TLOZ Chatroom

deep within Hyrule Castle...
Another mild day. I sat with Peach on the floor of the throne room, scrubbing the weathered stone walkways on my hands and knees. We had finally made our way toward the end of one of the walkways and were knelt below a small window. I sat up and dried my hands off with a sigh, looking out at the town in the distance. What I wouldn't give to be walking through the town right now... I thought. What I wouldn't give to be walking anywhere right now... A harsh kick brought me abruptly out of my thoughts.
"What are you doing? Slacking again?" It was Dejah, the dreaded wife or girlfriend or something to Lord Draco. The two had been doing absolutely nothing but giving me a hard time since they had taken the throne. In fact, I had expected them to move on to other parts of Hyrule -- especially in close proximity to the castle -- but such a thing hadn't happened yet. They hadn't even taken Castle Town yet. They had started to raise my suspicions, and the two no longer had the power of intimidation over me. I knew there was nothing either of them could do that would scare me. "Hello?" I glared up at the woman. "What does it look like I'm doing? Picking daisies?" I retorted with annoyance. Dejah opened her mouth like she was about to say something in return but her attention was directed elsewhere when Draco walked over, sighing to himself.
"I begin to miss our home more and more each day," he said, his face somber and glum. I then glared at him before I returned my eyes to the floor and continued scrubbing. The bristles made a harsh rustling noise against the walkway as I scrubbed away furiously.
"Here's an idea ; maybe you should just leave then," I muttered, hoping the two would catch what I had just said. To my disappointment, they either chose to ignore me or didn't hear my comment. The two usurpers began conversing with each other as they made their way to the other side of the throne room to check on Link's progress. The poor boy had been subjected to scrubbing the floors as well -- he had been making much more progress than Peach and I had been however. Once I was certain the two were occupied with the hero, I turned my head to Peach. She scrubbed slowly away at the grime with a miserable look on her face. I couldn't blame her though ; we definitely looked less than our best at the time anyway. Her hair was roughly pulled back into a ponytail with no trace of makeup at all on her face. Without her bright eyeshadows and heavy mascara, her eyes appeared much smaller and more almond-shaped. After the many nights she had been dragged out of the cell to perform demeaning tasks and chores, she now had heavy dark circles around her eyes, making her look older than she really was. To make matters worse, we hadn't been able to change in weeks ; her once-yellow romper was now slightly tattered and stained an awful brown color in splotches. I couldn't help but feel bad for the girl -- and could only imagine what I looked like. She looked over at me, her eyes dull and clouded.
"Is something wrong, Zelda?" she asked, her voice still as gentle as ever. I inched closer, looking around cautiously before I spoke.
"I had a dream last night..." I began, my voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes widened and she looked at me expectantly. "Someone is coming for us." Her eyes fell to her hands and brush again, clearly disappointed in my news.
"Thanks for trying to boost my spirits but I know that's not going to happen," she said softly with a sigh. I shook my head quickly.
"No, but it is! In my dream there was a tall shadowed figure approaching the castle," I added.
"A tall shadowed figure?" She now seemed suddenly interested in what I had to say.
"Yep, a tall shadowed figure. It had broad shoulders and a billowing cape in its wake... Maybe it's a prince coming to save us," I said with a smile. She smiled as well.
"We can only hope so! I wonder when this mystery figure will come for us," she said, scrubbing again at the floors.
"I pray that they come soon ; I can't take much more of this 'cleaning' business," I muttered. Peach nodded in agreement.
The rest of the day basically consisted of us cleaning and slaving away while Draco and Dejah just continued to complain about how much they hated Hyrule's fresh and clean air. Finally, at about twenty o'clock, they dismissed us and we approached Link. He looked a little beaten, with a couple of small scratches and bruises visible on his face and neck, but otherwise appeared fine. He came up to us with a look of worry before bringing us close in a group embrace. It had been weeks since we had last seen him, and it honestly felt great to see his bright and wild eyes. After he released us he brought just me into a hug, his toned arms wrapped warmly around my neck. I snuggled in closer to him, breathing in the scent of his sweat and grass in his shirt's depths. (IF ANYBODY ASKS, I didn't say that -- I repeat DID NOT. This isn't a love story THIS IS REAL LIFE!!! SO SHUT IT!!! Back to the story...)
"Are you guys okay?" he asked with concern, looking us over carefully to find any signs of physical abuse. I nodded, brushing some dirt off of his neck and face with my sleeve.
