-Ganondorf-
Ganondorf groaned painfully. His chest ached. He blinked, and flashes of memory came to him in a confusing mess. All that he could piece together was that he had been in a fight with someone. He stood to his feet and saw the castle in the distance. He also saw the ruins of a freshly ravaged town surrounding him.
"This doesn't bode well," He muttered.
A scratching sound nearby drew his attention, and Ganondorf stepped into a hidden place. A pack of Twilight passed him by while searching for prey. He held his breath, but he feared the constant red glow of his hair would give him away. His worry merited nothing, fortunately or not, as a loud roar filled the sky, and a burst of flame enveloped the street, vaporizing the Twilight. Ganondorf covered himself with his hands as fire swept over him. It faintly burned, but not near as badly as he feared. The explosion soon faded around him, and the sound of flapping grew distant. Ganondorf poked his head out and saw the street. Everything in it was on fire, dead, or soon to be dead.
Ganondorf felt something crunch under his feet, and he looked down at some smashed glass. He instantly recoiled upon seeing his reflection. He was on fire and covered in shadow! Ganondorf stepped back and looked closer in another reflection. He was still in his demon form. It was smaller than he thought it would be, but unknown to him, it was only a hint of what he could be. Still, having never seen himself like this, it surprised him deeply.
"How?" He wondered aloud. How was he in control? He reached up to touch himself, wanting to be certain the reflection was him.
A flickering of light drew his attention, and he turned his hand over to see two marks on his hand. They were in the places where Zelda and Link's marks usually were. His own mark, at the top, was absent.
"The hell happened?" Ganondorf said while putting a hand on a broken windowsill. He then jumped back, remembering he was on fire, but the windowsill was not burned. He patted the wood again, but nothing happened. "Heh."
He stepped out into the street, took a fallen spear, and felt it in his hand. A Twilight was crawling away with only half of its body. He followed to finish the monster off, but stopped short as he saw a trail of blood. A very familiar trail of blood.
Ganondorf struggled to remember why that blood bothered him so much. He put a hand to his head in frustration when, suddenly, it snapped back to him.
Zelda and Link!
Ganondorf sprinted down the street, flashes of memory rushing to him, and he couldn't help but notice how much destruction remained in the aftermath of his battle. The outer walls with a hole in them was at least two feet thick! He remembered fighting a pesky, flighty man with strange powers. The man had used several different attacks on him.
Ganondorf hid against said wall as an airborne monstrosity flew by again. His eyes landed on the man atop its neck. His hand pulsed in response where his own Mark should have been. Ganondorf's eyes narrowed. That man had the mark of Din.
He found an abode with a broken front that looked incredibly familiar. He took hold of the door's ruins and threw them aside before stepping in. As before, he found Link and Zelda hiding beneath a staircase. Zelda was frightfully pale. She looked sick and had a fair bit of blood soaked into a pillow shoved against her side. Link was even worse and didn't seem to be breathing.
Ganondorf stooped before them. Alert to his presence, Zelda dimly opened her eyes, but she was too weak to react.
"You're in a sorry state," Ganondorf said.
"Did you get him?" Zelda whispered.
"Don't think so. But at the very least, I got these." He held up his fist. "If I were to guess, he took them off you two, and I returned the favor."
"But you lost yours... in the process."
"I'm not done with him," Ganondorf said firmly. "Here. You two need it more than me." He reached out to take her hand, but she recoiled away. "Relax, it shouldn't hurt you. The fire hasn't burned anything. Maybe because it uses other sources of power than my usual one. I... I'm actually not angry for once."
To prove his point, Ganondorf tightly grabbed some wood next to them. He removed his hand, and there was no burn mark. Having proven his point, he reached for Zelda's hand again, but still she recoiled.
"No," She whispered.
"Zelda..." He growled. "Now you're being difficult, and are going to aggravate me. I like not being aggravated. Its new to me. Don't do that."
"No, I mean... give it to him. He's dying."
Ganondorf looked at Link. She was right; he was dying. But then, so was she, only much slower.
