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He looked at the castle looming in the distance, its spires rising high into the sky, creating a menacing silhouette over Hyrule Field. As the sun set behind the castle the plains were bathed in a golden glow- the castle the hero was in. The hero
he
wanted to meet, so he needed to go to the castle…
He took a step then immediately turned on his heels and started marching back the way he came. Fully prepared to abandon his half thought out plan and return to Hylia, The Weapon was harassed by memories whispering like devils on his shoulder poisoning his mind with doubt.
You're meant to fight, to be an obstacle to surpass.
A tool to sharpen their wills.
You’re not meant to have opinions, just do as I command.
Swords rattled at The Weapon’s side as he abruptly stopped, he didn’t
want
to go back to his patch of nothing. Didn’t
want
to let another hero beat him.
He
wanted to get to know this hero, perhaps even be his friend.
What if he just… avoided everyone? That wouldn’t be too hard, right? Just move through the shadows and the Hylians would be none the wiser. Simple, nothing could go wrong. Glancing back at the castle, he shook his head in frustration. Was he really doing this?
Taking a deep breath he turned back around and started towards the fortress in the distance. Yes, yes he was.
As he walked towards the capital an unsteadiness took hold of his stride, doubts flooding his thoughts. Did he really want to go against his creator's will after all this time? After he'd fought so many different heroes as a dark mirror of themselves, was
this one
going to break the cycle?
-
Slipping past Castle Town's bustle and into the stronghold's main hall was far easier than he thought. Shadows painted the town in the waning sunlight of evening, allowing The Weapon to slide into the familiar coolness of the flat plains and traverse undisturbed. The people of the town were going about their lives unaware that an intruder was lurking under their feet.
Stepping into the throne room in the shadow of a guard, he surveyed the chamber. The queen regally sat upon her throne, an ethereal grace about her as torchlight shone off her hair making it look like gold. Nobles loitered around talking amongst themselves as they gathered up papers and documents from small tables placed on either side of the carpet running down the center of the room. But there was no hero so The Weapon slipped into a noblewoman's shadow as she left and continued his search.
The next place he went was the kitchen. Heroes had been led by their stomachs in the past, maybe this one was the same. Apparently not– he searched the kitchen corner to corner, in every nook and cranny a wolfish hero might want to stow away in. Nothing.
The Weapon bit inside of his lip and breathed out in frustration, he was sure that this would be the place. Moving to leave he zoned out of his single-minded bubble and looked around the kitchen, servants were rushing around the room cooking and preparing meals. ‘
What are they running around for?’
He decided to stay in the kitchen a little longer listening to servants talk amongst themselves.
“I hate these parties! Who eats this much?!”
‘A party? Sounds like a place for a heroy appearance,’
“Hush! What if the Head Cook hears you?! Keep those opinions to yourself,” A smile spread across The Weapon's face,
finally
something to go on that wasn’t just aimless guessing!
The Weapon patiently waited for servants to leave with plates of food and followed them through their shadows.
The room they entered was a grand ballroom, banners of bright blues and reds hung from highly polished brick walls, the marble floor was carved and inset with intricately patterned glass and shown like a mirror, long tables draped in vibrant red silks sat at two sides of the room holding large platters of food, smaller wooden tables inlaid with gold with matching chairs around them were littered about yet to be filled with party goers.
The Weapon plopped down in a shadow cast by a table giving himself a perfect vantage point to spot the hero when he entered. He waited, watching servants rush about placing food and decorations, and getting the room in order before guests arrived.
The queen entered a little while later checking to make sure everything was in order. She had changed her outfit since the last time he’d seen her. Her sleek white dress was replaced with a blue off-the-shoulder ballgown, the bodice was bejeweled with blue crystals stitched into the fabric in the pattern of vines, the skirt was a flowing mix of blue and purple hues, and her hair was down and coiled into perfect curls. Royal guards entered the room with her their armor clinking annoyingly in the extremely bored Weapon’s ears making him scrunch up his nose as the queen ordered them about.
Eventually, after the sun had fully set, guests started arriving, flaunting their extravagant jewelry and clothing as they greeted one another, seemingly having a competition to see who could talk about themselves the loudest. The Weapon rolled his eyes, his swords rattling silently as he lay down.