"We're fine. Are you doing okay?" He nodded. "Good. Come with us, I need to tell you of something that I saw recently." I pried myself from his grasp and led my two friends deeper into the castle as quickly as I could. "We have to hurry before--" Link grabbed us by our arms and quickly swung behind a column, attempting to obscure us from the vision of an oncoming guard. This said guard came running down the hall, closely followed by a handful of other soldiers.
"Sir! Milady!" the first one called in fright. The clanking of their metal armor against the carpeted halls grew louder and louder as they came nearer. Three had passed by when we were spotted by a fourth.
"Prisoners! Hurry, come with me," he said, grabbing Link by the arm. Two guards behind him followed his example and grabbed Peach's and my arms as well before continuing down the hallway.
"What's going on?" I asked in confusion.
"Silence! It's none of a prisoner's business!" the guard holding me answered, the bottom of his helmet clanging noisily against the top of his shoulders. Biting back a wise response, I looked beyond the other soldiers ahead of us to see where we were heading.
Ugh, back in the throne room? I thought with a loud sigh.
"I said silence!" We quickly reached the throne room and were throne in a heap on the cold floor. The first soldier stepped forward to address the two usurpers, whom looked on at the guards in boredom. He bowed at his false rulers before speaking.
"My lord, we have received word that there is an intruder in the castle," he said, panting heavily between every other word.
"An 'intruder'?" Draco asked, still clearly not interested in the matter as he continued looking out of a nearby window with a yawn. Link turned to me.
"What is it that you saw?" he whispered. Draco snapped his fingers at us.
"Hey! I didn't say you could speak!" he said. Suddenly, a low rumble started and spread throughout the throne room. We looked around, trying to spot anything unusual in the room. After a moment, Peach nudged me and pointed to a wall where a small crack had begun to form. It spread up with a small popping sound until it reached the very top of the wall, at which then both the rumbling and popping noises had stopped. The room had fallen into a dead silence. We all paused and listened for a sound -- any sound at all. Then after a long moment of nothing, the wall with the crack suddenly exploded, sending bits of rock and debris flying everywhere. Peach gasped in fear and awe as, from the rubble, came a tall and shadowed figure. I pointed and jumped, pulling at Link's sleeve.
"That...That is what I saw!" I stammered. A grin spread across my face as the figure approached, a long billowing cape in its wake. Something wasn't right though -- a familiar faint ringing noise sounded as the figure approached. I couldn't place it until my right hand grew warm, burning underneath my skin as if in warning. I looked over at Link's left hand ; the same appeared to be true for him. Our shards of courage and wisdom shown dimly, the warmth quickly getting more intense. We looked at each other and I searched his eyes, trying to see if he knew what was happening. From the looks of it, he did. And just like that my smile had disappeared. "What's wrong?" Before he got the chance to answer, Link's shard of the Triforce began making a stranger ringing noise -- almost like a beeping ring rather than a ringing ring if that makes sense -- and less than a second later mine started doing the same. They are trying to warn us of something... but what? Link brought Peach and me close behind him as his body tensed, preparing himself for a battle that was no-doubtly about to come. Suddenly it dawned on me what the goddesses were warning us of, and who the dark shadowed figure was...

Ganondorf.

I gasped as the figure became clear, and sure enough, there stood Ganondorf. He looked as menacing as ever, his narrow golden eyes looking onward with apathy. Link watched as the king made his way out of the rubble. He braced himself for impact with the large man but instead was met with a slight flick of his cape. We all turned and watched in confusion and distrust as he walked right on past us. He approached the two usurpers until he was a mere meter away from them at their throne. The first guard went to say something when Ganondorf turned and gave a quick strong punch to the man's face. He immediately fell to the floor, either dead or unconscious. I wasn't really sure which at the time. The Gerudo then faced the two again, smoothing out a wrinkle in the black vest thing he wore. Draco stared at the man in disbelief.
"...State your business!" he said with an air of importance.
"State your business," Ganondorf replied, his voice cool and uncaring as usual. I blinked, and so did Draco. When he didn't reply, Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. Draco looked at Dejah, whom quickly looked away and pretended she had no clue what was happening.
"This is our castle ; you can't just come barging in like this and--" he began.
"This is your castle? Just earlier today you were complaining about how you missed your home," Ganondorf interrupted. Draco swallowed hard and continued to stare at the man.
