#yet another wip | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

skyloftian-nutcase · 23 days

Text

A Heart Sealed in Stone (TotK: Hero's Shadow)

Someone save me from the brain rot please

Ganondorf had to admit it – there were benefits to being allies to Hyrule.

Although his end game was to get his hands on a secret stone, the perks of being in Rauru’s good graces were beneficial. Soon, he wouldn’t need Rauru’s blessing to enjoy such delights, though. He was looking forward to that.

In the meantime, he would enjoy a quiet moment with his family. The hot springs they’d settled at soothed his body like a massage in itself, and he sighed peacefully as he sank deeper into the water.

In a separate hot spring a few steps away, his wife and daughter relaxed. Hemisi was half asleep, arms wrapped around her mother’s left arm as she rested her head on her shoulder. Nabooru smiled at their daughter, gently kissing her head. When she looked over at Ganondorf, who watched both with a tender heart and a small smile, she winked at him, her lips pulling more. Ganondorf let out a small chuckle, silently communicating his love to his wife, and then her eyes drifted beyond him, motioning with her head.

Ganondorf followed her gaze, settling on the person in question.

Link stood at the edge of the springs, a gorge that bottlenecked any entry to the area. His sword was resting in his grip, settled on the ground while his hands were plopped on the hilt. It was a relatively relaxed posture, but a guarded one nonetheless.

“Link,” Nabooru called quietly so as not to awaken her daughter too much. The boy turned to look at them, a little confused. “Come here, sweetheart. You don’t need to keep guard.”

It was natural for the boy to do so, of course. He was a warrior, born of Sheikah and Hylian blood, bound by his people to serve the royal family. Ganondorf would have to start telling him soon that his loyalty would shift upon his marriage to Hemisi. The child seemed to know this already, spending steadily more and more time with the Gerudo, and it made Ganondorf smile. Hemisi was happy with Link, and he was a strong boy. He was as quiet as the breeze, simple in his words, but he would roar to life in battle. It made Ganondorf proud to see it, proud that this boy was soon to be part of his family.

Well. Relatively soon. Although by Sheikah standards the boy was of age, the age of adulthood among Hylians was seventeen, and to the Gerudo it was sixteen. The teenagers, in their youthful passions, had already promised themselves to each other and gotten engaged, but neither was at the age of consent by Ganondorf's reckoning, based on their dominant cultures. Their betrothal would last several years before Link was officially part of the family, but Nabooru seemed very keen to adopt him in sooner rather than later.

Ganondorf supposed there was merit to it. He was growing quite fond of the boy, and Link would likely not be of age when the war came. It was best to keep him close.

Link watched Nabooru hesitantly at her beckoning. He looked at Ganondorf next, seeing as the women and men were in separate pools. Ganondorf sighed, understanding the gesture, having started to grow used to the boy’s silent observations and questions. He held out an inviting hand. “Come here, Link.”

The fourteen-year-old walked with his sword in hand, eyes scanning the area constantly. When he reached the end of the pool, Ganondorf rose and walked until he reached the deeper center of the pool, eying him expectantly. Link hesitantly put his sword away, settling it on the ground, and stripped off his shirt and shoes. When he started to dip his toes into the water, he hesitated, gaze drifting back to the entrance.

Ganondorf swam over until his feet touched soil beneath him and held out both arms to the child. “You think I cannot protect all of us well enough, dear boy? Come on. You’re safe.”

Link stared at him a moment longer, debating the issue, debating whether to trust such a statement. Ganondorf almost felt a little insulted that it was even a matter to deliberate. But the boy gave in, reaching forward to take his hands. Ganondorf took a step towards him, slipping his hands under the boy’s shoulders, lifting him right off the ground and into the water in a careful hold. Link was stiff in his arms at first before relaxing into it. The two sank deeper into the water as Ganondorf carried him further into the spring – Link didn’t protest being ferried along in the water, as they both knew he wasn’t the strongest swimmer. Nabooru smiled lovingly when he locked eyes with her. Hemisi was out cold, making his heart swell with both love and amusement. His daughter felt perfectly safe with her parents around, even in such a foreign land. He… wanted Link to feel safe too.