"Yes, but so are you. You're the heir. He isn't."
Zelda gulped. Something passed through her eyes that he couldn't distinguish. "Please."
He sighed. "Fine, then let's compromise."
He took Link's hand and closed his eyes. He remembered how it felt when the enemy ripped the mark from him. It wasn't much to go on, but he knew if he, as a dumb demon, had pulled back two marks, then he should be able to give one now.
A mark flared onto Link's hand, and the boy suddenly gasped for breath. The other two let out a breath. Seeing Link was okay, Ganondorf took Zelda's hand. A third time she recoiled, but he grabbed her hand anyways.
"No! You'll lose control!" Zelda cried.
She tried to resist and pull away, but Ganondorf ignored her and pushed her mark back in. She gasped as it was restored. The mark revived her color and returned her strength, but it left Ganondorf feeling empty.
He violently recoiled and fell on his face. His arms and legs seemed to disappear and reappear, and he looked to see black smoke falling from where his hands should be.
"Shut up," Ganondorf hissed.
He struggled to gain control of himself. He could feel it: a hunger. He felt a deep hunger to become whole, become true, and become solid and great. Yet this need was denied to him. He felt the need's source in his opposite hand and saw the Pentagon glow.
It was as expected. He knew giving Zelda back Wisdom would leave him with this, and he knew he would have to wrestle it for control. But still, the fierce need was a surprise. No one could prepare themselves for becoming a creature of shadow and no longer being truly solid. They would always face this crippling hunger for substance that the world around them rejected to give.
Ganondorf wondered if he was dying. It was possible; it wasn't beyond his expectations. But if he was going to die, this need would die with him, fighting tooth and nail for control before then.
Ganondorf managed to solidify enough of his body to stand. He was much thinner, with skin more akin to smoke stretched over a bony frame. He bore skeletal wings that spread wide, long arms that ended in claws, and feet that jointed unnaturally. He felt incredibly sharp teeth in his mouth and a gullet that could easily stretch several times its size. His hair was as black as the night around them, and his eyes were completely hollow.
He glanced at himself in a reflection before abruptly flying out the door. There were no words he knew that could describe the horror he had become.
Ganondorf found flying as a creature of the Twilight to be remarkably easy and swift. The world around him looked remarkably different, too. What was once black was now grey, and there was a mist over everything. That which wasn't black was remarkably bright to him. The brightest thing he could see was the man who stood atop the Twilight dragon. The Fae who flew around in battle also glowed, but looking at the one who was marked was like looking into the sun. It was a sun that drew him in with hunger, promising something shiny to eat.
Ganondorf shook his head. No! He thought. He must focus! There was something he needed to do!
Invisible against the darkness of night, Ganondorf circled the aerial battlefield. The Fae were swift, and the dragon was mighty. The mob was in constant movement as fire kept arcing around and the Fae's constructs kept tearing at the dragon's hide. Ganondorf's mothers, the twin witches, were astride comfy chairs they had stolen and flew with the Fae, directing their magics on the beast. Their attention was more on the rider.
Two Fae with wooden constructs latched onto the dragon's wings and held tight. Vines shot out of their wooden frames and tightly encircled the wings. Balls of fire shot out from the rider, setting the vines aflame and sending the wooden Fae crumbling and crashing down. The Fae escaped their constructs and fled the battle.
Ganondorf moved closer and boarded it, planting his claws into the dragon's back. He climbed towards the rider like it was a cliff face. It might as well have been, as the fight was between the city and the clouds with wind blowing to match. Slowly, he made his way towards the top half.
The Rebel flinched and looked twice to be sure of what he stared at. "You! You are relentless!"
"You have something of mine!" Ganondorf yelled over the wind. "I want it back."
"No! I need them. I... I can save you! I can save us all! There has been cycle after cycle, birth after rebirth of the three of us in this conflict! It is time for it to end! If I have all three marks, I can wish for us to be returned to what we were. To be free... to be beside the Goddess' side once more as the champion spirits! Despite the constant conflict, there has been an endless cycle. Why? Because that which is separate only wants to be made whole again! Our spirits yearn to return and will not accept death until we have!"
