FicWad

I will not lie to you, my reader, but I would rather not tell you the images of Hyrule that Link and I saw once we exited the Temple of Time. It was extremely dark when we walked down the small, concrete stairs and, instead of being swallowed by the sound of others, my footsteps echoed throughout that little courtyard. I looked up at the sky, which was completely black. I couldn’t tell whether it was night or day, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
Link and I had a clear view of Death Mountain from this courtyard, but the Death Mountain we knew years ago wasn’t quite the same Death Mountain we had left behind. Around the mountain, instead of the usual circling of light gray clouds, there was an intense ring of fire around it.
“What happened to this place?” I whispered and I looked down at Lux who was staring deeply up at Death Mountain. Some of his fur began to stand up and from his cheeks surged little strands of electricity.
I looked over at Link who looked horrified. My heart was broken, and I had no doubt that his was, too. There was an awkward silence between us, but there was an eerie sound in the air, which I assumed was coming from Death Mountain.
“We should probably get moving now,” Link said sternly and he started to walk in front of Lux and I. As he walked, he began to unsheathe his sword, so I reach behind to unsheathe mine.
My Master Sword was sort of heavy, but it was different than the tiny Kokiri sword that I use to use. It was a stick compared to the Master Swords that Link and I now carried. I felt a surge of power go up my arm as I gripped the hilt and I felt more powerful; not as helpless as I was as a child.
We walked down the small staircase that led to the Castle Town area and the scene there was so horrifying and I dropped my sword. Before the sound of my sword falling flooded the atmosphere, time seemed to stop as I looked around.
The fountain in the middle of the town was completely dried out and all that remained was a dark, black dirt left. There had been a statue in the middle of a lady, but now her head and one of her arms had been torn off. The buildings were now black with mold streaking down them and the windows of some shops had been busted out completely. There were doors wide open that were creaking for they probably hadn’t been oiled in years. A balcony on one of the buildings had collapsed.
However, the most surprising and terrifying thing had nothing to do with buildings or creaking doors. These terrifying things were awakened when the blade of my sword hit the ground. The sword sent a small, but very audible ping sound that bounced off the silent, black walls of the castle town. As soon as that ping reach their ears, these zombie looking creatures stood up and came towards Link, Lux, and I. They didn’t move fast or anything, but they petrified me and I just stood there like an idiot.
“Ash, don’t look at them!” Link shouted and he began to shake me, but I couldn’t break contact with one of the creatures. It was just staring at me and walking towards me, making these moaning sounds and behind it were an army of zombies, all walking towards me.
These zombies had no eyes, even though they kept me paralyzed by the two holes in their heads where the eyes would be. The zombies were a crusty looking brown and their skin was peeling here and there. They were all incredibly skinny and looked like they hadn’t eaten in days and I was about to be their next meal.
Suddenly, I snapped back to reality and saw Link destroying these things furiously. Max, who had just woken from his seven year sleep, was throwing his soft, glowing body all over my face; trying to get me back to reality. I felt extremely light headed as I watched Link fight these zombies, but he began to get weak amongst the group and had zombies climbing all over him, until he was engulfed in a pile of zombies. I didn’t move for some reason and just watched.
After a couple of seconds, a yell filled the air as Link swung his sword in circles. A bright, red light came from his sword and hit every single zombie that surrounded him. They all flew backwards, their arms and legs flailing. Some let out a gruesome moan and their bodies slammed against the walls. They looked like puppets with no strings, being thrown every which way except blood did come from their bodies.
Most of the zombies got up; their bodies moving upwards in contorted ways. They all seemed to not have a care in the world; they just wanted to get to Link who was their new, fleshy target. A few of the zombies didn’t rise, and two or three zombies who did get back up walked slowly towards their fallen comrades. They kneeled down and just watched over a fallen zombie; making these weird noises.
Link stood still but his body was shaking violently. He had blood dripping from his nose and a small stream of it going down his forehead. His clothes were ripped here and there and his chested heaved up and down deeply. He looked at me and ran towards me.
“Ash, hurry,” Link said quickly. “Here, grab your sword.” Link got my sword off of the ground and placed the hilt in the palm of my hand. I was still extremely lightheaded, so I was weak, but Link put his arm around me and led us to the path that led to the actual castle.
The path ahead of us was long and dark. It seemed, as we walked closer, that instead of the castle, we were walking up to a live volcano. The air began to get more humid and ash was floating around in the air. I had some trouble breathing and coughed violently, almost losing consciousness as the ash kept me from getting enough oxygen.
