Escape from Hyrule Castle
Linkle grimaced as they fell, but, suddenly, something caught, and the chain recoiled, slinging them up. She smiled confidently at Zelda, who was looking up, probably disoriented by the sensation of falling up.
Linkle looked over Zelda's shoulder and saw Malron watching them, "Yeah, it's a pretty amazing device, huh?! Alright, Zelda, hang onto me, I'm going to grab onto the banner and sway our way over to the other side, we'll stop near a window, it should be at my feet, Malron will open it and pull you in."
"Give me a second to get there, first!" Malron yelled, "This place is a maze, I'll be a while!"
"We'll be hanging out until then!" Linkle replied, "Ready, Princess?"
"With every passing second, I regain a little strength, this dreadful excursion seems to be helping with my poison, so yes, I'm ready." Zelda replied.
"That's great, I'll pull up and leave my claws...uh, well, this isn't convenient, guess I'll just drop these and pick them back up later."
"No, wait...slide the claws to the back of my head, when you think my hair's secured it, then you can let the gauntlet go...you might just have to shoot my hair, but aim against the wall, so the chain will recoil."
"Oh, good thinking!" Linkle set the claws and tangled the claws, then fired against the wall, "That should hold!"
She pulled her hand back and slowly released her hold Zelda. The princess bit back a scream as all the weight was hanging on two weak limbs, but Linkle held her again after a few seconds of swaying, "This isn't working as well as I'd like, Linkle, but I appreciate you giving my arms a break." she tried to shout to keep her words from fading into the wind, but Linkle's light shaking told her the girl understood her.
"Don't mention it, I don't want you slipping and—well, you know. If I thought you could hang on longer, I'd have set you on my back." Linkle replied, letting go of her again. The suspense was agonizing to the princess, who already felt fatigued enough as it was.
"How could you even say that?!"
"Ha, ha, just keep holding on, okay? We're almost there! You're doing a great job at not falling, don't-oh...don't, uh, let go."
"Is everything okay up there?"
"I—yeah, it's just hard to hang on. I'll switch which hand I hold you up with."
"Good idea, your other hand has soaked it's side of the dress...I should have brought a spare nightgown with me."
"You wouldn't have a place to hold it until now, though."
"So you could dry off on the underside, I mean."
"Oh! Well, yeah. Ha...ha, ha, ha! I'm sorry, but the gauntlet's look like an intricate headdress!"
"Hang on to the ledge, Linkle!" Zelda roared.
"Well, excuse me, Princess, but we're hanging high above our deaths...laughing a bit can't hurt us."
"Unless you let go in your fit of laughter." Zelda muttered.
"Okay, now to wait for Malron." Linkle said, holding on to the wall and the princess.
"How's this going to work?" Malron called out, watching Zelda's legs sway in the breeze, "How does a normal day even become like this?"
"You're going to hold Zelda's waist and pull her down, she's going to hold onto my coat and slowly climb down, and I'll let her slip a little at a time." Linkle replied.
"Alright...sounds fun." Malron braced herself for this insane stunt and then realized something, "Wait, I need to secure myself to something, or I could fly out the window with her!"
Malron grabbed a sturdy iron spear and pressed it through the back of her dress, which took a while before it tore through the fabric, and after scrapping herself several times trying to find the other end, she finally ran it through her dress, then moved some large crates and moved them until they were narrow by the window, but wide at the top.
"Okay, I'm in place, nothing fast or crazy, just...don't fall, whatever you do!" Malron said.
"I...don't know how it came to this!" Zelda reached her hand lower as she descended the coat, and soon Linkle had a hand on her head.
"Pull your legs up and keep you head ducked...and watch your arms!" Linkle called out, and watched Malron disappear into the window.
"How are you getting down?" Malron inquired.
"I'll...uh, think of something. What if I let go, you can grab my hands, and-"
"No, Linkle, I'm not risking your life!" Malron shouted, "We'll think of something!"
"We don't have that kind of time, Zelda needs to get out of-" Linkle heard a distant roar and looked down at the monsters below.
"Linkle...Linkle, talk to me!" Malron screamed.
"The monsters are coming! I don't have time."
"No...please, there's another way...Zelda, tell that idiot to hang on!"
"Hang on, idiot!" Zelda poked her head outside and winked, "I have a plan! Linkle, wait for my word, and let go, lean forward, and let her pull you in!"
"Great, got it." Linkle said, then looked down to see Malron, "It'll be fine."
"Get ready to catch her." Zelda turning to Malron, "Just try to fall forward, Linkle, she'll grab you so you can step over the windowsill."
