The rickety and quite dangerous boat ride ended soon, and the three in the wooden boat jumped out once they had docked at Ramire's boat rental shop once more. She still sat in the boat, giving Link and Ganondorf a strange look.

"What?" Link questioned her, and Ganondorf growled something under his breath before sighing.

"We need to go, Link. Now," Ganondorf said sternly, but Link held up his finger and made an abrupt shushing noise. Ganondorf stayed silent, but with much anger and annoyance boiling up inside of his veins.

"I need my rupees," Ramire said with a sly grin, holding out her blue and scale-y hand, doing that hand motion when you want someone to give you something.

Link blinked and stared at her in disbelief, before groaning and grabbing his rupee pouch that had been tied to the side of his belt. Opening it, he shoved his hand inside the brown felt bag and pulled out a purple rupee, making that fifty rupees. He thought it was suitable enough, because all he had left now was thirty rupees and that couldn't buy much.

He harshly placed the purple rupee in Ramire's blue hands, and her cocky grin widened as she pulled her hand back. Admiring the rupee, she nodded and then waved her hand out, signaling for the two to leave now.

Ganondorf rolled his eyes before turning around, completely baffled by the young Zora's sudden personality change. She appeared to be a perky and seemingly cheerful woman at the start, but when she wanted money, she was the exact opposite - greedy and sassy. The sweet personality was probably what lured in customers.

"Ramire...she seemed kind of salty, don't you think?" Link said aloud, as if he had just read Ganondorf's mind. "She reminds me of you."

"How so?" Ganondorf inquired.

"She's very sassy!" Link exclaimed with a hearty laugh, immediately silencing himself once he saw the terrifying look that Ganondorf had on his face. It was so scary-looking that Link almost screamed at a high pitched level, but he contained it and just slowly made his way to their horses.

They both mounted their own horses, flicking the reins on them and beginning to ride away from Lake Hylia. Crossing over wooden bridges that could've broken very easily and across grassy grounds, they eventually made their way back to the central area of Hyrule Field.

Link stopped his horse and whipped out the old map that Darunia had given them the day before, unfolding it and squinting his eyes as he examined it. The sun glared harshly down on both Ganondorf and Link's backs, making them get all sweaty and gross as time passed. But Link couldn't see a damn thing with the sun covering most of the map with its radiant rays.

"Dammit," Link grumbled in frustration to himself, trying to find the perfect angle to view the map from. When he found it, he began to locate the palace.

He was abruptly interrupted when Ganondorf slapped his shoulder. What was going on with this man? He was so gentle at first, but he changed so much in such a short amount of time.

"Here's an idea," Ganondorf said, pointing towards the large castle that stood proudly in the distance. Link bit his lip as he saw the castle, nodding and deciding to ignore his stupidity.

Folding the map back up, he placed it back in the pouch it belonged in and sealed that tightly. Flicking the reins on their horses again, they set off for Castle Town.

"How are we going to get into the castle? We both know good and well that I'm basically being hunted there," Link asked for clarification, and Ganondorf stared straight ahead at the castle as he thought.

"We'll need a map of the castle. I don't know where we'll find one, but that's our best option. Then, we have to find a way to get as close as we can to Zelda just by sneaking in," Ganondorf explained his plan to Link. "Who knows if that'll be easy or not."

"I have faith that we can do this," Link reassured Ganondorf and mostly himself. He was also very worried about this new plan and what the outcomes of it would be.

Link sighed as they approached the drawbridge that lead to Castle Town. The duo decided to let their horses go, Ganondorf commanding them and knowing that they would return to Gerudo Valley safely.

Just from outside Castle Town's walls, there were loud noises erupting from inside. It sounded as if a riot or a protest was commencing, but who knows what this was?

Link and Ganondorf cautiously entered the kingdom. Ganondorf tried his best to stand in front of Link to keep him hidden, while the shorter man tried to not show his face to everyone, but secretly get a glimpse and a general idea of what was happening.