“Hold on, Ash” Link said and I heard Lux scurrying at my feet, and he was whining.
Now Link was dragging me as I slowly began to lose consciousness. I was sweating profusely and felt like I had to throw up. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I had to stay awake, at least to see the castle.
Even though the path was long, I was wavering out of consciousness and unconsciousness that when I finally felt strong enough to come to my senses, I found myself lying on the ground on my back. Lux was looking over me, but I couldn’t see Link. I turned my head to the right and saw Link standing quite still. He was looking up at something, so I got up slowly and saw what he was looking at.
Floating above a crater of magma was a black, pointy castle. The magma below was so hot that I couldn’t get too near, but there was no bridge or anything that would let us enter the castle, so there was really no reason for either of us to approach it.
The castle looked completely different seven years before. It was a bleached kind of white and now it was totally black with the magma below shining some red light on the walls. I didn’t know how the castle was floating on a tiny piece of land, but it was scary. The castle was much taller and above it was a thick, black blanket of clouds, with the occasional lightning bolt flashing in the sky.
The castle had obviously been moved from its old spot for the old path on the right that led up to the main gates of the castle was still present and so was the tiny arch that once had a gate keeping pesky people like Link and I from getting in. However, this arch had been broken in two and the gate was nowhere in sight. The arch itself was buried under thick rocks and mud and the rest of the path, at least from what I could see, was bombarded with huge rocks. I wasn’t sure if the path cut off, but I could wait to see that another day.
“I can’t believe this,” Link whispered. He then turned at me and said sternly, “Ash, we need to put these swords back and go back to seven years ago, so we can fix all of this.”
“Link,” I said hesitantly, “I don’t think it will be that easy…I mean, when we left seven years ago, on this very day, all of the bad stuff would’ve already happened. Therefore, we can’t fix the past in the past, so we’ll have to do it now.”
Link looked heartbroken, but I put on a determined face and said, “The past is the past. We need to quit moping and think about now, Link. We have a chance to fix things now, instead of sitting around seven years and watching this kingdom go from wealthy and nice to the Kingdom of the Damned. The worst has passed and we should both be thankful that we were asleep instead of becoming those damn zombie things back at the castle town. We’re the chosen ones or whatever, so now it’s our job to fix this shit. Now, are you with me?”
Link looked at the ground, but then looked up with a smirk on his face. “Yeah,” he said, and inside I sighed with relief. It was time for us to both personally kick Ganondorf’s ass and whomever else stood in our way.
…or rather, that was my plan, until I was suddenly engulfed by this huge, pink crystal thing.
“What the hell-“ I said as I began to lift off of the ground.
“Ashley,” Link shouted and he reach up his hand like an idiot; like it would actually make a difference. Lux began jumping up and down and then let out a wave of electricity, which did nothing to help the matter.
I had to think quick, so I just shouted, “Link, I will find a way out of this! You need to go to Kakariko Village and get that treasure Sheik was talking about or whatever. Then, go to Kokiri Forest and wait for me. If I’m not back in a couple days, go on without me!”
I watched as Link’s terrified face began to get blurry due to me not being able to see him from far away. I looked below me and saw the magma. I was going to tap the crystal, but I realized that if I broke the thing, I would be in some serious shit…or…magma…but anyway, I just tried to stay calm. It was rather awkward standing in the crystal as the floor slanted inwards, since the end, on the outside anyway, was a point.
I watched as the crystal went up to the top of the castle and saw a small hole open up mechanically in the middle of the roof. It was big enough for the crystal to go through and as I entered the castle, I looked up and saw the hole in the ceiling now fill in. I ended up being in this room that had a huge organ and sitting at the organ and playing it was no one other than Ganondorf.
The crystal reached the floor and, with a swipe of Ganondorf’s wrist, the crystal faded and my feet touched the ground softly. Ganondorf didn’t even turn around to acknowledge my presence. I stood there for about two minutes, listening to this guy’s lousy song, waiting for him to say something.
“Hey asshole,” I shouted, “you’re the one who brought me here rather rudely, so how about you at least say hi or something.” And after that, Ganondorf slammed his hands on the keyboard and sent thousands of minor 2nds into the air, which made my ears feel like they were about to bleed. “Or, you can just do that, I guess,” I said.
He stood up, so I said, “Finally! Man, you’d think the Goddamn King of Hyrule would treat his own guests nicely. You’re slipping up, Ganondorf.”
“I am?” Ganondorf said smoothly. “Why would you say that?”