His speech gave Ganondorf pause. For a moment, and only a moment, he pitied the man.
"What you say is a good thing," Ganondorf replied in his hollow voice. "To be by the Goddesses' side and to have the recognition of a deity. These are good things. Perhaps you are right in your reasoning. I don't know much about 'cycles,' but if we have met before, perhaps it is as you say. Perhaps our spirits do yearn and continue to search for the way home.
"But this..." Ganondorf spread his arms wide. "This is not the way. You have fallen to madness! Your way to salvation is the damnation of me and everyone you touch! So excuse me, 'Hero,' if I don't go along with your madness!"
The Rebellious Hero seethed angrily. His skull burst into flame and a spear appeared in his hand. The spear ignited in flames too. Ganondorf hissed back and lunged forward. It was the start of a difficult battle for him. As a Twilight, he no longer had the strength he did as a man or demon, but he did find that he was incredibly agile. It was something he was not accustomed to. What's more, the floor they used constantly moved, spun, turned, dived, or ascended. Ganondorf had to keep at least one claw planted on the dragon's hide at all times. The Rebel used chains to hold himself in place.
Ganondorf ducked under the spear's first jab, knocked it aside, and swiped with his new claws. The claws did little as they scraped armor. The Rebel threw a fireball. Unlike other times thus far, this fire burned and spread quickly across Ganondorf's body. He yelled in pain and let go of the dragon. The moment he let go, the wind took him, and Ganondorf found himself thrown off and falling through the air into a cloud. The cloud did little to quench the fire spreading across his body.
Without a better source of water in sight, Ganondorf spread his wings and flew into the air, straight into the exposed organs of the Twilight dragon. He squished himself into its guts, bathing in the fluids. The fire went out, and the monster roared in agony. The instinct of hearing a wounded Twilight drove Ganondorf to open his jaws and clamp down on one of the dragon's glowing orbs. It squished in his mouth, and blood poured down his throat. He swallowed. Immediately, he felt the dragon's power spread through him, rejuvenating him, and strengthening him. Ganondorf groaned, for it was an almost disturbing feeling driven by his Twilight instincts. His body of shadow solidified more, and it grew larger and stronger. His claws sharpened.
Feeling strengthened, Ganondorf fell and allowed the wind to take him. He then flew onto the dragon's back again. The twin witches were much closer now, firing their magics directly at the Rebel and providing a suitable backdrop for the ensuing brawl. The Rebel cursed profusely upon Ganondorf's return, seeing his larger size. Ganondorf lunged first, avoiding the Rebel's counters, and tried to tackle him. They wrestled over the flaming spear. With both hands full, the witches succeeded in scorching the Rebel's back. He yelled in pain, and then he growled in fury.
The Rebel released the spear, making Ganondorf fall forwards from the sudden lack of a counterbalance. He formed a second spear and drove it into Ganondorf's exposed back. He drove it so far it pinned the Twilight-man into the dragon's hide. A pair of knives appeared in his hands next, and he threw them at both witches. The knives hit. Neither throw killed, but they wounded the witches enough to give the Rebel the moment he needed. He created chains from the dragon's hide to shoot out, grab their chairs, and rip them away. He turned away before seeing what would happen to them.
Ganondorf completely turned himself into shadowy mist to free himself from the spear pinning him down. He solidified next to it and tackled the Rebel. They wrestled amongst the chains on the dragon. The Rebel formed weapons to drive into Ganondorf' side, but Ganondorf was becoming solid and mist along random parts of his body, making most attacks miss. He managed to drive a knife into flesh at least once, but it was difficult to find flesh when wrestling a living shadow. Ganondorf kept tearing into him and the chains around them. They wrestled until they were entangled by every chain that flew by.
At last, the fighting stopped. Both men were too tightly entangled to move easily. Were the Rebel thinking clearly, he might have used his control of the chains to take an advantage. However, it was rage, it was Power, that filled his thoughts. As such, he raised his hand to set Ganondorf on fire.