Damn it all, he had grown attached to this silly child. But he was a good warrior, and though his gentle and kind heart was not exactly a strength in Ganondorf's eyes, he loved Hemisi dearly. Although he didn’t hold Ganondorf’s drive for power, he did have a fire in his soul, and the Gerudo king admired it. The boy would make a good prince.

Link hesitantly settled his chin on Ganondorf’s shoulder, looking out behind him. He was still keeping watch, though the Gerudo king felt the teenager’s body slowly ease up. It didn’t take long, with the moonlight casting a gentle glow that barely lit the world around them, before the boy had completely settled, his cheek pressed against Ganondorf’s skin, his breaths slow and steady in slumber…

It was curious, that such a memory would come to him now. On the precipice of his victory, Ganondorf had spent his time recovering his strength in the Depths of Hyrule. He knew it was only a matter of time before the light was snuffed out, before his blood moons stained the earth every night, before Hyrule was his. He rested with anticipation, but rarely with thoughts of the past. He supposed one could only envision victory for so long, though it was certainly entertaining. He could taste the salt of the sea, could feel the breeze of the valleys, could listen to the gentle pitter patter of rain in his mind, but what stopped his heart in its tracks were thoughts like these.

His family.

How strange, he thought, that they could possibly make his heart ache after all this time. How bizarre that, with victory so close at hand, with no one to stand in his way, the end goal felt almost empty in comparison.

How could it possibly feel like this? He had waited nearly his entire life for this moment. Perhaps he was simply disappointed that Rauru’s knight was so easily defeated. The Zonai king had placed such faith in him, after all – Ganondorf had been hoping for a challenge.

His heart stirred with restlessness. He scowled at it. Or, well, would have scowled if he had flesh on his face. He was certainly eager to regain enough strength to return to his original glory.

Perhaps he’d indulge in thinking about his family. He wasn’t sure what end it would lead to, or if it was even productive, but it wasn’t as if he had anything better to do while his minions chipped away at the world above.

He let his mind wander to his beloved wife first. Oh how he missed Nabooru. She’d had a fire to her veins, an iron will, a desire to fight and conquer just as he had. She had even helped him initially with the war – it wasn’t until he’d claimed the secret stone for himself that she’d turned against him. That thought alone soured his mood, but still… the challenge it presented, dueling his wife time and again as he had… he enjoyed that too. But perhaps he wished that she had eventually yielded, perhaps the thought that he would make her bend to his will made him more nostalgic than he had any right to be. As the Sage of Lightning, his wife had been formidable (and he certainly had felt a more than tad bitter that she had protested his supposed abuse of secret stones and then had willingly accepted one from Rauru). He doubted there was a Gerudo warrior, even now, who was her equal.

Next, he thought of his daughter. Hemisi was every bit her parents’ child, holding the fiery energy of her mother with the brashness of her father. She had been a skilled warrior in her own right, and though her ambitions did not match her parents’, she still had them. Hemisi had wanted to lead the Gerudo people, had wanted to bring her land to prosperty. More than that, though, she’d wanted a family – her relationship with Link and subsequent betrothal was evidence of that.

They certainly would have made quite the powerful couple.

That led his thoughts to Link. Bearing Sheikah and Hylian blood alike, he practically embodied every culture Ganondorf despised. It was the most ironic turn of events that the man had grown to love the boy. But how could he not? Link was strong, faithful, stubborn beyond all reason, curious and eager to learn, even playful at times. The boy could hold the innocence of a child and the resolve of a hardened soldier and balance the two perfectly.

Nabooru had tried to coddle the boy a little too much, but Ganondorf supposed that was simply what mothers did. He’d appreciated Link as the warrior he was. Most of the time. Very occasionally he might have babied him a little too. Very occasionally.

The memory of the hot spring came to mind, and he huffed. Technically, Nabooru had instigated it.

This train of thought was taking him nowhere. All he was doing was making himself feel emptier. He was soon to be king of all of Hyrule, and then spread his power beyond that land alone. This was not productive. Moping was ill-befitting a king.

Sighing, Ganondorf let the images of his family go. He stretched his senses to his minions. He could hardly tell what was going on with simple minded beasts, but his gloom hands and his puppets could show him images of the world both above and below. He felt amusement tickle him as his puppet of the Sage of Time continued to baffle and sabotage the fools of Hyrule. He let curiosity guide him as he followed the path of some gloom spawn in the Depths. It had discovered ruins of some sort.