Suddenly I realized that the person speaking was not Ganondorf, for their voice wasn’t booming at all. It was actually rather smooth and the voice sounded like it belonged to a girl.
“Damn,” I said, “you finally got that sex change you always dreamt about, huh buddy?”
The guy in front of me turned around quickly, batting their cape out of their way. After the cape flowed to the back of this guy, it was suddenly revealed to me that this guy was a girl. She had a very intense resemblance to Ganondorf however. Her skin was the same green color that Ganondorf’s was and her hair was red like his, except it was very long. She had slender red eyes and more girlish lips, but she still had that huge honker like Ganondorf had.
“Humph, my father told me you would be a pest,” this girl said.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked. “How do you know me?”
“My father is The Ganondorf Dragmire, The King of Hyrule,” this girl said. “I am The Shannon Dragmire, The Princess of Hyrule.”
“Funny,” I said and I scratched the back of my head, “your father never mentioned you.”
“But Daddy always says he talks about me at work,” Shannon said and she looked like she was tearing up, “especially to his enemies.” She rubbed her eyes and then said, “You are one of Daddy’s enemies, aren’t you?”
“Uh,” I said and I came up with a brilliant scheme. “Actually, I’m a newspaper salesman. I go door to door and stuff. Unfortunately I was scooped up by some crystal thing.”
Shannon looked guilty for a second and said, “So you’re not Ashley Brandt then, are you?”
“Um, no,” I said, “I’m Lexi Starr, head of The Hyrule Herald’s advertising junk.”
“Oh gosh, I am so sorry,” Shannon said and she got closer to me. “Is there anything I can do to repay you?”
“You can return me to the castle town if you’d like,” I suggested.
“Sure,” Shannon said and she smiled. She waved her wrist and a pink crystal surrounded me. She started to lift it up towards the ceiling, but I noticed that she had an awfully evil smirk on her face.
“Goodnight, Ms. Brandt,” Shannon said and she flicked her wrist upwards which sent the crystal crashing into the ceiling. All I remember is hearing the crystal crack and then I was out cold.

I woke up on a stone floor, which was really cold. I had no idea where I was, but when I stood up I saw bars, so I knew that I had to be in a jail cell somewhere in the castle. There was no hay or anything for me to lie on, but there were some sticks lying around. I felt too cold to budge, but I slowly walked over to the sticks and started to rub them together, like they did in the movies back home. All I needed to do was create enough friction and the sticks would light on fire.
Now reader, even though it happened in the movies rather quickly doesn’t mean it would happen that quickly in real life. I was doing that stuff for about two hours and my hands started to bleed from rubbing the sticks together so long. I was so tired and cold and when the sticks continued to fail me, my hope began to freeze as much as my toes were.
I lost all hope and sat on the cold stone; defeated and freezing. However, from my belt suddenly came a small push and I saw a small ball come from my waist. A red laser came out of this ball and in the form of a small dog. The ball came straight back to me and I put it safely in place. The dog in front of me was the dog I had rescued from Ganondorf in Gerudo Valley. Her name was Coffee Bean.
“Coffee Bean,” I whispered enthusiastically. “What are you doing out?”
“Houndour,” Coffee Bean said sternly and she looked at the sticks I had piled up. From her mouth came red and orange flames that seared the sticks and created a small, but very warm fire. I hugged her and she had a small smile forming on her muzzle.
“Thanks Coffee Bean,” I said. “Now, we just need to figure out how to get out of here.”
“Dour,” Coffee Bean said and she walked over to the bars of the jail cell. She drew in a deep breath and from her mouth came a blaze of fire. The bars began to melt under the fire’s heat and all that remained was a molten mass, glowing red. We waited a little while so the mass could cool down, so no one would get burnt walking over it. Once the glow died down, Coffee Bean and I went through.
“Alright, I’ve been here before,” I whispered. “But, this seems to be a different castle, so I’m not sure how quickly we’ll escape.”
Coffee Bean looked up at me and smiled. I could tell that she didn’t care how long it took because she was going to stay by my side forever. I felt the same loyalty oozing from her that Lux had for me. I felt happy to have a friend in such a dark place.
We walked as carefully around the castle as we could, but the place didn’t seem to be heavily guarded by anything. We were able to get out of the dungeon area and we ended up in a hallway instead of a kitchen, which was where the exit of the dungeon was in the old Hyrule castle.
This hallway had lit torches and underneath my feet I could hear the soft, padding sounds of my foot stepping on a red carpet. Above us, I could hear the small screeches of bats and I was afraid that they were flying fairly low, but I had to move on if I was going to get Coffee Bean and I out of the castle alive.