‘Goddess I hope that wolf arrives soon, I might stab someone if I have to stay here any longer.’
After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a couple of hours, The Weapon admitted defeat, his objective wasn’t going to show and he had just wasted hours of his life. Leaving in silent frustration, he took some solace in his colossal waste of time, the sun had set leaving few people in the halls allowing him to search in relatively silent bliss.
He strode along the wall of a simple corridor sparsely lit by torches. The faded reds of the carpet and plain walls were a welcome change to the garishly bright fabrics and near mirror-like quality of the ballroom.
Continuing his quest The Weapon searched quiet hallways, rooms, servant passageways, and even the expansive gardens surrounding the palace, but he found no trace of the hero anywhere. Moving out of the shadow’s grasp The Weapon plopped down on a cool bench deep in an empty garden in frustration, why was it so hard to find
one man
?! How was he looking in all the wrong places?!
His swords clinked at his sides as he moved reminding him of how much he wanted to hack something up, but he couldn’t, the poor shrubbery didn’t deserve the ire from his failings.
He smacked his cheeks “Alright get it together, can’t be quitting halfway through.” ‘
But it’s sooo boringggg,’
Mentally complaining to himself The Weapon dragged his feet as he went back into the shadows and started heading back to the castle.
-
Searching the fortress well into the night eventually led The Weapon to the part of the castle where the sleeping quarters were located.
The Weapon stood on the opposite wall to the first chamber he needed to check, ‘
This is so creepy,’
he moved across the way and under the door, ‘
I’m being a freak.’
Even in the darkness, he could tell that the room was luxurious, with polished floors, intrinsically designed furniture, a grand chandelier hanging over a large bed with marble pillars rising to the ceiling at the corners, people sleeping in the bed- ‘
Oh! People!’
The Weapon excitedly moved from shadows littering the floor to ones draped across the wall the bed was against. ‘
this is
literally
the worst way for me to meet Link,’
The Weapon looked down at the two Hylians sleeping soundly, his excitement deflated as neither of them was the man he was looking for. Slipping down the wall he left the room.
Mentally braising himself he went under the next door and promptly left as fast as he could.
‘NOOOO!’
The Weapon noiselessly slammed his head against the wall mentally screaming and rubbing his face as it heated up,
‘I didn’t want to see that! I’m a freaking pervert on top of being a creep now! I’m gonna do all this to find Link and he’s going to think I’m a freak!'
He glanced down the hall looking at the plethora of rooms he had yet to look in,
‘I hate myself. Why is this the best way to go about this brain? Can’t you come up with something better?’
-
He made it to the end of the hallway, finally exiting his self-made nightmare.
‘I swear to Hylian if the hero is in one of
those
rooms I’m going to go mad.’
The Weapon glanced over at the last chamber, which had two guards stationed at either side, ‘
Wonder what important person sleeps here?
… The Hero of Hyrule is like SUPER important. I can make it through one more room.’
Walking under the door he found himself in a bedroom twice the size of the rooms prior, thankfully absent of anyone doing things he didn’t want to see. It had a beautiful painting of Hyrule across the ceiling circling ‘round and leading his eyes to a crystal chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, purple curtains were draped over windows keeping out the moonlight, a stunning white brick fireplace was in one of the walls, and an empty king sized bed sat against another, perfectly made up indicating that no one had slept in it recently.
‘Yet another dead end, I’m starting to hate this, I might actually cry if Link hates me after all this.’
Slipping out of the room he headed down the wall away from the guards,
‘Where have I not checked? Kitchen? check. Throne room? Check. Bed chambers? Regrettably, check. Where the hell could he be hiding? I only have like the prison left and he wouldn’t be there…’
‘I swear to every deity I know if that's where he is.’
-
The Weapon angrily moved along the wall in the dimly lit stairwell leading down to the prison, the old stones behind the torches lining the passage’s walls were cracked and stained black from the fire but the otherwise drab stairwell was in good repair.
He stopped when he got to the bottom of the stairs heaving out a sigh of frustration, the dungeon was massive, in front of him a long corridor of cells stretched out, the end barely visible, and several side passages branched off from it leading to who knows where. Two other corridors were to either side of him both equally large.