Ganondorf had to admit, he was definitely interested in seeing how his era and those that had passed had been memorialized. While he was not much of a dilettante of history, this history included him and his people, which made it worth noting. Exactly how much time had passed anyway? He was still trying to ascertain that.

Judging by the state of the ruins the gloom spawn had found, it had certainly been a while. Also, where was everyone? The Depths were completely abandoned, and the mines down here had been thriving when he’d been sealed away. He had supposed that the area where he’d been held captive was restricted, but he hadn’t realized that they had evacuated everyone from the world down here. He wondered if anyone had set foot in the Depths since his battle with Rauru.

His battle with Rauru. He gritted his teeth a little. He had not expected the Zonai to be able to get so close to him, honestly, but he had always loved a good fight. The only thing that made it hurt was—

Rauru’s Light magic was powerful, to be sure. But Ganondorf would have expected such power to sap him of energy, to try perhaps even to destroy his secret stone. The main reason Rauru was able to seal him away, at the cost of his own life, was due to the anchor provided him by Link.

His face pulled in both fear and agony, tears glistening in his eyes as Ganondorf held him.

“Foolish child,” Ganondorf growled through a tight throat.

Link’s breath stuttered, making Ganondorf’s heart freeze. No. This was not happening. The fifteen-year-old reached forward with a shaking hand, grasping at what would have been Ganondorf’s cloak before the secret stone’s power had transformed him. For an instant he let the power recede, he let himself look as he had. Link’s eyes widened, and the tears finally traced down his cheeks. His gaze drifted down to Ganondorf’s chest, and he squeezed his eyes closed.

Ganondorf debated the matter, very aware of his surroundings. The sages were still there, as was the king. He could retreat with the child and try to save him, or he could push through and destroy all of them. He distinctly sensed Nabooru’s eyes on him, but he didn’t dare look.

“P-please,” Link whispered, barely audible above his gasping. Ganondorf stared at him, paralyzed for an instant, hating every second of it. “Please stop this.”

Stop? Oh, you foolish boy… He couldn’t stop. He wouldn’t. Not permanently. But, perhaps, this battle should end.

He wouldn’t have another opportunity like this, though. The sages were weakened, defeated even. They’d tried their best to fight him and had failed. If he let them regroup…

He was already giving the enemies too much time. Fighting them had been nearly laughable, though. He could give them a chance to regain a little bit of their strength, he supposed.

Before he could do anything, though, Link inhaled sharply, eyes opening with determination. Ganondorf grew confused, maybe even hopeful that the boy wasn’t quite as injured as he’d previously suspected, and then—

Link stabbed him.

Ganondorf yelled as the blade pushed true, releasing the boy, who fell and rolled down the stairs, staying motionless where he stopped. Enraged, he wrapped himself in his dark power once more, ignoring the cry from the others—the anguish from Nabooru—and the fight continued.

Ganondorf turned his head slightly, tasting bitterness in his mouth. He tried to distract himself, looking back at what the gloom hands had found, when he registered the sight of what they had stopped in front of.

A tomb?

Oh, he was certainly curious now. He urged his dark minion to find some kind of engraving. Whoever this person was, they had to be important to have such a memorial. It was familiar of those of the royal family, the Zonai flair and importance evident. It was a stone gazebo in the Zonai architecture, with a stone engraving in the center of the soil held within, marking the spot of the burial. All around it were flowers that thrived in the Depths, and a single, curious blue and white flower that was somehow thriving despite not being native to this region. As the gloom spawn crawled closer to the grave, the singular flower glowed brightly in response, almost in defiance.

Ganondorf ignored it, though. He sat up with a jolt.

He-- -i-s L--k

H-ro o- -yru-- and Rau-u’- El-te

Bel-v-d --- -nd ------

Prid- -f t-e Sh-i---

The air was still, his body frozen.

Could it be…?

For the first time since his awakening, breath escaped him with a shaky rasp and a singular word, thick with emotion.

“…Link?”

#writing #hero of shadow #tears of the kingdom #totk #legend of zelda #sigh #yet another wip #it's fine I'm sure this one won't develop into much #anyway hope y'all enjoy <3

11 notes · View notes