There were several doors lined along the sides of the hallway, but I wanted to get to the end of the hallway before I led us through a door. At the end of this hallway were two huge double doors, as I expected. I pushed the door on the left open, but Coffee Bean saw I had some trouble so she began to push with the skull that was on her forehead.
Behind those doors was what seemed like a dancing hall because hanging from the ceiling was a huge chandelier. There was a small balcony on the other side of the ballroom that had some tables, a bar, and some stools as well. I walked across the dance floor, my boots making a noise with every step; a noise that echoed throughout the hall. I was completely amazed and looked up at the chandelier. Even though it was covered in dust, it was still a remarkable sight.
“So, you like this room, huh?” I heard a voice say. It was a smooth voice that slid off the walls. It had to be Shannon. “Father had this room built for some small parties we held in the beginning of his reign. Unfortunately, you won’t meet anyone who attended those parties for they all died right in this room.”
I turned and saw Shannon standing at the double doors that Coffee Bean and I had just came from. I looked down at Coffee Bean who was growling.
“You will also be added to the deaths in this room, Ms. Brandt,” Shannon said and she unsheathed this weird sword, but I remembered seeing pictures of that style sword back at home. It was a rapier style sword and its hilt surrounded Shannon hand, as a protection. Around the hilt was a light blue, tan, and orange cloth, a kind of cloth that could be found in Gerudo Valley.
I hadn’t really tried to use my Master Sword in combat, but I had no choice at that moment, so I unsheathed it anyway. That weird power I felt when I first unsheathed it went up my arm again. I held the sword at my side and held out my left hand and motioned Shannon to ‘bring it,’ as we did back at home.
Shannon smiled, but stayed still. Her left hand was placed on her hip and her right had stayed by her waist with the rapier’s blade slanted towards the ceiling. I wasn’t aware at that time, but along with different styles of swords came different styles of fighting. I was too impatient to wait for her to attack me, so I charged straight at her.
Those that use rapiers are supposed to be graceful fighters, as in quick on their toes. I didn’t know about that until later, or that fact that the rapier was primarily made for thrusting at the opponent rather than hacking away at them, like my style sword was made for. That’s why, as soon as I got close to Shannon, I felt a thin blade stab into my left shoulder.
This immense pain filled my shoulder and I retreated as fast as I could. Shannon pulled the rapier’s blade out of my shoulder and I felt the blade scratch against my left collarbone. I was too preoccupied at that moment, but later I would realize that I was stabbed just below my collarbone, which isn’t too far away from the heart. But, as I was screaming in pain on the inside, I knew better than to submit so I tried to plan carefully.
“I think you’re spent there,” Shannon said smartly.
“Not yet,” I said quietly.
“Whatever,” Shannon snapped and she moved quickly on the balls of her toes and came at me and it was a huge surprise. I quickly held up my sword and her blade made a small noise as it hit mine. She kept coming at me with these quick movements, but I was still getting use to the Master Sword’s weight and the fact that I had just had a sword pulled out of my upper left body.
I had an idea, but I would have to get behind Shannon. I wanted to disarm her, but I couldn’t do that if I was standing to the front of her for the hilt of her sword would block any strikes that I had at her hand. If I could get behind her and if I could strike quickly and precisely, I would have a chance to get my blade underneath the protector on the hilt and I would be able to pull it out of her hand with my blade, or at least cause damage to her hand.
Fortunately, I had Coffee Bean to assist me. She bashed into Shannon’s stomach all of a sudden and I find my opportunity to attack. Instead of going behind her though, I used my electric powers and wrapped them around the hilt of her sword and pull it towards me. With Shannon disarmed, it was now fair game for me. I shocked Shannon myself and she laid on the ground with Coffee Bean on top of her.
I place the tip of the Master Sword at her throat and stood above her and said, “Now you, Ms. Dragmire, are going to help me and my friend here out of this castle. Since there is no bridge, you better get us across and now, before I kill you.”
“Alright, I’ll do what you want,” Shannon said defeated. “Just leave me alone. Please.”
I had Coffee Bean get off of Shannon and I rolled her on her back and then I grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her. I grabbed her elbows and lifted her up so she could get on her feet. Thankfully she cooperated, even though I knew she could have destroyed me right there, or rather her dad could have, but still.
Shannon put us both in a pink crystal and Coffee Bean and I landed on the other side where we couldn’t get to the castle. I looked down at Coffee Bean who looked up at me and we both nodded and started to take off for Kokiri Forest.