‘I hate this castle.’
The Weapon skittered around the corridor’s floor in the slivers of darkness the torchlight didn’t reach. He went down the hall peering into cells as he passed, the disheveled prisoners in them taking no notice of him as they withered away in their solitude, bones threatening to tear out of colorless skin pulled taunt, wounds green and oozing as rats used them for food. ‘
What the hell,’
The Weapon continued moving down side passages as he reached them only to be greeted with more prisoners in horrible condition,
‘Why is Hyrule treating their inmates like this? Aren’t they the good guys? The ones the heroes risk their lives for? Why is Hylia’s chosen treating people like this?’
The Weapon continued his search in disgust.
‘I
knew
he wasn’t going to be here,’
The Weapon moved along the wall dodging firelight as he headed for the stairs. ‘
Why would a hero ever be in a place like this? It’s disgusting and horrible and depres- Oh?’
His ears perked up as his attention snapped to two guards walking out of a small passageway nearly hidden in the wall making him stop.
‘How did I miss that?’
One was a tall woman holding her helmet at her side her hair in a braided bun keeping it out of her face, the other was a one-armed man, the severed arm was mangled like something mauled it.
The Weapon waited for them to turn a corner before ducking into the passage, it was just as cramped as the opening not even wide enough for two people to walk side by side, he would have hated going through it if he wasn’t currently flat on the wall.
It didn’t take long for him to make his way to the end of the corridor where a stairwell waited, moss covered the floor and walls in patches making the way down seem slippery, water dripped and ran down the walls in a steady flow pooling in the dips of the floor, plants growing from the puddles. A rat scampered across a stair. Part of its head was bashed in revealing its brain, and dozens of vibrant yellow mushrooms growing from the wound.
‘Ew,’
Getting to the bottom of the stairs he was met with another dungeon absent of any torchlight and far smaller than the one above it, it’s walls and floor were covered in mold and lichen giving the illusion of rusted metal and making the air rancid and stale, the ceiling was littered with cracks, vines and plants growing out of them as water dripped down into stale puddles of liquid, small rocks and bricks covered the floor from years of rodents burrowing.
‘Goddess, can’t the queen spare some rupees to patch this place up?’
The Weapon trudged across the wall with more vigor already wanting to leave the forsaken catacomb. Cells lined one side of the narrow hall their bars actually rusted, the crypts they guarded were in the same sorry state as the rest of the dungeon with the inclusion of a couple of stray bones littered throughout.
Arriving at the end of the hall he looked around the last cell and nearly left before spotting the Hylian curled up in a corner.
‘Holy shit,’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Link?” The hero didn’t respond as The Weapon knelt in front of him. One of the wolf’s eyes was a milky white color, the other three were vacant staring into nothing as they blinked slowly. The hero’s hair looked like a rat’s nest as it fell around his shoulders in a tangled mess, blood and dirt coated it in a thick brittle crust adhering it in patches to his skin and plaguing The Weapon’s nose with its metallic smell as it mixed with the earthen musk of the dungeon. Bruises littered Link’s body in a colorful painting of brutality, crimson hand marks coiled around his neck and arms, blotches of yellow and purple splattered his torso, and green mingled with a blackened eye and fat lip. The hero’s bulk was also coated in many scars: two small ones at either side of his lips, several large circular ones sunken into his skin covering his torso, teeth marks wrapped around his arms, and long raised scars across his body.
“What happened to you?” The Weapon felt sick as he gently shook the hero’s shoulders after receiving no response, again the hero did nothing, it was like he was unconscious but it was clear that he was awake. A knot formed in The Weapon’s stomach in all his years with all the heroes he’d watched and fought he had never seen Hyrule treat them this badly. They’ve mistreated them on occasions for sure, but not like this, not locked in a hidden dungeon to rot.
‘I got to get you out of here.’
The Weapon stood drawing his sword, ‘
But first, we gotta leave this cell.’
Walking over to the bars he slipped his sword through them.
Lifting his weapon he aimed it at the lock, ‘
What’s the chance of this screwing up my sword?’
‘Oh well,’ he thought and slammed his sword down breaking the lock and thankfully not his sword.
