***

Zelda read over the report again, noticing the similarities it had with Peach's. She'd asked both Ylisse and The Mushroom Kingdom to write reports regarding Peach and Robin's kidnapping, detailing what each of their experiences were. As she had expected, Robin was tortured and Peach was shown horrible nightmares throughout the span of 14 days. As for when they got kidnapped, they were walking through a forest in Fodlan when all of a sudden, their arms starting becoming black, until their whole bodies were consumed in darkness, and then they were teleported to Aaron's headquarters. They made note of the fact that the arm that became black was the same arm in which one of the spirit orbs exploded on, the arm that had weirdly absorbed the shards left behind by that orb.

Now she asked herself, had Aaron been planning this all along? The answer seemed obvious enough, so she wondered why he kidnapped the two of them specifically. Why not Ike, who had the same thing happen to him with the orbs, or any of the others? And how exactly did he recreate Pit? Perhaps, when Aaron took control of Palutena, he somehow managed to get some of Pit's DNA. Can he do that with all the spirits he's collected? Honestly, the whole spirits thing still made no sense to her, she'd been trying to piece things together for the past couple of months, but even so, nothing made complete sense.

She still wondered why he would take Peach and show her horrible nightmares. Robin's situation was obvious enough, Aaron wanted to bring out and take control of Grima, that way getting spirits would be easier since everyone would be, well, dead. But in Peach's case, she couldn't really tell. Did he want her for her healing powers? But why not just kill her and make her a puppet? Why keep her alive and show her nightmares, with no signs of physical torture? Peach has reportedly been acting pretty normal, the only thing that stood out was her lack of reaction at her father's sudden death, but everyone assumed it was because she was still numb because of everything that had happened. Still, it seemed weird to Zelda how quickly Peach became queen and took control of everything. In Lucina's case, who's situation is somewhat similar to Peach's, she's still not technically queen, she's still taking lessons while also taking moderate control of the land. Anyway, Peach's behavior didn't raise any immediate red flags, at least not to Zelda. Considering all the she's done since becoming queen, she couldn't be one to judge.

"Ehem, Your Majesty, should we begin the meeting?"

Ah yes, she'd nearly forgotten. She sighed and put the report down, settling her hand on her chest. She felt quite comfortable in her clothes: a long, yellow dress with slits on either side with frills coming off each of them, a V-neckline which left her more than enough room to breathe, a lightly tied ribbon around her waist to keep it all up, and slightly puffy sleeves, for the cold. She felt so relaxed, it was the perfect dress to sit in the library and read a book in. Shame she had to wear it to this stupid council meeting.

She leaned on the armrest of her chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Well? Speak."

"Right, regarding the event's of last night," said a count, "Are you sure you don't recall any of it, Your Majesty?"

She nodded. "I remember feeling some kind of holy energy, but I have no recollection of what actually happened or of what was said." She held back a smirk. How she loved spewing out bullshit to gullible people. "Anyway, that's not what I called this meeting for."

Everyone in the room raised a brow. Another man spoke out, "But Your Majesty, with all due respect, this is a very important matter-"

"You're all fired," Zelda declared.

Silence was heard over the room, before erupting into nonsensical screaming. Zelda resisted the urge to cover her ears. "Your Majesty, you can't do this!" "This is completely out of no where!" "We have done no wrong to deserve this!" She looked at Sheik, who was standing behind her. He smiled. She smiled. She looked back at the hoard of angry people and slammed her fist on the table, shutting them all up.

"Firstly, you're all members of my father's council, not mine. It is clearly stated within the rules of our kingdom that when a member of the royal family ascends the throne, they may make their own council if they wish, or may keep the one of the previous ruler. And I want my own."

"We are a very dependable council, Your Majesty, you can count on us to advice you well," said Countess Doffery.

"That brings me to my second point," Zelda said. "All of you are disgusting animals."

"Your Majesty-!"

"Countess Doffery, do you recall your late brother?" Zelda asked, making the countess flinch. "You know, the one who over taxed his people, who opened a casino which targeted the poor, the one who sexually assaulted many people in his life, the one who participated in human trafficking, along with the rest of his family? The one you took over for and have continued the legacy of?"

The countess stepped back. "How did you-?!"

"I am not the foolish little girl you all believe me to be," Zelda smiled. "I know what each of you has done, and believe me, you will all be heavily punished for it all."

Suddenly, the entire room was on their knees, begging for mercy. A viscount clutched her skirt, one which was responsible for the death of his wife and child. Another count gripped her hand, he took advantage of many boys far bellow the age of consent. Each person in that room was begging for mercy, admitting to their crimes in hopes that it would lessen their sentences. Zelda smirked. How she enjoyed this. This was the very council that had set her life for ruin, and now here she was, making sure their lives would never be the same. Because they were all going to be dead! Or imprisoned for life, at the very least.

"Link," she called, "Let the new council members come in."

Each person stared in awe as a variety of beings entered the room. Sidon and Ralis, of the Zora. Teba and Medli, of the Rito. Nabooru and Riju, of the Gerudo. Biggoron and Yunobo, of the Goron. Ilia and Colin, of the Weri. Paya, of the Sheikah.

"And myself, as representative of the Sheikah and Hylians," Sheik said, stepping up from behind Zelda with an uncontrollable smile on his face.

"What... is this..." said a stunned ex-council person.

"I wanted to get representatives from each nation of Hyrule, that way we can all decide what would be best for our people," Zelda said. "Having it be only Hylians, well, that seems a little unfair, doesn't it?"

"You can't do this-!"

"I can and I have," Zelda declared. She rid herself of the people clinging on to her by kicking them away. "Link! Imprison them immediately!"

Guards marched in, dragging away people with snot coming out of their noses. She felt a heavy weight lift off her chest. She was happy. Really happy. The people that caused her harm were finally getting what they deserved. Pain for the rest of their lives. There isn't anything more pleasurable than that.

The new council took their seats as soon as the doors shut behind the guards. They all looked at Zelda, expectingly. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, before sighing with a smile. She looked up, slamming her fist on the table. "The new council is now in session."

"Our first order of business," Sheik said, smiling at his younger sister. "The Vessel Acts. Are we all in agreement to eradicate them?"

"No need to even ask!" said Sidon. "Those words shall no longer get in the way of Her Majesty's happiness!"

"We've seen just how harsh those silly rules are. Your Majesty, you deserve to be free," Ilia assured.

Zelda smiled, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "Then, all of those in favor to get rid of the Vessel Acts once in for all, please raise your hands."

Everyone in the room raised their hands immediately, each of them offering warm smiles and small congratulations. Her smile widened as she looked down and back up, tears falling. "Thank you, everyone. You have no idea how happy I am to have come this far. I've waited years to be able to do this, and thanks to you all, I finally can."

The entire room cheered, and Sheik grabbed her hand, patting it with their other. Zelda wiped her tears away and looked at her brother, whispering, "We're almost there."

"Shall we send the request to eradicate the acts to the temple?" Sheik asked.

Zelda shook her head. "No. If we send it now, they'll realize what happened yesterday was a ruse and we'll be back to square one. We best wait until they send the request first and keep our decision hidden for now."

Sheik sighed, but nodded. "Add another thing to the bucket of secrets. Not that it's anything new." Zelda laughed, glancing at Ilia and Colin. Despite three months having passed since her kidnapping, no one aside from Sheik, Link, Ike, Ganondorf, and herself knew about the fact Aaron was the puppet master and was planning a war against Hyrule. And the reason was simple.

If that information were to be let out, the Weri would happily commit genocide.