"Smart...clever...potentially deadly, but I have to give you points for coming up with a...maybe plan." Linkle looked down as the spider like monster smashed it's claws into the wall, leaving marks as it climbed up to her, Zelda kept checking on the monster's progress and rolling her shoulder vigorously, "You're scared, aren't you? Oh, this isn't good."
"Just stop talking...this is bad enough...change of plans, you're going to drop so your neck is just above thee sill, and pull yourself in...the difference between life or death is timing...I don't know how to time something like that, you could fall backwards! No, just...do you understand what you'll need to do?"
"Yes, I understand, tell me when and I'll grab the ledge...Zelda, what is that monster?"
"I don't know, but it's friends are climbing up behind it."
"Then shoot it's eye when it turns red, after I'm back in. Red eye means it won't close the eye, I fought one outside the gates, it, uh, broke the drawbridge, and I unleashed rapid fire, once it closed it's eyes, it's eye turned red, and it was poised to lunge, and so shot it, the eye remained open and it feel. If I'm right, it has that weakness, we can exploit it!"
"The drawbridge is down?! This is horrible...Linkle, something big is about to-" she heard a bloodcurdling screech, when looked down to see a red eyed monster, she pulled out a clawshot gauntlet, and fired at the eye. The monster's grip visibly loosened and she gasped, horrified, "Linkle-" she began, but cut herself off.
"That's a bad thing, right?"
"Very...if you fell now, the monster would fall, and you'd be lost!"
"Well...that's a little more than disheartening."
"I'm sorry, it was about to lunge!"
"Princess?! Y-you're...crying?"
"I'm so, so, sorry, this is just...this can't be the end!" Zelda pulled on the other clawshot and thought felt the trigger in the devices, they had an second, unexplained trigger. She leaned backwards to look up the window, and fired up at a banner, and let herself out the window before flying up above Linkle.
"What are you doing?!" Linkle demanded.
Zelda lowered herself and rose back up, laughing, "Linkle, I figured out the purpose of second trigger, it controls height!" she lowered herself, and shot the recovering monster, sending it plummeting into the others, the swung her leg until her boot caught the sill. She teetered as Malron helped her maneuvere her legs over the sill, and braced her gauntlet against the inside of the window.700Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsQZU4tgVg
"Lower one hand, take this, and lowered yourself!"
"Okay, here goes something!" Linkle shot up and allowed herself to release the second trigger, and descended, Malron grabbed her waist and held her steady while Linkle braced the gauntlet, and fell inside the window, "Well, that wasn't fun, let's get out of here!"
The Iron Knuckle kicked open the door to the room where the princess was said to live, but found only an open window and empty bed, "There must be a way...ah, I know."
Hurriedly, the Iron Knuckle found where she captured he prince.
"You're a crazy woman, you know that?" he retorted to her questioning silence, "Fine, what did you want from me?"
"Your sister wouldn't tell me where the Key to the Sacred Realm is...I accidentally crushed her throat." she lied, watching his reaction.
"What, no! You must be lying! Please, tell me it's a lie!"
"I would, but I can't...there is a way to save her...the Key, boy, now!"
"No...this is a trick!" he cried, clawing at his face as he stared into the empty air, "You're using my guilt thus far to increase my stress...to leave me with the only other option...to let her die, or commit a far worse atrocity...I choose to hold my current misdeeds, and the consequences I've already brought upon myself! Rest in peace, dear sister, now you know I truly meant no evil!"
"Oh, don't worry, Hylia herself can give those words to your sister if the Key isn't in my hands soon...although, in the end, I need one of you to rule, I'd rather she live, but if you're a gambling man, then so am I!" a heavy metal fist bent the bars inward, and the prince looked desperately at his captor.
"So, one us has to live?"
"Not necessarily, but since I've already set my mind to slay you, I must bid my would be puppet farewell as well. Oh, well, I suppose your father will be heart broken enough, the lose of his two children, I'll have him bring up two Gerudo children, who will rule both our lands...actually, thank you, you two can sort out your sibling thing in the afterlife, you've spared your father, let yourself be content in that."
"Wait, no! Spare them both, please!"
"No, I won't, one lives, the other dies...who's life will you spare, who will you force to live in this harsh prison I've created?"
"No, please...I alone will die, save me from my grief!"
"Oh...you're right...no, you will be the sole heir to Hyrule, just as we planned, and one of my commanders will be your wife...after they sort out who deserves you—no, your crown, most. Don't be fooled that they love you, only know that your crown is their dream."
