Ganon swung his blade at Zelda, and she barely parried before it cut her throat. Zelda was a skilled an agile fighter, but she had learned the most in the arts of Sheikan assassination, not sword fights. Even with the Royal Family’s sword being powered the way it was, it was still capable of error, of missing a chance to defend or a chance to strike. Zelda had to stay alive and defeat Ganon. If not for herself then for Hyrule. Ganon reared the blade back and swung it at Zelda once more, the Hylian just barely ducking out of the way.
The King of Evil walked toward the queen, his three eyes glowing fiercely, his black blade ebbing and flaring in an equally terrorizing manner. He spun the blade around his head twice then brought it down toward the ground, the dark matter flying toward Zelda. She rolled to the side, then lurched forward, stabbing Ganon in the leg. He clenched his teeth and stepped back, the power of the light like a cancerous virus in his body.
The Dark Knight, tired of merely witnessing the battle, turned from Shinota and Kafei, spinning his blade around quickly. It met Zelda’s flesh quickly, scathing her cloth and skin. She fell to her knees, bleeding from the long gash in her back. Ganon began to bring his black blade down upon the queen’s head, but the Dark Knight then parried the blow with his own blade. Then with a quick and powerful movement, he thrust his blade high, knocking the sword from Ganon’s hand and into the bubbling lava below.
“You wish to protect the queen of Hyrule?” Ganon asked, a scowl about his already unhappy face.
“I wish to do the same as you. Kill everything in this mountain. However, there are two things I will do that differ from what you will do. I will not share the glory, and I will not stop with the mountain. I have been tasked by my master to kill the Triforce Team, then to destroy Hyrule in whatever way I saw fit,” the Dark Knight answered.
“Your master? Heh. Tell me, mere underling, who is your master?” Ganon asked, the smile returning to his face.
“My master is Apocalypse Modeus,” the Dark Knight answered. Zelda dropped the Royal Family’s sword at the mention of that name. A look of nameless fear came into her eyes, and she backed against the wall of stone.
“Does the name of my master frighten you, Hylian?” the Dark Knight asked, turning toward Zelda.
“We…..killed him,” Zelda said in disbelief.
“No….you weakened him to an extreme point. The fall finished the job. As he is now, he is dying, but the-,” the Dark Knight was cut off from his speech. Ganon blasted him in the back hard with a mass of dark energy, then threw him to the side.
“Now….understand this….my queen. This is my kingdom. In here, your authority means nothing. You hear me? Nothing! You may as well be a feeble princess once more as long as you sit and cower in my mountain fortress. I know not what plan the knight in black and the apes of stone are conspiring here, but nothing happens in this mountain that I do not control. Prepare to die!” Ganon warned. He raised his hands slowly, and the all too familiar black hole attack began to form. Zelda closed her eyes, and prayed to the goddesses for a miracle.
She thought about it for a minute. Was it really worth it? Surely after ten years everything was cleared up. She nodded to herself, as if it was a final assurance, and she walked slowly into the gates of Lon Lon Ranch, the home she had left so long ago. She loved the way the blades of grass felt against her ankles, and how fresh the air was here. Even the sound of the cows were all welcome. Something about Hyrule was magical, much more so than Holodrum.
She had left several ranch hands there, and it would be fine. There were no cows or horses there anyway, only cuccos. It was more of a breeding ground for cuccos then anything else. No one had ever visited, but a ranch was in high demand in Holodrum. At the time it was all she could think of to do to escape from the constant thoughts of Link. Her heart ached every time she thought of him, but she knew in her heart why she had returned.
She walked slowly to the house she had lived at for so long and cautiously knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked harder. After several moments the door opened. Talon stood shirtless and hunched, his beard long and shaggy, a bottle in his hand, the liquid inside obviously not milk. He gave her a scowl, then slammed the door shut before she had a chance to speak.
