his cheek to wipe the spit to gaze upon to confirm it. After several seconds of staring at the spit on his hand, Ghirahim glanced back at Fledge.

"Screw...You." Fledge uttered through his labored breaths, a scowl on his face.

The shock on Ghirahim's face was quickly replaced by very displeasing. "So, that's how it's gonna be? Then what happens next is solely on you."

After wiping the spit off his hand, the chained shackles vanished from Fledge's wrists when Ghirahim snapped his fingers. The relief the orange-clad student felt from being freed from those things only lasted briefly. Ghirahim grabbed Fledge's left wrist, forcing him to stand back up. He then pinned Fledge's hand against the door. With a snap, a small black knife appeared in Ghirahim's free hand. The next minute he spent admiring said knife.

Then, he dug the knife straight into Fledge's pinned hand instantly.

A pain-filled scream from Fledge rang off the walls of the chamber. He turns to see the knife in his hand has him pinned to the door. Some of his blood trailed down from behind. Ghirahim grabbed Fledge's free hand, pinning that one before he could try to remove the knife.

"You should've taken my offer, Fledge. Or better yet, maybe you should've stayed on that little island in the sky. Now you're at my complete mercy and have no one to blame but yourself." Ghirahim again grabbed Fledge's face, almost squeezing it. "One way or another. You will tell me where the Gate is."

"I'm not telling you...anything…"

Another black knife appeared in Ghirahim's hand. He dug that one into Fledge's right hand onto the door, making Fledge scream again. Fledge, arms spread out in a Y pose, was now totally pinned against the door with Din's Emblem by Ghirahim's knives lodged in both hands.

"You'll tell me, alright. I know your type. I saw it the moment I first saw you back at Skyview."

"You don't…know…anything…about me," Fledge spat back in his heavy pants.

"Oh, I do. I've seen your type in other humans before. That type you are: Weak. Spineless. Timid. Cowardly. Backing off the moment you see trouble. I'll break you in no time because that's what you are. And that's what you'll always be." Ghirahim paused for a moment. "But…on the slim chance that you remain quiet, maybe your precious friend Link will be more willing to tell me."

"L-Leave him out of this…." Fledge pleaded through his groans.

Ghirahim gave an unamused look at the boy. He lifted his hand, and sharp objects appeared on all five fingers, all resembling claws. Ghirahim then stuck them on Fledge's side, piercing through his chainmail, and dug into his skin, leaving them in there for a few seconds before pulling his hand out. The Demon Lord didn't hit anything vital, but it was enough to let out another shout of pain from the teen.

"Your friend made himself a part of this, as did you." Ghirahim stroke Fledge's cheek with his clawed index finger, covered with the boy's blood. "Honestly, though, I secretly hoped you would keep quiet. I have a little something planned for Link. To make it even better, it involves you as well. It'll be so much fun!"

With the sadistic glee heard in Ghirahim's tone, Fledge could already figure out that whatever the Demon Lord had planned wouldn't be pleasant. And Fledge certainly wants to avoid being part of a scheme that would end up hurting Link. Never again will he ever do that.

"I'm not going to be part of this." Fledge defiantly declared. Ghirahim seemed to be unfazed. Instead, he used his claw to add another cut to the boy's battered face.

"I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter." Ghirahim let out a chuckle.

"When…Link gets here…He'll give you Hell."

"I very much doubt that. Because if I can't break you, I'll use you to break Link. That will guarantee that he will be out of the way."

Fledge brought his gaze onto the ground. That's when he got a sudden thought in his head.

"Why…" Fledge panted out, slowly lifting his head back up. "Why are you doing all of this? Who is your master?"

"Why should I indulge you with that information?"

What Fledge would say next knew would be hard to accept, but he could tell his friends if he got out of this alive. "Because…Because you're probably going to kill me when this is done anyways. At the very least, you can tell me who your master is and why he's important enough for you to resurrect him to do all this."

Ghirahim appeared… somewhat surprised by Fledge's response. "That's the most reasonable thing you've said throughout this conversation. Well, at least you're not a total fool. I guess you've earned the right to know who my master is."

The Demon Lord leaned in close into Fledge's ear, whispering. When he was done, Fledge's eyes widened with shock. The name was one Fledge had heard from the many stories he had heard throughout his life. It was the name of someone that Hylia fought in the legends. According to said legends, a name belonging to the same individual that had almost decimated his ancestors so severely led Hylia to create Skyloft one-thousand years prior. A name of an individual frightening enough to scare children and give full-grown adults nightmares.

"Your-Your master is…him? The Demon King from Legends?"

"My master is anything but a legend. He is very much real. For the past one thousand years, he lay dormant in a form your precious Goddess cursed him too. He's still an unstoppable force, but I can finally revert him to his pure form with The Spirit Maiden. And when he returns, he will take his place as the rightful ruler of this world. But Link, and your friends, have been preventing me from doing so. By the end of this day, none of you will be a thorn in my side no longer."

"Link will stop you!" Fledge spat out. "He'll stop you and your master."

"We'll see about that." Ghirahim turned his head as if he was listening for something. "I sense your friends are back in this region. It won't be long until they get here. Still, plenty of time to see if I can break you. Now, the question is, how?"

Ghirahim placed his finger in a thinking pose and remained that way for several minutes. At one point, he moved his hand through his hair, lifting his bang. Fledge could see the black diamond mark under his left eye. That was not the only thing that caught Fledge's attention. The top of Ghirahim's left ear showed ragged edges as if the top of it was torn off. Ghirahim took notice of Fledge's curiosity.

"This right here was what I call a test of loyalty. Spoiler Alert: I passed it." His eyes widened, and a delighted smile grew as if he had a sudden idea. Snapping his fingers, a larger black knife appeared in Ghirahim's hand. On his other hand, a small flame grew. Ghirahim placed the blade's tip over the fire until it glowed a bright orange-red glow. Fledge started hyperventilating as his captor extinguished the flame and lingered the knife close to the left side of his head.

"You know, I think a matching set would be nice…" Ghirahim stated with sadistic glee.

Outside the chamber in The Fire Sanctuary, the three Mogma brothers, Silva, Broni, and Plats, lingered around searching for treasure. They were not having any luck whatsoever. Bronzi seemed like he had enough and dug back underground, proclaiming he would look elsewhere. This left only Silva & Plats.

"Think we'll find something here?" Plats asked Silva.

"I'm sure, bro. We just need to keep trying-"

A loud shout caused both Mogma brothers to jump. Silva was spooked enough to go back underground. But Plats remained and listened. Quickly he learned that the cry was a blood-curdling scream. One so horrifying that all he could do was stall, still in shock, even after the screaming stopped. It was something that the Mogma knew would stick with him for the rest of his days.

I am so sorry for this...I really am.

I consider it to be somewhat of a blessing that Skyward Sword was Rated E, because if the game's rating was a little higher (Rated T and beyond) Ghirahim would've been much more brutal than how he was portrayed in the initial game. That being said, since this story is being told through T lenses (or PG-13 to put it in movie terms) I did not want to hold Ghirahim's brutality back. Now I didn't want to go too overboard cause I don't want to get this fic warranted a 'Mature' rating but I still wanted to show Ghirahim being a big bad evil son of bitch. And what better way cement that status of a villain then by having him go after the sweetest boy in Skyloft?

What a way to finish 2022, eh?

Thanks for reading and here's to hoping 2023 being a good year!