This definitely was a riot, indeed. Villagers and all sorts of citizens were either marching with the line or standing in place, a few holding up wooden signs with different messages stating their cause. Everybody was shouting all sorts of words that stood against their oppression, even though Link and Ganondorf knew good and well that this riot wouldn't make any difference to whatever they were protesting.

Ganondorf spotted a sign that mentioned replacing Queen Zelda with someone else on the throne, and that summed up all of this for him. Slinking through the crowds of people, they managed to find two large and brown cloths that they wore over their bodies, just like the last time they had been here in Castle Town.

They had finally made their way to the central area of the town, which was even more crowded, especially around the fountain. It seemed as if the entire town was protesting. Link and Ganondorf began to wonder - what did Zelda do that caused the townsfolk to go this far?

All of a sudden, the skies were filled with a purplish color, an eerie reddish color blended in well with it. The screams and shouts stopped; people with signs shut their mouths and slowly lowered their wooden signs; the whole town had fallen silent in a split second.

Link looked up at the menacing colored skies, trying to get a good look at it without exposing his face too much to the public. He was assuming that everyone here knew of Link and what he had done. Had the guards Zelda sent out days before stopped their expedition? They hadn't seemed like much of a threat, but they could surely pop up again.

Crack.

A large beam of lightning had crackled from the sky, hitting the roof of one of the towers that was connected to the castle. Half of the tower crumbled and fell apart, crashing harshly to the ground and causing almost everyone's eardrums to practically explode. When the crashing noises halted, the crowds of townsfolk looked back at the castle to see that the wooden beams in the walls had been set aflame.

That's when the screaming started. People dropped their signs and began to run frantically around the town, screaming and some even crying about what was happening. But, Link and Ganondorf stood in place, just watching the castle begin to burn.

More flashes of lighting hit some houses, and cries of agony and pain were heard from the insides of those buildings. The purple had left the sky, and was replaced with a full on mix of red and black in the sky, making this whole situation even more terrifying than it already was.

From one of the windows in the castle, Link could barely spot out a smirking Zelda, walking towards the area of the castle that had been destroyed and revealed to the public eye.

"Ganondorf, we need to get up to that opening in the castle - now," Link said urgently, tugging at his brown cape and keeping it wrapped tightly around him as he sprinted towards the castle. Ganondorf followed behind, running much slower than the obviously more physically fit male.

When they reached the walls that traveled below the opening, Link reached for one of the stray bricks that hadn't been built perfectly and neatly with the others. Noticing that there were many open bricks like this, Link began to climb up the available climbing areas. He looked down at one point to see that Ganondorf wasn't following. Looking back up immediately, he shouted, "Hey! Are you coming or not!?"

"I can't climb that!" Ganondorf hollered back.

Link groaned until he finally reached the ledge that lead to the entrance of the opened up walls. Struggling a bit, he managed to climb inside the tower that was connected to the castle, collapsing on the lush red carpet. Inside, the glass was broken in most of the windows, and small shatters of glass were sparkling all over the room. The red curtains were torn apart or had been burned to the ground, or even just parts of the curtains had been burnt. When Link finally sat up, he saw that it had begun to pour down heavy rain outside.

Then he remembered Ganondorf. Searching all throughout the room for some sort of rope that he could throw down, he found nothing in the end. How was Ganondorf supposed to get up here as well? If Link wanted to defeat Zelda once and for all, he'd need the help of the Gerudo man who possessed the Triforce of Wisdom.

Link looked over the edge. "You're gonna have to find another way in! I'm sorry!" he screamed.

Ganondorf simply nodded, turning his heel and beginning to run as fast as he could towards the front entrance of the castle. He remembered first entering this way when he was delivering that sword to the kingdom of Hyrule. That seemed like such a distant memory, but really, that didn't happen that long ago.

Meanwhile, Link pulled out the sword that he had been gifted with when he had been knighted as Zelda's personal bodyguard a few days ago. He also whipped out his shield, and kept his body prepared for if he encountered Zelda. What would he have to do when he did? Would a final battle of some sort commence?