Shocked, she knocked again. This had been her home forever, and she wasn’t about to give it up without a fight. Why would her father be so cold? She had always thought that he would be the one person to except her, even if her love for Link should fail. That was what she had been counting on in her journey back to Hyrule, although she had a strong feeling that the Hero of Time had returned.
“Dad, come on!” Malon yelled out, frustrated at the change in her father’s cheery, outgoing personality.
“Get outta here already, will ya’?” Talon asked in an angry voice.
“But I’m your daughter!” Malon argued.
“I don’t give a hootin’ fuck who ya’ are. Now get the hell out!” Talon yelled.
“Dad….let me in. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done okay? I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Malon yelled. The door opened and her hopes rose for a moment.
“You stupid good for nothin’ bitch! I told ya’ ta’ get the hell outta my ranch, but ya’ had ta’ go an’ push me, now din’t ya’? now I ain’t playin’ little girl, get the fuck off of my property!” Talon yelled, backhanding Malon.
“How could you…..this isn’t you! Dad, don’t you remember all the great times you’ve had with me, father and daughter? Raising cuccos, playing with Epona in the field?” Malon pleaded.
“Yeah…..I remember my daughter. Sweet ol’ girl who always stayed by her father’s side, even if a God damned fairy boy came into the framework,” Talon said angrily.
“How dare you talk about Link like that! He saved Hyrule!” Malon yelled.
“Damn…..damn hero?! I tell ya’….it’s all a fuckin’ fairytale…all them people he saved…where was Link to save my ranch when the work piled up and drowned us in debt? Where was Link when my daughter’s heart broke? Eh? Where was Link when I rang the neck of this redheaded bitch on my property?! Eh? I tell ya’….he wasn’t there to save no one cuz’ he was the cause of them problems!” Talon yelled.
“Dad….” Malon said in disbelief.
“Ingo! Get this good fer’ nothin’ slut outta my sight,” Talon said, going back into his house and slamming the door tightly. Ingo came out of the stable quickly, pitchfork in hand.
“You heard him darlin’….ain’t much I can be doin’ fer’ ya’….even if I don’t agree with the drunk,” Ingo said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She looked at Ingo quickly, then nodded, running quickly out of the ranch, tears streaming from her eyes. The hurt was stronger than ever before, and she felt alone, deathly alone.
The sun was shrouded behind grey clouds, and not even the shadows gave her company in this time of need. Rain began to fall quickly, pattering against the grass of the expansive field and moistening the dirt. Malon sat, face in hands for several moments against the wall of Lon Lon Ranch, sobbing. She knew it wasn’t productive, but it was all she could think to do.
After some time had passed and the rain had began to fall harder and faster she stood, soaked, and walked slowly toward the only place she could think to go; Hyrule market.
The shops were closed early due to the rainfall, and no one was about in the market except for the Hylian soldiers on guard, and the beggars who had no better place to go. The rain pummeling against the cobblestone in the abandoned market made a peculiar noise, one which Malon might have enjoyed more had she still been the small naïve child she was so long ago when she first entered this market. Before she knew who Link was. Before she knew who Ganondorf was. Before she knew what it was like to suffer.
She ran toward the entrance of the castle, but was halted by the guards. She had to get in and talk to someone, so she feigned the excuse that she was a Zedusrian ambassador. Easy enough. Zedusria and Hyrule had been negotiating meeting and peace talks for a decade now. She walked up the muddy dirt path slowly, toward the next gate. This set of soldiers were much less excepting of a lie.
“Speak your business,” the first soldier said, any sign of emotion hidden by his helmet.
“I’m a….Zedusrian ambassador,” Malon said in a shaky tone.
“You sound awfully unsure of yourself there,” the second gate man responded.
“It’s just that I’m a little cold in the weather. Come now, would you really deny a young woman like me the right to get shelter in an awful storm like this?” Malon asked, a sweet look on her face.
“We would deny anyone who was a potential servant of Ganon to enter,” the first soldier answered.
