I cannot do this any longer.

   Those were the words that had been running rampant in Ganondorf's mind for the past week. The moment he had been deemed well by the castle healers, Daemos had brought his previous workload back down onto him. "Find the Holders." It was all Daemos could seem to say, burrowing into Ganondorf like rabid Diglett. He was trying to keep his own gnawing words internal, but day after day, they were coming dangerously close to slipping out.

   Alongside the words came an unshakable dread, which had firmly settled on Ganondorf. He despised the dread, knowing for a fact that Daemos was slipping further away. If anything, Ganondorf's accident in the archives seemed to strain Daemos all the more. But instead of comforting Ganondorf like he had hoped, Daemos had somehow locked himself away further. At least it would have given Daemos something different to think about, a break from those damn Holders.

   Briefly, Ganondorf's dread had dissipated when he received word that the Holder of Courage had been captured. He had been the biggest wild card in all of this, the one who had evaded detection for so much longer. Ganondorf had made sure to head out to the Ikana-Gerudo Fortress the moment he heard the news, determined to bring some stability back to Daemos. Of course, this moment of relief was brief.

   "He's... not here?"

   The fortress captain, Captain Ashei, looked at him grimly. "Yes, sir. His cell was found empty last night, and one of our prison guards was found dead in the eastern escape tunnel. She had been strangled to death, and her dagger was missing. We believe that the Holder of Courage is out there somewhere in the desert, likely armed with the guard's dagger. I have already sent out several search parties."

   Ganondorf's words and breath had been stolen, rendering him silent. It wasn't anger or frustration that struck him when he heard the news, but fear. The Gerudo-Ikana guards weren't in charge of recapturing the Holders, it was the Royal Guard's—Ganondorf's job. Now that the Holders had escaped for the fourth time, what did this mean for his women? For him?

   "General, are you okay?" Captain Ashei asked when Ganondorf failed to respond. The general blinked, bringing himself out of his thoughts.

   "Yes, I am," he said. "I'm merely concerned for how His Majesty will react to this development..." He tried to give the captain a reassuring look in spite of her clear worry. "Don't be concerned. It is my burden to bear, not yours." He would make sure no blame would come to anybody but him. "I appreciate your women's efforts to search, and I ask that you keep it up until I can organize some more official search parties. They will report here first, so keep an eye out for them."

   Ashei nodded, saluting Ganondorf. "Yes, sir. We will contact you if anything changes, and I wish for you to have a safe flight back."

   Now Ganondorf was making his flight to the castle, the dread having returned stronger than ever. His Corvinight seemed to sense her flier's dismay, and she gave Ganondorf a concerned look out of the corner of her eye. Again he found himself reassuring someone, and the Steel-type bird seemed more or less satisfied. As much as Ganondorf wanted the trip to last longer, he knew tardiness wouldn't be tolerated.

   "Damn Renier," Ganondorf cursed under his breath. He had been such a thorn in the general's side, and now that thorn had gouged even deeper with this. It was that boy's fault Ganondorf's sister was no longer with him. He told himself that, even if it had been Ganondorf that had brought up finding the boy in the first place. He had just wanted to relieve Daemos' sorrow, it was Renier to blame.

   As he reentered Hyrule Castle, Ganondorf automatically tensed. There had been a noticeable shift in the castle's atmosphere, practically tangible with how it settled over those who entered like a thick, smothering shroud. The halls seemed more claustrophobic now, with the shadows appearing deeper, their edges grasping at the heels of those who traversed them. Heads of guards and castle staff alike were bowed, their steps hurried as they rushed to their destinations.

   Ganondorf was rushing himself, heading for the place he had grown to loathe over the past months: the castle archives. While he wished to organize the search parties, he knew he had to report to Daemos first.

   I cannot do this any longer.

   The words became prominent as he ascended the winding staircase. I cannot do this any longer. I cannot do this any longer!

   He was at the top now, his heart thudding in his chest. Now he needed to knock. He struggled to raise his fist, breath hitching at the thought of what he would find. This was an even worse feeling, fearing one Ganondorf cared for so deeply. He shouldn't have felt this way, but he couldn't help it.

   You're doing this for Daemos! Ganondorf shouted internally. He always had been, and he would continue to do so.

   With those words, he brought his fist down, only to find that the door gave way beneath his hand. Shock struck him. The door hadn't been locked, nor even closed all the way. How could Incineroar have overlooked this? A slightly-open door could allow a thief or assassin to sneak in without any trouble. New dread churned in Ganondorf alongside worry for his friend. He quickly entered the archives and made sure to shut the door behind him.

   The archives were eerily quiet, the space dully echoing Ganondorf's footfalls. He looked in each aisle between the bookcases, hoping to see either Daemos or Incineroar. But there was nobody, he was alone. That left the balcony.

   He passed by some of the royal portraits as he made his way to the stairs, occasionally glancing at the painted monarchs. Queen Aveil's drew his eye the most, as hers often did. Her silver eyes were so striking, and they remained striking in Daemos as he had inherited them. How would she have felt seeing what her son was becoming? It made Ganondorf's heart ache thinking about it.

