Work Text:
Clawed fingernails dug into skin tainted with hues of grey and green. He could feel the oily malevolence slithering through his flesh, writhing and burrowing and burning under his skin. His body felt like it was on fire, like all his organs were about to be ripped out through the blackened scar on his chest.
Ganondorf curled tighter into himself, digging his nails in until he drew blood. His head pounded with a cacophony of screams, with the litanies of hate and death injected into his brain.
A choking sound crawled pitifully from his throat. It hurt. Goddesses, it hurt, it hurt! The mummified husk he had been before that first Blood Moon hadn’t been able to do having blood justice, the way it seemed to bubble and writhe painfully within him. He squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to focus on the ragged gasps of breath he could manage. His lungs expanding only seemed to agitate the Malice more, sending it crawling through his flesh, piercing his nervous system with pain.
The young Gerudo let out a strangled sob, unable to be sure if he really could feel tears on his face. Every heartbeat was agony, spreading his contaminated blood to cause more fiery pain.
The hatred was in him. And it wanted out.
YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME.
Ganondorf’s body trembled, his overloaded mind barely registering his involuntary vocalizations.
I AM ALREADY INSIDE YOU.YOU ARE MINE.
“Shut up,” the tortured prince croaked.
The presence only laughed. Ganondorf clenched his fanged teeth, twitching, sharp nails gouging bloody tracks in a futile effort to silence the callous laughter filling his mind to the point where it felt like his skull would burst.
“Shut up! SHUT UP!”
The Gerudo teen’s desperate mantra was interrupted by a small prick. It wasn’t one of His doings. It wasn’t painful enough.
Wrenching open his eyes revealed Link and Zelda. He had snuck away to try to ride out this episode on his own so they wouldn’t see him like this. It hadn’t occurred to the Gerudo prince that his own cries of pain would betray his location.
Zelda was speaking to him, but he couldn’t quite make out her words through the agonized fog in his brain. Ganondorf realized she had injected him with something, a Sheikah-made needle no doubt coated with… something.
Whatever it was, it gradually began to ease his pain. He moaned weakly at the relief, the voices and hatred and agony fading blissfully away as the magically-enhanced sedative caressed his brain.
The last thing he could feel was his Hylian companions’ hands on his sweat-slick skin and their concerned words in his ears.
After that, the Gerudo youth was spirited away to a silent place of death-deep slumber, where he welcomed the blissful darkness with open arms.
~~~
“Ganondorf…” Zelda whispered in horrified sympathy. She carded her fingers through his thick mane of hair, Link hovering beside her. They had known that he was the vessel of a terrible curse. But to see it do that to him…
Sixteen. He’d been sealed at only sixteen. Developmentally speaking, he was the youngest of their trio. It was an unthinkable sacrifice for anyone to make, let alone someone so young.
Ganondorf smiled in his sleep as the princess continued to stroke his head. It was a heartwarming sight. It was good to know that he was feeling comforted.
He not only deserved it— he needed it.