“But I have to talk to Jet!” Malon said impatiently.
“Do not refer to his highness so commonly!” the soldier said, angered.
“I’m sorry…..I just….has…..Link returned?” Malon asked.
“Hahaha, you must be joking?” the second soldier asked, face red with amusement.
“No….” Malon said slowly.
“He’s not been seen in these parts for a decade…he was a hero of the land…now he is hero of lore. But don’t worry, his highness is an able handed warrior who will let no waste come to this kingdom while breath still draws from his body,” the first soldier said in an assured tone.
“Oh……..yes, of course……thank…..you,” Malon said very slowly, turning. She hadn’t made it back to the market before she began to sob beyond control. She couldn’t speak to Jet or Zelda, her husband was still missing, and her own father had disowned her. The rain continued to fall harder and harder, and she was drenched, but she had nowhere else to go. She walked slowly out of the drawbridge and near the stream under the arch of stone in the field.
She couldn’t stop the tears. She had no reason to go on, not a reason to hold onto anything. She had gone on for the last ten years in the false hope that her family still thrived. She had lost a son, a husband, and a father, and the friends she valued the most were warm and comfortable, pampered on their thrones, and she couldn’t even gain an audience with them.
“Why……Din…..Nayru…..Farore…….” she slowly called out the names of those she had put her faith and trust in for so long.
“Why?!!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs to the air, water entering her throat and causing her to cough loudly. Her throat hurt.
“Why is this happening to me?!!! I walked a path of happiness, hoping it would pay off in my time of need. What has it done!!!? What has all of it brought?!!!!” Malon screamed again, falling to her knees.
“My beautiful son……dead!!! My husband, who I love with everything in my heart…..gone!!! my father….hating me!!!” she slammed her fists into the ice cold water of the stream again and again until she was numb. Her sobs continued, the warmth of her many tears the only thing keeping her from going unconscious from the cold.
“What is it all for?!!!” she questioned again to the sky, being answered by a flash of lightning. She thrust her numb hands into the water, pulling out a large rock.
“That’s your answer?! More rain?!! You want me to freeze?!!! You want me to freeze to death?!!! You want me to die?!!! Fine!!!” Malon screamed, dashing the rock against the nearby stone wall. It shattered into pieces, the fragment in her hand sharp and jagged.
“I tried to be powerful Din!!! When everything in my life had gone wrong I tried to be strong!!!” she yelled, slamming the rock against her wrist. Her skin turned a bright red from the impact.
“I tried to be wise and look for them, but I found only heartache Nayru!!!!” she slid the rock across her skin, breaking it open, a long narrow bleeding slit on her wrist.
“I tried to be courageous…..and I was answered by constant problems, constant sadness…..it didn’t work Farore!!!!” she slammed the rock against her bleeding wrist again, the rain mixing with the wound, blood running down her arms and onto the ground below.
“It….isn’t worth it!” she yelled, her voice weakening. She slammed the rock against her wrist again and again, the blood running down her wrist quickly. The ground near her was covered in the blood she shed, and it continued to fall, the crimson rivers flowing stronger than the stream itself.
She hit herself harder and harder with each blow, rearing the stone back and splattering herself in her own blood in the process. She didn’t care. In her mind it was worth it to be released from the pain. She smirked lightly as she began to run out of strength. She looked at herself. Her dress was stained all over with spots of blood. Her face was marked with the liquid, and she could barely recognize her own arm amidst the damage she had done to it.
She threw the rock down slowly and thought about all of the things she had lost. She looked at the blood covered ground and whimpered softly as she slowly lay down, the rain mixing with her blood and running into her mouth, the taste sickening her. She was hurting. She wanted this. She wanted it to be over, to end. She continued to cry softly, not strong enough to even make an audible noise anymore. Her last thought as she lay dying in the rain, tasting her own blood in her mouth, on the field where she had had so many good memories, was simple, but all too tragic.
“I’ll see you soon Link,”