   Like Ganondorf had thought, Daemos was on the balcony. Strangely, Incineroar was nowhere to be found on the large, open space. Ganondorf wanted to ask where the feline had gone, but he hadn't even announced his presence to Daemos. Frankly, he was struggling to do so, so it was no wonder that Daemos was the first to speak.

   "Is silence any way to greet your king?"

   Ganondorf swallowed the lump in his throat. "No, it isn't." He bowed deeply. "Good evening, Your Majesty."

   "I hope you intend to tell me that you have brought the Holder of Courage back with you, that he is bound so tightly in the dungeon that he has no chance of escaping?"

   While Ganondorf wished that was the case, for both his and Daemos' satisfaction, he couldn't lie to the king. Stifling a heavy sigh, he shook his head. "No, Your Majesty. In the time I was traveling to the fortress, the Holder of Courage had escaped. It appeared that he may have tricked a guard in order to do so." Hastily, he added, "The guards aren't to blame, it is my fault that I didn't arrive more quickly."

   "You're correct that it is your fault," Daemos said as he turned around. The monarch was a shadow of his former regality. His face was haggard, nearly-black bags hanging under his eyes, which were wide and slightly sunken. There was nothing but rage in his gaze. "And what do you have to say because of that, General?" Molten silver glared down Ganondorf, who struggled to keep his composure. A bead of nervous sweat trickled down his temple as his heart hammered.

   "I... offer nothing but my sincerest apologies, Your Majesty," he said, dropping to one knee as he bowed his head low. The last thing he wanted to do was take his eyes off Daemos, but he couldn't show further disrespect. All he could do was trust Daemos, and he wanted to do it desperately.

   Silence. Thick, stifling silence. Ganondorf could hear the blood roaring in his ears, his pulse in his throat. Then, Daemos muttered, "We both know that isn't enough."

   Ganondorf jolted in horrible anticipation. He expected this, but now that he was faced with the reality of a punishment, he didn't know what to think. He'd received his fair amount of punishments during his training days, though those were from commanding officers, not the king himself. His shoulders tensed, and his fists clenched when he heard Daemos slowly approach him.

   "I am disappointed in you, Dragmire," the king said, anger boiling beneath a thin layer of calm. "I thought you wanted to please me? You've worked your way up to Royal Guard General, all so you could protect me. Yet you have been failing in every way! Again, you and I know your incompetence can no longer be tolerated!"

   "Yes, I do, Your Majesty. I will comply with any punishment you see fit for my failures."

   "Well-spoken, Dragmire," Daemos said, his voice unexpectedly cordial then. "Now let me ask you this: Are you willing to die for me?"

   Ganondorf's first instinct was to agree, but he hesitated. Call it a premonition or intuition, but it sent a shudder through him. He was afraid of what that meant in terms of his punishment. But that was ridiculous. Daemos wouldn't kill him, Ganondorf couldn't even think that idea was possible... right?

   "Let me ask again," Daemos said, his words harsher this time. "Are you willing to die for me?"

   Ganondorf answered without pause this time. "Of course I am. You are my king, and my dearest friend. I've been willing to lay my life down for you since the moment we could both talk, and Queen Aveil trusted me with your safety until the day she died."

   "Then I'm sure we can agree that for your incompetence, you should be replaced." The glow of red light on the stones at Daemos' feet drew Ganondorf's gaze back up, and his eyes widened. Daemos' face was twisted in fury, his skin washed blood-red by the orb of energy in his palm.

   Confusion and fear struck Ganondorf, and he shoved himself out of the way just as Daemos smashed the orb into the ground where the general was moments before. Stone cracked, and energy flared and exploded, sending both Gerudo skidding back.

   "How dare you resist your due!" Daemos yelled.

   Ganondorf was hardly processing what had just happened. All that he could think was "don't die." With Ganondorf's survival instincts kicking in, he naturally reached for the hilt of his sheathed sword. Daemos' expression fell when he saw Ganondorf do this.

   "You wish to draw your blade on me?" Rage warped it again into something that barely resembled Daemos' normal visage. "Then die, you treasonous wretch!" But Ganondorf didn't see what Daemos was planning to do next, he was already running.

   Ganondorf bolted down the stairs. He nearly tripped and fell on the last few, but he caught himself. He used the momentum to launch himself into a sprint through the archives. Steps thundered on the stairs behind him, a borderline animalistic yell tearing from Daemos as a wave of red energy shuddered and rocked the towering bookcases. Ganondorf shielded his head and neck, barely avoiding the books that fell around him.

   Once he was out of the archives, he didn't stop running. He stumbled and tripped his way down the winding stairs, instinctively ducking when Power's energy literally shook the walls around him. Even as he was heaving for breath when he reached the bottom of the stairs, Ganondorf still ran. A few passing guards and their Pokémon gasped and flinched when Ganondorf sprinted past them, but he ignored them.