If one did, he would need to win. Zelda was obviously abusing the power of the Triforce of Power at the moment, and if she got any further, she could rage hell upon earth if she wished. And Link knew that that is what she strived for this entire time. He wished he knew sooner so that he could've prevented all of this sooner, but now was not the time to dwell on his past mistakes. He had to save Hyrule. The fate of this wonderful land depended on him.

The chosen hero of the goddess, Hylia.

--

Zelda stopped in the middle of the long corridor, entering one of the rooms on the right and beginning to search for something specific. She would need her rapier for a moment like this; who knows who could attack her? Anyone could infiltrate the castle and try to stop her. With that large opening in the castle walls, she was sure of that. That wasn't intentional - Zelda didn't want the lighting she conjured up to destroy her castle.

Nonetheless, this was her problem now and she had no way of fixing it. Zelda knew of no ways to fix stuff like that with just her Triforce of Power.

Speaking of which, she glanced down at her hand and noticed that the marking on her pale skin was glowing brilliantly, producing a bright and glorious golden light. When she saw this, Zelda's cunning and menacing grin spread across her pink lips.

"The Triforce parts are resonating," Zelda said in a low voice, noticing her rapier sprawled across the floor and shoved in the corner of the room she was in. It was in its sheath, and she grabbed the sheath and slunk it around her waist.

She exited that room, keeping her hand atop the hilt of her rapier. She hadn't used this weapon in awhile, but that didn't mean anything. Still, even now, she was as skilled as ever with her rapier.

And then Zelda began to wonder if she had triggered her plan too early. Should she have waited for the absolute correct moment to start all of this?

Cringing at her doubts, she shook those thoughts from her head and looked out the windows of the castle. Rain pelted harshly against the once pristine glass windows; they could've broken through and made the glass shatter everywhere if they got any harder.

Zelda heard footsteps running towards her, and her eyes went wide at the sound. She turned around, expecting to see a guard or something, but she saw her old bodyguard instead.

"Link?" she whispered out, wondering why he had even come back.

"I'm not here to negotiate. You did all of this and - and I'm going to stop you," Link proclaimed, and his shy aura had suddenly disappeared in the few days he was gone.

"You're going to...kill me?" Zelda mumbled aloud.

"No, well, wait-" Link cut himself off, trying to think of the correct way to go. He could stand killing monsters, but to kill another Hylian like him? Zelda was human too - maybe he could reverse her twisted mind.

"There's no point in this," Link said. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish - be it power, or - or just the joy of destruction - there's no point to all of this!"

Zelda just stared at him blankly, blinking a few times before remembering her time and place. She smirked a bit and took a step closer to Link.

"You may want to escape."

Her words stunned him, so he didn't run away the moment she told him to.

"Do you think you can stop me?!" Zelda yelled, presenting her Triforce marking on her hand as it glowed brightly in Link's eyes. "I have this! And once I find those with the Triforce of Courage and Wisdom...I can have all the power I want!"

Link showed her his own marking on his hand, causing Zelda's mouth to gape open at the sight of it. Before she could react, lighting struck the castle just above their heads. It barely missed both Link and Zelda, as they had managed to dodge the actual strike. But, the walls and ceilings around them began to crumble apart and fall to the ground.

Link tried to run, but a large chunk of the ceiling and whatever was above it crushed the ground right in front of him. He lost his balance and slipped, falling over the edge and landing on the crumbled parts of the floor.

Zelda walked over and smiled when she saw Link dangling from a single board of wood, and then she ran the other way. Link didn't know if she had successfully escaped, but even if she didn't, he wouldn't care. It'd make his job easier.

The castle was crumbling, and Link needed to escape as fast as he could. Confronting Zelda would come later.

--

A/N: that's the end of this chapter.

Link still has to find the Master Sword before he can defeat Zelda so,, ya that's mainly what the next chapter will be about.

Oh and if ur silently reading fUCKING STOP. Just vote on the goddamn chapter or at least leave a comment. Idc, but it'd be nice to know that more than two people are reading this because obviously some people are. I have like 13 reads on each chapter, like how can two people produce that? Unless they reread it a few times but that's unlikely.

To sum it all up just vote pls it'll boost my self esteem and motivation to finish this fanfiction.

pls and thank.

-Katy