"She demon, just kill me already!"
"No, demon prince...you will accept your punishment like a man, and live with your grand plot!" a boot, this time smashed into the bars.
"Burn the throne-"
"Telling me what to do?"
"No, telling you how to get the Key! Burn the throne and use the scepter, there's a large door back there, within the door you'll find what you want, now please, save my sister!"
"No, I will watch you cry, then toss her corpse out a window, make you knell before it, and then bring your father out, and let you two fight...while his legs are bound, and only one arm free!" she tore off his gate and threw him to the ground.
"But I speak the truth!"he cried, one hand outstretched in prostration.
"Time will tell!" she turned around and left the room as he wept bitterly in his prison.
The Iron Knuckle burned the throne and it left behind a gold frame with three gems inside, "Red, blue, green, the goddesses' colors!" she took the piece and turned to the king she had captured, and kicked him in the face.
"Ugh, I won't believe you, my son would never kill his sister!" the king spat, "For all his skulking, he does love her, he wouldn't kill her for you."
"But he did, and then he...left his room via window. The scepter, now!" she demanded, kicking him again.
"You're a one woman army, aren't you? I guess that makes an army easier to kill, though, if it's all in one person."
"Aren't you such big talk?" she retorted, "Keep on and that smart mouth will be dumb, as in unable to talk, it's a joke, friend, lighten up."
"You if they're dead, then let me see them for myself." the king pleaded.
"Stupid boy, I wouldn't do that." she hefted her ax and held it above the king, waiting to hear a knife drop behind her before turning, slamming the flat of the ax against the prince's hip, Take your father's scepter and give it to me, boy."
"You're crazy woman, my father is alive, you have what appears to be a part of the Key, so my sister is alive yet!"
"Not long for the world, though...a shame, she's so beautiful, yet beauty, as all things,must come to an end...or must they?" she took a step closer before kicking him, "Your Majesty, hear the words of your son, he knows he causes her death! Ha, if only for the fact that family bonds make you weak, I'd indeed let Zelda live...a deal, then, the scepter, and I spare your daughter...or should I anchor her to the world as a ghost, and make her cause your boy much grief?"
King Daphnes sighed as he stared at the floor, while the Iron Knuckle threw the prince at the king, "The scepter, or his sister's sad, crying face will be the last thing Prince Daphnes the Second sees before going to sleep...if Zelda's cries of 'Oh, why, why did you do this?' let him have any rest."
"Father, please, I couldn't bear that!" the prince yelled.
"This is a fine mess you've gotten us into, son, but if we give this crazy woman what she wants, Zelda won't be the only one to suffer." the king leaned back against the wall and the prince gabbed his ribs, reached into his cape, and produced the scepter, which he proceeded to throw at the Iron Knuckle's head.
She caught the scepter and attached the three framed triangular gems to the scepter, and beckoned with it for them to follow her. She pointed at the burned down throne's remains the two men cleared it for her, she then unlocked the disk on the floor and waited for them to fall into the hole before following them, "Keep moving, or your daughter will suffer for your son's stupidity."
Linkle led the two down the stairways and Malron gave her a rundown of what happened, "So, the guards seem to think I'm a Gerudo, and they left Epona just inside the gate leading from the city to the castle."
"Well, we'll have help getting out then!" Linkle cheered as they approached the door.
"I don't know how long I can keep this up." Zelda said, leaning against the wall, "You might have to ride back for me, I'll make progress along the main road."
"No, we're almost outside." Linkle opened the door and started playing on her ocarina.
"Your song was well played, but it drowned in the wind." Malron remarked, carrying Zelda out onto the main road.
"I'll cover you from above!" Linkle said, zipping onto a roof.
She looked down from the rooftops, her hood over her head made her feel awesome, and the fact that there were no enemies present combined made her smile, despite the serious situation. Suddenly a dust cloud rose up some storage buildings, and within seconds another of those monsters appeared. Linkle saw another one near the gate and zipped to the one on the roof, holding her clawshots and waiting until the eyes were blood red before squeezing the trigger, then zipped to the banners on the sides of the gateway, distracting it from Malron and the princess, and fire at it as well.
She turned to see dozens of little monsters similar to the big ones she took out, and chained together a combination of kicks and shots that had them wiped out in seconds, but she turned to find the stunned monster on the roof was recovered, and chasing them once again. She waited for Malron to pass the gate before dropping her clawshots and pulling her cross bows out, unleashing rapid fire on both of the giants when their eye turned red, taking them both out.
"Linkle, ahead of us!" Malron yelled, watching red orange lights appear some distance away from them.