   The Gerudo general was rounding a corner when the door leading to the archives staircase slammed open. Echoing down the hall came the rage-filled roar of Daemos.

   "General Dragmire attempted to murder me! Seize him!"

   Ganondorf dove into a side hall, one that led to some of the maids' quarters. But he couldn't stop here. With hardly a breath left in his lungs, he slipped into an adjacent storage room and locked the door.

   Awash in the sickly green light of the storage room's luminous stones, Ganondorf collapsed to his knees, shuddering and gasping for breath. He couldn't remember the last time he had run that fast, and his body was paying for it. At almost thirty-six years old with persistent knee pains, there was a reason why he left most of the legwork to the younger guards.

   Ganondorf's head was spinning, in total shock of what had just transpired. Finally things were catching up with him, and it made him want to collapse completely. Daemos had just attempted to kill him.

   Despair surged up in Ganondorf, threatening to choke him. His best friend of over three decades had made an attempt on his life, and he had shown no remorse in doing so. There had been nothing but the anger that had slowly been consuming him. And now, Ganondorf wasn't sure if Daemos could breach the surface again. What in Hylia's name had brought this upon Daemos? He didn't deserve this.

   The sounds of people and Pokémon outside in the hall made Ganondorf realize the gravity of the situation he found himself in. By fleeing, he had forfeited everything he had worked for. He was now a traitor, and he couldn't stay here. For now, he had to get out of immediate harm's way, and then he would decide his next course of action.

   While this room held extra supplies for the maids, it also held an entrance to one of the castle's hidden passages. There was also one in the archives, but trying to escape that way with Daemos right behind him would have been suicide.

   He forced himself to his feet and pushed aside a shelf concealing a hidden seam in the stone wall. After opening the door, he unlocked the storage room's door and did his best to pull the shelf back in front of the hidden door before closing it. If he had kept the storage room locked, it would have all but confirmed that Ganondorf had hidden here and escaped through the passage. As the storage room's door slammed open, Ganondorf mustered his regained strength and ran down the tunnel.

   For a time, Ganondorf blindly wandered the tunnels, only guided by keeping his hand on the wall and trying to recall a mental map of the tunnels. He and Daemos had often played in the tunnels when they were children until Aveil had found out and forbade them from doing so. Skulking in the shade wasn't what the Gerudo did, they walked proudly in the desert sunlight.

   Ganondorf tried to think. After he escaped the castle, where would he go? He couldn't go to his mother and vaba, they lived in Castle City, and he didn't want to endanger them by asking them to hide him. Soon enough, the word would go out that he was a wanted man. Even if he wanted to help Daemos, he couldn't now that he was on the run. He smirked to himself bitterly. Now I know what it feels like, damn Renier, he thought. If Link knew what had happened, he would surely be overcome with the irony of it all. Ganondorf certainly was.

   It was then that a thought came to Ganondorf. Perhaps there was a way he could still help Daemos. The method was something he would have never considered, but things were different now. He had no other options.

   To save Daemos, Ganondorf had to find the Holders.

   At first thought, the idea sounded utterly insane. The Holders were working to stop Daemos from forming the Triforce. Courage and Wisdom always opposed Power, that was how the legends went. And that was the point. Whatever had become of Daemos, Link and Zelda were aiming to oppose it. As much as Ganondorf despised Link, perhaps he and Zelda could help Ganondorf bring back the Daemos he had once treasured so deeply.

   Ganondorf decided this with a heavy heart, and he sighed. Now where to go while he searched for the Holders? For the moment, the best place to hide would be the Arbiter City outskirts. Any criminal could vanish into the outskirts almost completely. It was perfect for both Ganondorf and perhaps the Holders if they were still in the Gerudo-Ikana region.

   Eventually, Ganondorf made it to an exit by the Corvinight roost. Fortunately, the roost was on the north side of the castle grounds, the furthest from the archives. He waited in the tunnel for the stablehand to leave before making his way to one of the occupied pens. Ganondorf would have wanted to take his own Corviknight, but her armor had special gold markings that identified her as belonging to the Royal Guard. He would have to take one of the knights' Corvikight if he didn't want to risk being identified.

   The Corviknight he chose wasn't alarmed when Ganondorf opened its pen. It had seen him before, so it simply gave him an indifferent look. Ganondorf snatched its reins from the wall but left the saddlebags. He had nothing on him besides his armor and sword, so he didn't need them. With no stablehands around, they were free to leave without issue.

   Minutes later, the pair were taking off from the stable courtyard and heading northwest. The wind was cold with autumn's bitterness, and Ganondorf pulled his cloak's hood up. He settled himself on Corviknight's back as comfortably as he could; this was going to be a long flight, but not if he could help it.

   "Tailwind, Corviknight," he commanded, and the bird obeyed. With a flap of the Steel bird's wings, a powerful gale gusted from behind them. With this gale carrying them forwards, they soared into the night towards Ikana.