The door squeaked on its henges creating an awful sound as he pushed it open, “Nice, part one of escaping done, now just need to make sure the rest goes just as smoothly.”
Brushing some rust debris off his sword The Weapon sheathed it and went back to the still unresponsive hero. Crouching down he tentatively slipped one arm underneath the wolf’s knees and the other against the small of his back. Pulling Link close to his chest The Weapon stood and left the cell.
“You know it took me forever to find you. This place is a labyrinth, and what's up with the creepy side dungeon? Very weird.” The Weapon’s boots thudded against the ground as he sped walked to the stairwell, he needed to get them out before the castle awakened for the day.
“We’re going to have to be quiet from here on out, which shouldn’t be a problem, for… you…heh.” The Weapon’s voice petered off as he chuckled awkwardly, the wolf’s vacancy making him uncomfortable.
‘
I’m
not
equipped for this, why is he unconscious WHILE conscious?!?! How does that work? Will it fade? Is he stuck like this forever? Where could I go to ask for answers when I look like a demon? I could ask Hylia… NOPE, no, don’t do that she’ll be very angry and probably won’t help.’
The Weapon held his breath and tiptoed as he neared the corridor’s end, he refused to be discovered after how much he’d inconvenienced himself to stay hidden.
Setting Link down with his back against the wall The Weapon poked his head out of the passageway making sure the coast was clear. When it was he went back to the hero, quickly scooped him up and continued speed walking, nearly running, out of the corridor, praying to every god, goddess, and deity he knew that he wasn’t seen as he headed for the stairs
As The Weapon got to the stairs his soul nearly left his body and his heart skipped a beat, someone was coming and was nearly at the bottom. Quickly swerving he ducked into the indent of a cell against a collum.
The clank of metal rang in his head as the guard left the stairwell, ‘
Please walk the other way, please walk the other way.’
He quietly released the breath he was holding as the clanking started to recede down the opposite corridor. ‘
Goddess this is so stressful,’
Waiting a couple of seconds to make sure the guard wouldn’t return The Weapon slowly moved out of his hiding spot and bolted up the stairs.
-
Getting out of the castle had been a nightmare, with servants around every corner starting their work, and guards stationed more heavily in the daylight, which didn’t make a lot of sense to him but who was he to judge?
The sun glared its first ugly rays in The Weapon’s eyes as he slipped out of a side passage leading into an expansive garden of hedges blooming with flowers.
“Just a little further.” The Weapon muttered a reassurance under his breath, for himself or the man in his arms he didn’t know.
Tentatively walking out into the sun he gently set the still unresponsive hero in a wheelbarrow full of small flowers and dirt. Taking off his swords he put them beside the wolf and snatched an oversized gardener’s hat off a fence post before plopping it on his head, somewhat hiding his glaringly unhylian complexion from any prying eyes. Picking up the wheelbarrow’s handles he hunched over to hide more of himself and quickly set off into the winding maze of greenery.
Rushing and swerving down paths he eventually made it to where the gardens met Hyrule Field.
‘So close.’
Taking a deep breath he started pushing the barrow across the expansive field.
-
When The Weapon finally got them to the forest the sun had fully risen swamping everything in blistering heat and coating him in a miserable layer of sweat that made his clothes cling and rub against his skin.
As he trekked further into the woods it became harder to see in the seemingly endless forest, giant trees blocked out the sun with their thick canopy and gave The Weapon some sorely needed shade, the ground was covered in plants and a blanket of dead leaves that crunched under his boots, fallen trees rotten away their bark covered in moss and mushrooms claiming the dying corpses as their new homes.
After wandering through the woods with no real goal in mind other than ‘get very far away from the castle’ and losing all sense of time, The Weapon stumbled into the ruins of a (maybe long ago) great house. Its walls were brick and stone the colors and designs faded to browned grays and bumps over time, the whole right side of the manor was collapsed into nothing more than rubble, a tower that was once attached to the front of the house now lay on its side in the overgrown yard its walls and roof caved in letting plants and trees sprout out,
“I’ll scout it out,” He leaned over and whispered to the wolf as he turned around and wheeled the wheelbarrow a safe distance away hiding it beside a pair of large trees amongst tall ferns. Taking his swords out of the wheelbarrow The Weapon refastened them to his belt before picking up some fallen branches that still had leaves on them and putting them around the hero somewhat hiding him from view.