"Well... Sure, we miss our home. This land is dirty ; it's a good place to start though if we want to take over the world." The older man (much much MUUUUUUUUUUCH older) suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the boy by his throat. Dejah continued to sit and stare in shock as her partner was lifted from his seat by the man. With his free hand, he snapped his fingers and a loud ripping noise sounded from near the remaining soldiers. The three of us still standing by the wall watched helplessly as a green portal nearly twice as tall and wide as the throne appeared, sucking in the defenseless guards without warning. It then sucked in Dejah, with great difficulty, as she gripped onto Ganondorf's leg as she was being dragged in. He threw Draco in, at which a cry sounded before quickly disappearing within the portal, and then struggled to kick the girl off of him.
"Draco!" she called after her love, momentarily looking back and giving the other king the chance to kick her in too. She screamed as well, but its sound was also quickly gone as she sank into the hole. He snapped his fingers again, and just like that, the portal was gone. We stared at his back in shock for a moment longer before he turned to face us. Peach looked at the man.
"...W-where did they go?" she stuttered. He didn't answer. A silence followed, at which I broke with a sob. Link turned to me with concern and touched my shoulder gingerly.
"Don't cry, Princess. It's okay," he said. When he saw that I wasn't crying out of sadness -- rather, out of sheer joy and relief -- he frowned. "Why are you so happy?" I ignored his question and ran up to Ganondorf, wrapping my arms around his waist and sobbing into his stomach. He looked down at me in confusion and disgust.
"What the-- stop! You're going to get your tears all over me!" he said, pulling me off after a moment. I wiped a tear away and looked up at him with a sniffle.
"Ganondorf, I knew there was still hope for you. Look at you now -- you just saved us from those menaces," I said. He raised an eyebrow and gave me a look of disbelief.
"'Saved' you? Who says I saved you fools?" My smile fell and everyone looked at him wide-eyed.
"...W-What do you mean? Of course you did... I saw you save us in my dre..." I trailed off, mentally reanalyzing my dream. Suddenly realizing what stood behind him in my vision, a large black cloud, I gasped. The cloud seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, an end to the darkness never to be seen. I covered my mouth in shock. "So you mean... you're... not here to..." Ganondorf smiled ; his smile never revealed anything good. Well, except for his perfectly straight, pearly-white teeth. But that was beside the point. I turned to run back to Link, but before I could get away, a large pink crystal encased me. Link and Peach ran to me and pounded against the crystal, trying in a futile attempt to break the prison.
"Not again!" Peach cried, giving up and looking at me in fear.
"Ganondorf, let her go!" Link cried, glaring at the man and reaching for his sword. He paused, then realizing that his sword had been hidden somewhere by Draco earlier in the month. He grumbled to himself and Ganondorf smirked.
"Well, looks like Zelda is staying where she is," he said, approaching the crystal and smiling in at me menacingly. I narrowed my eyes at him and pounded my own fist against the glass at him.
"You won't get away with this!" I said. He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Really? Who do you think is going to stop me? Your hero is already imprisoned," he answered. We both turned to look at Link but were instead only met by Peach. She looked away nervously as Ganondorf clenched his fists and scanned the rest of the room. "Where did he go?!" he cried. Peach flinched at his suddenly raised voice and stared down at the ground to avoid eye contact. After a moment, he breathed in deeply. "Fine, that's fine. I still have you here, and with Link out of the picture for now I have plenty of time to take the shard of wisdom for myself." I gasped and backed away, hitting my back against the other side of the crystal with a soft thud.
Link, I don't know where you ran off to... but please, bring help.... I thought, placing my hand on my chest with a sigh.
"Quit praying, no one is going to save you," Ganondorf said, now making his way out of the throne room. I knocked against the glass-like wall again.
"Hey! Where are you going? What about me and Peach?" I called after him. He turned his head slightly to the side.
"Oh yes, thanks for reminding me," he said. With another snap of his fingers, Dark Link appeared from Peach's shadow and wrapped his black arms around her -- engulfing her in darkness. We both gasped, then she was suddenly whisked away and sucked down into a pool of shadows beneath them with a shriek.
"Where did he take her?! Hey, Ganondorf, come back!" I cried, smashing my hands as hard as I could against my prison. He didn't answer and left the room, the large double doors making a faint echoing crash as they shut behind him. After a moment of staring at the door, I sighed and closed my eyes, lifting my hands together to my chest.
"Nayru, Farore... please hear me..." I began quietly as a tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. "Find our sister Din... and tell her to bring justice to the man she chose to hold her piece of the sacred relic." I sobbed, then continued praying. "Without our hero, we will be doomed... So please find the strength to bring him back to the castle to destroy this evil force once and for all..." My hands fell and I sighed again, resting my back against the cold wall of the crystal. Link...