You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Link snuck around the castle. "No wonder Zelda gets taken all the damn time," he said as he knocked out, tied, and gagged another few guards. He dragged them outside. His years of adventure had certainly built his muscle enough to accomplish it with little trouble. Once he had them all outside he waited until they regained consciousness. One by one he threw them into the moat and watched them sink to the bottom. He smiled as the last several guards attempted to plead for their lives. Of course, with their gags, he couldn't really understand them. Still, he knew that's what they were doing, and it pleased him. As the last one sank to the bottom, he grinned and turned back to the castle. His path clear, he entered the throne room. Zelda smiled and hurried to greet him.
"Link it's so good to see you!" She hugged him.
He hugged her back. She was such a fool. "How could I not visit you?" He pulled away, transforming his smirk into a smile. He didn't want to frighten her. Not yet.
"I didn't know you were back in Hyrule. When did you—" The doors burst open and guards rushed in.
Damn, I thought I'd taken out enough of them, Link thought.
"Princess step away from him!" One of the guards shouted.
"Why? What's going on?" Zelda asked.
"He took down half of our guards and threw them into the moat," another guard said, sliding his sword from its sheath. "He bound and gagged them, your Highness. Some of them didn't make it. He's not here for a friendly visit."
Zelda gasped and backed away. "Is that true?"
His grin turned menacing. He slid the Master Sword from its sheath and raised an eyebrow. "You guys ruined my surprise. I supposed I should have sent you to the bottom of the moat with your lazy friends. A brick wall could do better at guarding the princess than you lot."
One of the guards gave a battle cry and charged. Link struck him down with ease. Link lowered his eyebrows and frowned. Stepping over the guard's corpse, he rushed the others. They fought back, but Link was faster and took them down one by one. On one spectacular spin move, Link noticed Zelda looking around as though hoping for an escape. Link laughed and used the tunic of the last guard he'd killed to wipe the blood off the Master Sword before returning it to its sheath. As he moved toward Zelda, he grabbed a rope from a dead guard. It had some blood on it, but it would do.
Zelda put her hands up and backed away. "Link stop."
"Sorry, Princess, I can't do that," he spat. He lunged at her. She tried to dodge, but he anticipated her move and tackled her to the ground. Her head hit the ground, but not hard enough to knock her out. Good. He wanted her awake.
"Link stop this," Zelda yelled.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as he tied her up, but her emotion only disgusted him. He may have tightened the ropes a bit tighter than he needed to in response. She struggled as he threw her over his shoulder and carried her to the dungeon.
"Link, please," Zelda said. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"
"Why am I doing this? Really? Let's see. I've saved everyone from Ganondorf over and over and over. What do I get? A 'Thanks for saving us' if I'm lucky. Most of the time from you, and that's it. Then I'm just supposed to go back to my life and wait until it's time to do it all over again. I'm sick of it." He kicked open the dungeon door. It smacked against the wall, the force sending it back toward him, but he shouldered it aside.
"Please, Link, don't do this. You can do the right thing," Zelda pleaded.
"I am doing the right thing. The right thing for myself for a change." He grabbed the chains from the floor and clamped them around her ankles. She hit at his back with her bound hands. There was a time when it might have hurt, but now it felt more like a bee running into him. He cut the rope from her ankles and picked up the chains for her wrists. She tried to punch him in the face with her bound hands, but he grabbed them and chained her easily.