"Fire arrows." Zelda observed, "Pull back."
The three retreated to the gate, and hid in an alley, making their way deeper into the maze of buildings.
"What now?" Linkle turned to Zelda, but the princess shook her head.
"I've got nothing, we're stuck. At best we keep moving, then you can lead us past the guards...you'll have to take out the guards if any get on the roof, though, and you need to check the roofs before going anywhere." Zelda advised, "Unless you're feeling brave enough to sneak out of here."
"I'm feeling brave...compass, show me a safe way out! To the gate, my guide!" Linkle called out, and watched as the needle pointed out a route, "Let's go!"
The Iron Knuckle found the door and opened it with the scepters, "'In the castle in Hyrule thou shalt find two, one bolder than is safe, one wiser than is comfortable, and they shalt hold the two you need, take it from them with your power and the world will belong to you alone!'"
"What are you on about, woman?" the prince demanded.
"Wait here, and you shall see...the words of the Witches of Gerudo shall be realized as truth, foolish, brave, brash prince...and your father, a wise but insecure king. All the pieces are in play...the end is nigh. Your end, my beginning." the Gerudo struck the king, sending him to the ground and walked into the light and closed the doors behind her.
"Come, father, I will find Impa." Prince Daphnes said, then remembered her words, "I am a prince who is brave and brash...but that can only mean one thing...I mustn't be captured!"
It was a blur as the armored Gerudo wandered what seemed to be Hyrule. A deserted Hyrule, there were temples and castles, but no people. She wandered for a long time before finding a temple in a forest. Deep within was a blade that could cleave darkness itself. She saw the pedestal, and a shadow of the blade. Only one of the blade's choosing could wield the sword, and as of yet, the sword—which bound the seals between the two worlds—was in place, pinning the fabric of two realities together. The scepter was an emergency override to the usual and more orthodox method of acquiring the Triforce. Had the king known enough, he would have used this system and wish for the gods to stop the coming storm.
She held the scepter up and struck the blade, teleporting her to a blue room with three triangles in the ground. She was on an upside down triangle in between the green, blue, and red triangle's pyramid formation. The red one was in front of her, but she knew the arrangement was merely symbolic to the Triforce, it would be hidden.
She saw what appeared to be statues here, but knew better. They slowly awoke in response to her presence.
"We are the Sages...who are you?" called out a voice from around her, the voices of the Sages speaking as one.
"I am here to save the land of Hyrule, long and hard have I journeyed, but now, at last, I may make my sacred wish!" she replied.
"Hero or Princess of the prophecy?"
"Princess."
"Then why do we not sense the power of the Royal Bloodline?"
"Because, over time the Royal Family fell, and my family took their place...centuries later I was born...the Hero has not been revealed."
"Take the Triforce, then, and with it, our blessing. May the gods favor your request." the Sages stomped the ground and colored lights corresponding to the colors of the emblems on their disks shone up around them, and the Triforce levitated from the triangles on the floor, and arranged themselves above her head, in all their golden splendor. Upon touching the Triforce, she let out a gleeful laugh, which the Sages joined her in, but as her hand rested on the Triforce, darkness spread from the upside down triangle under her feet, and a wave of darkness spread out darkening the region.
"Triforce of the Gods, hear me! My wish...is to hold the world in my iron fist! All that I desire shall be mine, all the world's resources mine, and mine alone...that is my wish!" she cried out, laughing as she made her wish known.
A collective gasp from the Sages exploded around her, and they charged at her. She held her arms out and spun, the darkness knocked them down, into the abyss around them, but one still stood, a bright shield of light guarding from the darkness.
"Can you defend against this?!" she rush forward, swinging her ax into him. He fell to the ground and looked up, rising slowly before she grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into her knee, before zapping him and tossing him down as well. Darkness now encroaches the Sacred Realm! But...this—I knew it, the Triforce didn't accept me as it's master...no matter."
She held her scepter up and appeared back in front of the sword, and walked away, beginning her journey to out of the Sacred Realm.
A/Ns: There goes the Triforce of Power! I honestly don't know how Ganondorf killed the Sages in OoT, or how he failed to kill Rauru. You may have noticed, but this story isn't bending to any world or timeline, but I still had to figure out where the Triforce would be, and what to do with any Sages, if there should be any, so now Linkle will probably have to go around finding Sages...and people will disbelieve she is the Hero. Whether or not she is...is still a very good question...for me to ask myself.
Oh, and I was wrong, Queen Gohmas will also be dying by clawshots!