“I’ll be back.”
The Weapon merged into the shadows and drew his swords as he returned to the manor. Slipping through a crumbled wall he surveyed the area, the once tile floor was now dirt and overgrown grass hiding the tiles that remained, two large staircases took up most of the room, one of them was rotten and crumbling but still stood, the other had fallen apart and now lay in a heap on the ground.
Walking to the right of the foyer he briefly looked around the dining room, its walls and ceiling were gone, and the chairs and table were nothing but piles of rotting wood, not much to look at or places to hide.
Moving on to the living room didn’t yield anything of note except undisturbed dust.
The Weapon backtracked to the foyer and slid up the shadows coating the walls to the upper floor. The upstairs was in much worse shape than the first floor, the right side of the hallwa, had fallen apart leaving it inaccessible to most people and thus unimportant in his search. The left side was still walkable, barely, holes and cracks littered the wooden floor, wallpaper that would have been nice at one point now peeled off the walls in chunks while mold grew on the walls where the roof leaked.
There were three rooms still accessible down the hallway, the first room was a bedroom, one of the walls had crumbled away allowing rainwater to flow into the room creating pools for mosquitoes and other bugs to breed in, but luckily for him, like the rest of the house, there was no sign of people.
The second room was a study or small library, waterlogged and molding books littered the floor under the rubble of broken bookshelves that once lined the walls, some shelves still stood holding their books defiantly to the flow of time. The Weapon lingered in the doorway, it was obvious that there was no one there, and hadn’t been for a while, and there were no places to hide, he should go to the last room... But maybe someone was hiding under some of the books or there was a secret passage behind the shelves, he should take an extra second just to make sure.
The Weapon slipped out of the shadows and stepped over the rubble on the floor. Running his fingers along the spines of the books still on the shelf he smiled to himself. Taking one off the shelf he flipped through it, ears flicking happily before he put it back in its place and took another off the shelf. Over the eons, he had never been allowed to indulge in literature, though he wished he could have. There was just never enough time when he got sent to Hyrule, he always had to rush to fight the hero and then he was sent back to the darkness and Hylia brushed the idea to the side whenever he’d asked.
Crouching down he sifted through the books and rubble on the floor occasionally picking up books that looked interesting.
‘I should really check that last room, I shouldn’t be wasting my time like this.’
The Weapon heaved out a sigh sadly,
‘I’ll just come back again. If I can,’
Moving to walk out he spotted a book that stood out from the rest, its dark red cover clashing with the muted tones around it. Interest piqued he allowed himself a look through one last book before he left.
Walking over he pulled the book off the shelf, its cover portrayed the image of a ball with several pairs of bat wings and a singular eye sitting in the middle. Flipping the book open revealed fading ink on brittle yellow pages showing off various spells in the language from the Hero of Time’s era, ranging from simple glyphs that helped with chores to complex summoning spells.
‘Interesting,’
“Just gonna take this with me,” Closing the tome The Weapon left the room to quickly peer into the last room, which was another bedroom completely untouched judging by the layers of dust and walls of cobweb. He headed back down the stairs to get the hero.
The Weapon flipped the leafy branches off of Link, “I’m back, as promised. The coast is clear.” putting his new book beside the hero he picked up the wheelbarrow handles again and started wheeling it back to the manor.
Setting the handles down The Weapon got to work sifting through the pile of rubble that once was the dining room looking for somewhat dry wood. After gathering an amount he found suitable he walked back over to the hero and started making a little pile before lighting it with a spark from his sword and a rock.
After he’d prodded the fire to a decent size with a piece of railing The Weapon stood and lifted the hero from the wheelbarrow and placed him beside the fire letting him lean against his shoulder as the sun started to set through the trees.
“I hope you get better soon hero,” The Weapon murmured as he stared into the fire, he didn’t know what he was doing, didn’t even know where to start. He knew he needed to get food and clean the hero up but then what? He couldn’t just wonder about wheeling Link around, he needed a plan.
But as the sun set and The Weapon’s eyelids started to grow heavy he decided that those were troubles for tomorrow, right now he would tend to the fire.