Ganondorf reached up as well and extended his shadow hand unnaturally far, grabbing the Rebel's. The Rebel tried to pull back, but Ganondorf held firm. The Rebel ignited their joined hands in flame, but Ganondorf held firm. Finally, the Rebel's mark of Power flashed brightly, flickered, and disappeared. It reappeared on Ganondorf's hand.
As the Mark changed owner, Ganondorf felt his body transform and solidify back to what he was accustomed to. He lost his claws and wings, and the shadow disappeared like dew from the skin. His hair ignited in glowing red flame, and his eyes shined in the dark night.
The Rebel's eyes widened in fear. Whether it was Ganondorf's Dragmire persona that drew his fear, or what happened next, neither could say.
A portal opened behind the Rebel, and hundreds of chains reached out and coiled themselves around him. The man that was pulling against Ganondorf a moment ago was now holding on for dear life, lest he be dragged in.
For a moment, Ganondorf felt pity. Without the power of the Goddesses, it seemed the Rebel was cursed to a prison, a cage. The Rebel lived in the very kind of place Ganondorf feared for in his life. The man only desired to be free, not just of his prison, but perhaps life itself. The Rebel was a shadow of his former self, who believed himself to be little more than a broken spirit that wanted to return home.
The Rebel was defeated. Ganondorf thought that perhaps this was a chance for the Rebel to be healed and restored. Perhaps there was hope for him if he was given another chance. Maybe, just maybe he wouldn't squander it if he was given a bit of mercy.
"Nah."
Ganondorf kicked the Rebellious Hero in the face, and the Rebel's grip broke. The swathe of chains instantly yanked him through the dark portal.
"Like he hasn't already shown what he's willing to do with second chances," Ganondorf decided. "He can get another in a few generations."
Ganondorf hissed in pain and looked at his hands. Because of the return of the mark of Power, he was slowly becoming a demon again. His mark of Twilight was still active. He didn't have much time before he lost control again.
Ganondorf, still entangled in chains, grabbed hold of the flaming sword lodged into the dragon's skull and pushed as hard as he could. The dragon squealed painfully and had little choice but to obey the direction its head was forced towards. It spun upside down. At the same time, the Fae were able to entangle themselves into its wings since the Rebel no longer kept destroying them. Elder saw Ganondorf entangled in the chains, flew in, grabbed ahold of him, and flew off as the dragon fell.
The dragon roared defiantly during all of its descent. It roared up until it crashed onto the castle's towers whose spires impaled it like spears.
The dragon died.
Elder Fae fell hard to the ground, Ganondorf held tightly within its hold. He released the Dragmire, who then stood, groaned, and ran off. Elder reshaped himself as a normal sized man made of stone.
"You're welcome?" The Fae asked.
Ganondorf ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Power flowed into his veins and started to conflict with the Twilight. He didn't know how many seconds he had, but he would use every one he had. Pain filled him, and he felt like he was being torn in two as he stumbled down the streets. As if by luck or divine providence, he recognized the abode where Zelda and Link hid and ran inside.
He burst in, fire and shadow exploding from veins all over his body. "High Princess! I need you to-"
Zelda screamed in surprise and shot him in the head with a light arrow. Ganondorf fell flat on his back, unconscious. The transformation taking hold stopped and settled. Link stared from where he was perched by the window with a makeshift club. He looked out of the corner of his eye to Zelda, noted her wild eyes, and shifted away a bit.
"Are we twitchy, princess?" Link whispered.
"Is it... is it over? Is the assassin gone?" Zelda wondered.
Link had no answer. They had seen the dragon fall out of the sky, but they knew nothing more. The only one who could provide the answer was knocked out. At the very least, the mark of Din was visible on Ganondorf's hand, and they felt his heartbeat in their hands.
"Should we move him?" Zelda asked.
"Nah, leave him," Link shrugged. He adjusted himself. His body was healing, but it would take days of rest to recover from the number of cuts and broken bones he had. It still wasn't as bad as when Ouki kicked him off a cliff, though.
Link smirked. "Out cold is the most at peace I've ever seen him."